Summary: The Taiwanese government is attempting to regulate society as a uniform existence while the homosexual community is attempting to establish itself as a sub-culture. Taiwanese literature and political movements are both helping, and hindering, the process of creating a homosexual sub-culture. This article reviews how the movement is changing the landscape of the homosexual community for Taiwan culture, however, the article also speaks of blocks to the movement. The movement began in the 90’s, and the repurcussions of the movement have yet to be monitored. There is a growing sense of identity crisis in Taiwan, and the fight of the homosexual society to gain recognition is part of this crisis. This article successfully completes a cross-reference between Taiwan’s oppressive government, ethnic relationships, Taiwan nationalism, and the cultural movement as a whole.
I. The homosexual community is fighting for a place in society, while the totalitarian government is calling for unity of all. Example: “And the island surely is not short of oppositional voices that avail themselves of a marginal status by which to articulate themselves in terms and relations other than “the national”(Chen 385).
a. The homosexual community is still hidden, but is emerging in certain areas, such as academics, where students are seeking out literature on the topic, and methods to encourage governments to accept the idea.
b. A cultural movement is causing a shift in Taiwan, where subcultures are emerging to become part of the norm
II. Defining Taiwan’s Queer Example: “Ku’er, while a phonetic transliteration of “queer,” is also a semantic approximation of “queer” into Taiwan’s cultural context.3 Ku and er mean “cool” (a term widely used in Taiwan’s youth culture since the 1980s) and “child,” respectively; together they may be best rendered as “cool babe.” (Chen 387).
The homosexual agenda has not yet made it into the political forums; it is a goal to have this happen, and to have Taiwanese society as a whole open up to the concept
Modern Taiwanese citizens do not fall into a neat category; they are the “pseudo-Taiwanese”
These citizens who refuse to be identified traditionally are often supportive, or part of, the gay community
III. Post-Nation: After Coming Out
The queer Taiwanese has a difficult time standing as a sub-culture because government is pushing a traditional way of living, namely modeled after the Minnan culture. Certain groups are not recognized as Taiwanese, and this includes homosexuals
IV. In Search of Queer Example: ” Efforts to search out queer texts have brought about the canonization of literary works with homosexual themes” (Chen 397).
Scholars and students have witnessed an increase in queer interest – more searches on the topic happen at university, and more books on the topic are requested than in the past
Young people are searching for an individual to canonize, one that can be a leader in the fight to reveal the queer sub-culture
Review of Crystal Boys: a book written about the queer Taiwan society; it concludes that the queer sub-culture is happier and culturally superior to the heterosexual communities
V. New Park Study Example: “The gay cruising ground—Taipei New Park—is then conjured in this reading as their Queer Nation, a nation within the nation, the symbolic trope for a cultural diaspora within Taiwan” (Chen 401).
Urban cities are taking a cultural turn; this study reveals that turn
Study reviews American cities as compared to Taiwanese cities
Result is that the “normal” society of Taiwan still fights against the idea of a homosexual sub-culture, but the sub-culture is gaining some political ground
VI. The Consumption of Homosexuality Example: “Queer is hot in Taiwan’s cultural market; it is not accidental that the winners of Taiwan’s most prestigious literary awards during the 1990s were mostly works that deal with the theme of homosexuality” (Chen 405).
Homosexuality is viewed as an attitude; a fashion statement, even by those within the sub-culture
The message of homosexuality seems to be confused by the heterosexual community
Homosexuality is still communicated as a sin, and this remains a wide belief among the country’s communities
There remains a deep-seated homophobia
Some heterosexual cultures believe the homosexual sub-culture will destroy all other cultures in the country
Three Questions:
How do you view the future for the Taiwanese homosexual subculture? Will the subculture emerge, as it has in the United States, or will future government bodies submerge the homosexual communities in a wave of a unified society, that is the same for everyone?
Are the Taiwanese homosexual communities handling the situation correctly, in your opinion? Is there more that could be done? Is this only the beginning of a revolution, or are Taiwanese homosexual communities being too “nice” at this point in their fight for recognition?
Is there a current swing toward accepting sub-cultures in Taiwan, or will there be a government repression? Basically, who will win the “culture war”, in your opinion? Are there recent stories documenting repression of culture in Taiwan? What would you do in the same situation?
Reference:
Chen, Li-fen. Queering Taiwan: In Search of Nationalism’s Other. Modern China, 2011. 37(4) 384-421.
