4 Doing complex intimacy in the later life of Chinese gay men in Hong Kong
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Barry Lee 李文偉
Abstract
Situated in the ‘doing intimacy’ literature, which examines intimate lives as a set of everyday practices, this chapter investigates the intimate experiences of older (aged 60+) Chinese gay men in Hong Kong based on their life stories collected since 2008. Their stories are illuminated by diverse models (and sub-models) of ‘being single’ and in a ‘long-term couple/committed relationship’. These older men’s narratives of sex, love and ageing bodies reveal intimacy to be primarily affected by heteronormative culture intersecting with homonormativity and ageism embedded within the Confucian cultural context. The chapter concludes that there are many ways of doing intimacy among older Chinese gay men, but that their same-sex intimate lives have always remained ‘closeted’, confined by the notions of heteronormativity, homonormativity and ageism, thus inhibiting the process of ‘successful’ ageing both inside and outside the gay community.
Abstract
Situated in the ‘doing intimacy’ literature, which examines intimate lives as a set of everyday practices, this chapter investigates the intimate experiences of older (aged 60+) Chinese gay men in Hong Kong based on their life stories collected since 2008. Their stories are illuminated by diverse models (and sub-models) of ‘being single’ and in a ‘long-term couple/committed relationship’. These older men’s narratives of sex, love and ageing bodies reveal intimacy to be primarily affected by heteronormative culture intersecting with homonormativity and ageism embedded within the Confucian cultural context. The chapter concludes that there are many ways of doing intimacy among older Chinese gay men, but that their same-sex intimate lives have always remained ‘closeted’, confined by the notions of heteronormativity, homonormativity and ageism, thus inhibiting the process of ‘successful’ ageing both inside and outside the gay community.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Thanks and acknowledgements v
- Contents vii
- Notes on editors and contributors ix
- Series editors’ introduction xv
- Foreword xxv
- Introduction to the volume: themes, issues and chapter synopses 1
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In/visibility and ambivalence
- Under the orhni: intimacy and near-invisibility among older Indo-Trinidadian queer menKrystal Nandini Ghisyawan and Marcus Kissoon 21
- Older kinnars, ageism and sexuality during the COVID-19 pandemic 38
- Doing complex intimacy in the later life of Chinese gay men in Hong Kong 54
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Women questioning age/ing intergenerationally and intragenerationally
- Deep within the eye of the beheld: exploring hidden accounts of intimacy in the lives of older Indian women in urban Malaysia 75
- From age of despair to window of opportunity? Reframing women’s sexuality in later life in the Middle East and North Africa 93
- Lost voices of Partition: carrying gender, nation and femininity across the life course 115
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Agency through fantasy, erotic tales and pleasure
- Sexual fantasies and older, Indigenous Purépecha women: sociocultural constraints and possibilities 139
- Indigenous elders as sexual agents through storytelling as a queer and decolonial practice in ‘Canada’ 157
- Sex, intimacy and older life in Muslim contexts 174
- Reflections: themes and issues emerging from the volume 192
- Index 209
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Thanks and acknowledgements v
- Contents vii
- Notes on editors and contributors ix
- Series editors’ introduction xv
- Foreword xxv
- Introduction to the volume: themes, issues and chapter synopses 1
-
In/visibility and ambivalence
- Under the orhni: intimacy and near-invisibility among older Indo-Trinidadian queer menKrystal Nandini Ghisyawan and Marcus Kissoon 21
- Older kinnars, ageism and sexuality during the COVID-19 pandemic 38
- Doing complex intimacy in the later life of Chinese gay men in Hong Kong 54
-
Women questioning age/ing intergenerationally and intragenerationally
- Deep within the eye of the beheld: exploring hidden accounts of intimacy in the lives of older Indian women in urban Malaysia 75
- From age of despair to window of opportunity? Reframing women’s sexuality in later life in the Middle East and North Africa 93
- Lost voices of Partition: carrying gender, nation and femininity across the life course 115
-
Agency through fantasy, erotic tales and pleasure
- Sexual fantasies and older, Indigenous Purépecha women: sociocultural constraints and possibilities 139
- Indigenous elders as sexual agents through storytelling as a queer and decolonial practice in ‘Canada’ 157
- Sex, intimacy and older life in Muslim contexts 174
- Reflections: themes and issues emerging from the volume 192
- Index 209
