Male Peer Support, But Make It Gay and Chinese: Doing Tongzhi and Finding Community Through Digital Voyeurism

• In Event: Innovative Methodologies and New Perspectives in Queer Criminology Research

Abstract

DeKeseredy and Schwartz’s male peer support theory posits that men’s attachment to male peers and the support in return enable their violence against women. This research applies the theory to an online community of Chinese queer men who engage in digital voyeurism against other men. Using 300 threads collected on a web forum, I argue that peer support from other Chinese queer men on the forum—through a shared sexual interest and cultural understanding—functions as motivations and justifications for the digital voyeurs to initiate and resume their practice of violence against other men. Digital voyeurism, in this context, is practiced not only for sexual gratification, but also as a means to achieve identity authentication and community belongingness.

Author

• Yang Vincent Liu, Oakland University