By Chandrani Das
China putting restraints on multiple issues is not a new topic to discuss, but the recent crackdown on women writers has jolted the world. China’s continuous dominance has already made it difficult for people to breathe. While some writers find solace by pouring their hearts onto pages, China’s recent actions have metaphorically torn those pages apart and spilled ink all over them. These actions clearly reflect how the country censors the publishing of gay erotica.
At least 30 writers—nearly all of them women in their 20s—have been arrested across the country since February. Some are currently in custody, some have received bail, and others have been summoned for questioning.
The authors had published stories on a Taiwan-hosted platform known for its ‘danmei’—a genre of boys’ love and erotic fiction. The platform is often compared to a gay version of Fifty Shades of Grey, and Chinese women have been reading these stories religiously.
The question that arises is whether writing about bold topics can truly be considered unlawful. China is accusing these writers of breaking the country’s pornography laws for “producing and distributing obscene material.” Imagine—a writer who creates to earn a living could be jailed for more than a year just for violating a vaguely defined law.
“Is sex really something to be ashamed of?” asked a Weibo user, arguing that China’s anti-obscenity laws are outdated and out of touch with reality. Another user wrote that women never get to decide what is obscene because they don’t control the narrative. Even legal scholars have expressed concern that just 5,000 views of any content deemed “obscene” qualifies as criminal “distribution,” significantly lowering the threshold for arrest.
Repression on women writers
These women, who have long worked in the shadows of a society where terms like homosexuality and eroticism are stigmatized and sensationalized, are now being exposed through legal probes, leading to social consequences that are often more damaging than legal ones.
One writer shared:
“I was always the good girl in my parents’ eyes. But that day, I brought them nothing but shame. They’ll never hold their heads up again.”
An author who has been writing for almost 20 years said the crackdown won’t stop her:
“I can’t let go of the connections I’ve made with the community.”
Haitang and danmei have become uniquely female spaces, though the stories are often centered around men. In a culture where female sexual desire is routinely policed, danmei offers a coded and creative escape for women—a space where they can express their desires, including those for other women. These writers understand that tolerance needs to evolve, so they cleverly navigate censorship with metaphors—“making dinner” stands for sex, and “kitchen tool” is a euphemism for male genitalia.
“Danmei frees me from thinking about all those potential dangers in relationships portrayed in traditional heterosexual romance,” explains one writer who has been active in the danmei world for over a decade.
This platform has been under scrutiny for years, particularly as Beijing has launched a series of clean-up campaigns targeting so-called ‘rotten content’ on the internet. In 2018, a danmei author was sentenced to 10 years in prison for selling 7,000 copies of her book titled Occupy.
Now, police raids on writers are being treated like criminal investigations, carried out with such severity that they demand global attention. One well-known author, who earned approximately 1.85 million yuan, was sentenced to nearly five years in prison. Police in Jixi County, in eastern China, made a large number of arrests.
This is not where it ends. Chinese police have been reported to search phones without warrants. Authorities assessed the “severity” of crimes by adding up the views of each chapter of the written content.
“Right now, I can only hope the law will look beyond the words on the page—and see the girl who skipped meals to save money, the girl who sold her hair to buy a pen, the girl who believed her mind could carve a path through fate. I hope it gives all of us a fair chance,” says one writer.
An issue rooted in the past
In 2020, the organizers of Shanghai’s long-running LGBT Pride festival cancelled the event without prior notice. The decision was reportedly driven by government pressure, marking the start of a massive crackdown.
Following these events, students on campuses began to feel the impact. There were increasing attacks on gender identity, with a growing push to reinforce the idea that “men must be macho.” The government had already imposed strict controls on state-run television and newspapers, including China Daily, closely monitoring the content being produced.
Dr. Shuaishuai Wang, a lecturer in New Media and Digital Culture at the University of Amsterdam, explains:“In talent shows, many male contestants appear in unisex clothing and heavy makeup. Their styles are well-received among young audiences. But this diversity—and the challenge it poses to the heterosexual norm—has been viewed as a threat by authorities.”
Gender and sexuality have now become major targets in China’s censorship campaigns. While depictions of same-sex love—like men kissing or holding hands—are banned from film and television, many tech platforms have attempted to bypass censorship to meet the growing demand for gender-diverse and LGBT content.
Ironically, the Chinese government claims LGBTQ+ identities are Western imports, despite historical evidence proving otherwise. For instance, Shen Defu, a writer from the Ming Dynasty, wrote extensively about gay relationships and described them as common, particularly in Fujian Province. Records indicate that about 5% of the population identified as LGBTQ+ at the time.
“Today, we not only see a proliferation of public expressions of LGBT identity, community, and culture in urban China; we also see a rising consciousness of gender variance, sexual diversity, and citizen rights—all of this was unthinkable 30 years ago,” said Dr. Wang.
Despite this social awakening, China still lacks basic protections for people against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Same-sex marriage remains illegal, and Human Rights Watch describes the situation for LGBT people in China as precarious in its most recent review.
In February 2021, China’s education ministry introduced new teaching methods designed to promote “masculinity” and improve schoolboys’ mental and physical health. The initiative was widely seen as an attempt to train boys to conform to traditional male stereotypes from an early age.
In September of the same year, China’s top media regulator announced a boycott of “sissy idols” as part of a broader effort to “clean up” the entertainment industry. The authorities took issue with pop idols who wore makeup or didn’t conform to the traditional, macho image of masculinity. They were viewed as threats to traditional social values.
This crackdown extended into the world of video games, where depictions of gay relationships and “effeminate men” were banned, categorized under promoting “the wrong set of values.”
China’s government is using nationalism paired with patriarchal masculinity to tighten its grip on gender and sexual expression, areas where it feels increasingly threatened. The state views non-heterosexual identities as deviant and foreign simply because they don’t align with its heteronormative principles.