Feminism and Queer Counterpublics in China: The Case of Activist Media “Queer Lala Times”

• In Event: Alternative Media and Counter Narratives

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed the development and increasing visibility of China’s feminist and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) movement. From the feminist movement perspective, Chinese feminists have not only utilized the traditional media to achieve public support and extract government responses in order to instill the feminist concept into the public sphere, but also adopted a strategy of digital masquerading to tactically avoid censorship, assemble feminist activism, and remake publicness. From the LGBTQ movement perspective, one characteristic of China’s LGBTQ movement is the emerging alternative media practices from sexual minority groups, affording the opportunities for such groups to speak out voices and advocate rights. Utilizing Uzelman’s (2012) analytical tool of autonomous media, this paper examines how Queer Lala Times (QLT) exists as an organization in the Chinese society. This paper analyzes QLT’s organizational form, mode of governance, process of production, relationship to audiences, and professional norm. Specifically, as a radical activist media organization, QLT aims to experiment new relations and modes of organization differentiated from traditional media practices; its mode of governance is based on the Internet and is characterized in its dialogicality, negotiability, and flexibility; its process of production is democratic and participatory; its relationship to audiences is collaborative and interactive; its professional norm is anti-discrimination, anti-violence, and diversity-oriented. The study finds that, whilst facing state control and censorship inevitably, QLT can be seen as a radical feminist and queer activist media for two reasons: first, it introduces and develops queer theory into China; second, it highlights both public and private issues discussed in the feminist and LGBTQ community. QLT’s political and social beliefs imagine a more open, inclusive, democratic, and egalitarian public sphere for gender equality and LGBTQ rights through civic participation and public education.

Author

• Yang Yu, Temple U