Article
Version 1
This version is not peer-reviewed
Betrayed, Beaten, Banished: The Stigma of Being a Rural Tongqi in China
Version 1
: Received: 13 August 2024 / Approved: 13 August 2024 / Online: 13 August 2024 (08:56:16 CEST)
How to cite: Tsang, E.; Fang, Y. Betrayed, Beaten, Banished: The Stigma of Being a Rural Tongqi in China. Preprints 2024, 2024080873. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202408.0873.v1 Tsang, E.; Fang, Y. Betrayed, Beaten, Banished: The Stigma of Being a Rural Tongqi in China. Preprints 2024, 2024080873. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202408.0873.v1
Abstract
Tongqi - women married to men who have sex with men (MSM) – from rural China encountered multi stigma with their male partners, family, community, local bureaucracies, and national laws, such as the hukou system, form a complex tapestry of life. The analysis navigates through various dimensions of stigma, reflecting systematically on their mutual implications. Social structures, including class and gender, shape societal norms and behaviors. This study explores the under-researched influence of social interaction, community relationships, and macrostructural factors contributing to the enacted stigma experienced by Tongqi Data collected from 59 rural Tongqi, 11 of whom contracted human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDs), reveals the significant role of extended kinship networks and macrostructural elements, such as hukou (household registration) and government officers, in shaping the stigma faced by Tongqi. The importance of village-level lineage structures and dynamics highlights how these lineage relationships, interwoven with gender practices, contribute to the enacted stigma, physical and psychological health, and well-being of Tongqi. These include mental health, post-traumatic stress, depression, functional impairment, and permanent disability. Others include reproductive health, unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and pregnancy complications.
Keywords
Enacted stigma; extended family; patrilineal marriage; Tongqi
Subject
Social Sciences, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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