The empowerment of rural migrant lalas: Contending queerness and heteronormativity in China

Abstract

In today’s China, women’s social roles continue to be rigidly associated with gender-based responsibilities that include defending the integrity of their family, entering into heteronormative marriage, and showing reproductive capabilities. Most of those who self-identify as lalas (lesbians) struggle with such issues as self-shaming emotions, disclosing their homosexuality to family members, friends, or colleagues, and dealing with family and social pressures. Within this context, I investigate queerness in a group of young Chinese rural migrant lalas working and living in the industrial area of the Pearl River Delta economic zone in South China. I draw two conclusions. First, rural-to-urban labour migration empowers rural female lalas by providing a measure of economic independence and an escape from patriarchal and homophobic family relations. Second, the integration of traditional (offline and face-to-face) socializing locations and emerging virtual communicative spaces plays an important role in the process through which possibilities of living a queer life are carved out.