Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Zhou, Zhiqiu Benson, “Patriarchal Racism: The Convergence of Anti-Blackness and Domestic Gender Tension on Chinese Social Media.” Information, Communication & Society (2023): doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2023.2193252
Zhou, Zhiqiu Benson, “More Bottoms than Tops? Mediated Sexual Roles and Masculinity Assemblage in Chinese Gay Communities.” Sexualities, (2023): doi.org/10.1177/13634607221144623
Zhou, Zhiqiu Benson, “Compulsory Interracial Intimacy: Why Does Removing Ethnicity Filter on Dating Apps Not Benefit Racial Minorities?” Media, Culture & Society, 44, no. 5 (2022): 1034-1043
Zhou, Zhiqiu Benson, “Besides Tongzhi: Tactics for Communicating and Constructing Sexual Identities in China.” Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 32, no. (2) (2022): 282-300
Zhou, Zhiqiu Benson, “(Un)Naturality and Chinese Queer Masculinities on Ailaibulai,” Feminist Media Studies. 20, no.4 (2020): 565-581.
Essays and Reviews
Zhou, Zhiqiu Benson, “Steamy Shanghai Nights,” Anthropology News, 64, no. 1, (2023): 7-9
Zhou, Zhiqiu Benson, “Gender and Sexual Politics in China’s Online Dating Scene,” Current History, 120, no. 827 (2021): 250-252
Zhou, Zhiqiu Benson, “Review of From Amorous Histories to Sexual Histories: Tongzhi Writings and the Construction of Masculinities in Late Qing and Modern China,” Journal of Asian Studies. 77, no.2 (2018): 513-515
Book Project: Normative Queers: Identities, Masculinities, and Sexual Hierarchies in a Pink China
This project examines the emergence of sexual norms and sexual hierarchies within Chinese queer communities. It analyzes how transnational media cultures, global capital, and China’s political cultures have jointly shaped perceptions of ideal gayness in China over the past decade. It is based on extensive fieldwork from 2017 to 2021, including 90 semi-structured interviews with queer men, ethnographic observations in queer spaces in Beijing, Shanghai, and online, and a collection of visual and textual materials on urban queer life. I discovered that transnational forces have expanded China’s queer spaces and increased opportunities for queer connections. However, I argue that queer transnationalism has created new sexual norms that divide and sexually hierarchize queer masculinities. Queer men are hierarchized into “old” versus “new” queers, “good” versus “bad” queers, and “desirable” versus “undesirable” queers. As a result, these new sexual norms have intensified marginalization among already disenfranchised queer people. This project transcends the cultural understanding of Chinese homosexuality embodied in tongzhi (comrade) through unpacking the division of Chinese queer communities. It also brings to light the negative effects of queer transnationalism on Chinese queer communities, e.g., normalizing sexual desires and hierarchizing queer subjects. Additionally, explicating the emergence of sexual hierarchies within queer communities provides direction for future queer politics in pursuing social justice.