The Gendered Politics of Sexuality Under Authoritarianism: The Case of China

As the world’s most powerful authoritarian, China presents itself as an alternative to Western liberal democracy. Part of the anti-democratic climate is the assault on feminism and queer politics, which are seen as ‘western’ corruptions of ‘traditional family values.’ China’s regime shares in this view. Whereas feminism had some, albeit limited, opportunity to flourish after Beijing 1995, it is now severely constrained. Queer community organisations have also suffered from this crackdown. Under Xi Jinping, China’s regime has reinforced heteronormative gendered relations while rigorously suppressing any form of mobilisation outside the party-state. Xi is promoting a form of familial nationalism whereby citizens are enjoined to unite love of family with love of nation. Xi urges them to strengthen 'family values' (jiafeng) as a vital spiritual force to realize his 'Chinese Dream' of national rejuvenation. Women are called upon to uphold traditional values as ‘virtuous wives and good mothers’. In this paper we explore the gendered implications of familial nationalism for sexual politics and the politics of sexuality in China and beyond. In so doing er draw on feminist analyses of heterosexuality (Jackson 2019) and critical perspectives on Asian familialism (Ochiai 2014)