The Gao-Ji/Gaau-Gey Discourse in Chinese Youth Culture: Homosexually-Themed Language, Homosociality, and the Transformation of Masculinity

Literally meaning “to engage in homosexual conducts” and originally from Cantonese gaau-gey, gao-ji (doing gay stuff) is a derogatory term to refer to homosexual people in mainland China. Thanks to the rapid development of Internet and cyberculture in recent decades, the use the gao-ji as well as other derived terms such as ji-qing (gay romance) and ji-you (gay buddies) have been going mainstream, particularly among Chinese urban youth. Other than referring to homosexual behaviors and relationships, the use of the gao-ji discourse becomes increasingly popular to describe the homosocial bonds among heterosexual-identified young men. Focusing on this newly emerging sociolinguistic phenomenon, this research provides an alternative reading of homosexually-themed language that has been traditionally associated with homophobia at both institutional and interpersonal levels. Drawing on findings from mainstream media sources and ethnographic interviews with young people living in Shanghai, combined with a nuanced analysis informed by social constructionist theories on gender/sexuality and other empirical studies done by western counterparts, the paper reveals the construction and transformation of gao-ji discourse in today’s urban Chinese society. Although acknowledging the decline of homophobia, as shared by other countries, has largely contributed to the rise of gao-ji discourses in popular culture, I contextualize my discussion of this sociolinguistic practice in relation to 1) the continuing Chinese tradition of male homosociality; 2) the transformation of Chinese masculinity that gives more credits to intimacy and expressiveness; and 3) the urban youth communities that are stratified along the lines of class, gender, and sexuality in contemporary Chinese society. I conclude my paper by discussing how the gao-ji discourse, as one manifestation of queering the mainstream, could affect the public views towards homosexuality as well as its implication to the LGBT politics in mainland China.