China is Targeting & Arresting Gay Erotic Fanfiction Writers

Gay Erotic Fanfiction Writers Targeted & Arrested in China

According to reports from Radio Free China, delivering uncensored, domestic news and information to China, Tibet, North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Burma, there has been a task force in place targeting gay online fiction writers in China in its alleged war on pornography.

As of now, ten people have been charged and served prison time for posting gay erotica online. The prosecution campaign is centered around the adult fiction website Haitang Literature. Among the popular categories on the site is danmei, which explores romance and sexual relationships between two men. Like OnlyFans, writers post their works on the site and subscribers pay a fee to read the stories. The China task force is focusing on writers who have earned over 300,000 yuan (around $41 K US). Legislation provides for a maximum sentence of life in prison, although if funds are paid back, this could be reduced. Life in prison!?!?!?! Among those arrested, some writers were sentenced to over four years in prison.

Being gay in China is technically legal but the government has been actively increasing anti-LGBTQ activity in the last few years. In 2023, the LGBT Center in Beijing was closed due to pressure from the government. The nation also has a ban on any presentation of what they consider effeminate. China's most popular social media platform WeChat has also deleted LGBTQ-focused profiles.

 

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Producing and distributing pornography has been illegal in China, since 1997. Apparently the law as it pertains to erotica has not been consistently enforced. Even individual consumers of pornography are subject to the law, even if in the privacy of their own homes. To date, more than 50 writers of all erotic genres have been detained. These arrests have been hidden by the government-led media and independent media outlets and family members of the writers are going public on social media to make the public aware of what is going on.

The LGBTQ community does not have any protections under China law. Same-sex marriage, adoption, and other legal rights are not extended to the queer population. There are no legal anti-discrimination laws in the workplace or housing, and hate crimes in the nation do not include any anti-LGBTQ activity. There is no depiction of homosexual relationships allowed in China's programming.

 

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Homosexuality was prevalent in China's early dynasties, as written about in literature and royal history. Homosexuality was even viewed as a luxury by the middle classes. In 1740, China instituted its first homosexual sexual activity ban, as part of the Qing dynasty's mission to uphold social order and obedience. It wasn't until 1997 that homosexuality was removed from criminal law. Conversion therapy is still legal in the nation.

With so much chatter about free speech and conservative government taking power away from the LGBTQ community happening around the world, who knows where our global movement will be in the next few years?

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