How gay men's wives in China practice co-cultural communication: Culture, identity, and sensemaking. Issue 1 (2nd January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tang, Lu; Meadows, Cui; Li, Hongmei
• Is Part Of: Journal of international and intercultural communication. Volume 13:Issue 1(2020)
• Page Start: 13
• Page End: 31
• Publication Date: 2020-01-02
• Subjects: Gay man's wife -- tongqi -- China -- narrative analysis -- co-cultural theory; Communication, International -- Periodicals; Intercultural communication -- Periodicals; 303.48205
• DOI: 10.1080/17513057.2019.1569252
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1751-3057

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Around 13.6 million heterosexual women in China are married to gay or bisexual men, and they call themselves tongqi . Tongqi belong to both co-cultural groups (as women and wives) and a dominant group (as heterosexuals). Through a narrative analysis of 51 stories told by tongqi, this study examines the co-cultural strategies tongqi use, and identifies two novel co-cultural strategies: self-blaming and enduring. It also examines how tongqi narratively construct their husbands' co-cultural strategies and finds that tongqi often internalize the ideologies (of gender, sexual orientation, marriage, and family) in their sensemaking process and in their communicative responses to their husbands.