In this article, the author analyzes the emergence of a ‘coming out’ discourse in Taiwan and the generational variation in its relevance for queer lives. Drawing from fieldwork with gender and sexually nonconforming people ranging in age from their 20s to their 70s, she argues that dominant identity-based frameworks are inadequate for understanding how and why this discourse has emerged in Taiwan at this historical moment. The findings point instead to generational shifts in familial interdependency and intimacy, which require new and hybridized strategies for managing gender and sexuality within families. This article highlights the importance of placing the small but growing body of work on LGBT family of origin relationships in conversation with theories of parenthood, kinship and family change.
AcostaK (2011) The language of (in)visibility: Using in-between spaces as a vehicle for empowerment in the family. Journal of Homosexuality58(6–7): 883–900.
2.
Brainer A (2014) Lesbian, gay, and queer kinship in Taiwan: Generational changes and continuities. PhD thesis, University of Illinois at Chicago.
3.
Brainer A (2015) Mothering gender and sexually nonconforming children in Taiwan. Journal of Family Issues. Published online ahead of print. DOI: 10.1177/0192513X15598549.
4.
ChaoAYN (2000) Global metaphors and local strategies in the construction of Taiwan’s lesbian identities. Culture, Health & Sexuality2(4): 377–390.
5.
ChowPKYChengST (2010) Shame, internalized heterosexism, lesbian identity, and coming out to others: A comparative study of lesbians in Mainland China and Hong Kong. Journal of Counseling Psychology57(1): 92–104.
6.
ChuCYCYuRR (2010) Understanding Chinese Families: A Comparative Study of Taiwan and Southeast China, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
7.
CorriganPMatthewsA (2003) Stigma and disclosure: Implications for coming out of the closet. Journal of Mental Health12(3): 235–248.
8.
Davis D and Friedman S (eds) Wives, Husbands, and Lovers: Marriage and Sexuality in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Urban China. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
9.
DecenaCU (2011) Tacit Subjects: Belonging and Same-Sex Desire among Dominican Immigrant Men, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
10.
DingN (2007) ‘Wife-in-monogamy’ and ‘The exaltation of concubines’. Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies9(2): 219–237.
11.
Faircloth C and Murray M (2014) Parenting: Kinship, expertise, and anxiety. Journal of Family Issues, special issue, Spring: 1–15 (accessed 29 July 2014).
12.
FloydFJBakemanR (2006) Coming-out across the life course: Implications of age and historical context. Archives of Sexual Behavior35(3): 287–296.
13.
FriedmanS (2014) Marital borders: Gender, population, and sovereignty across the Taiwan Strait. In: DavisDFriedmanS (eds) Wives, Husbands, and Lovers: Marriage and Sexuality in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Urban China, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
14.
Hu YY (2011) Gender, transnational culture, and new media: Enacting female queer sexuality in Taiwan. PhD thesis, Indiana University.
15.
HuangH (2011) Queer Politics and Sexual Modernity in Taiwan, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
16.
HuangLWW (2013) The transition tempo and life course orientation of young adults in Taiwan. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science646(1): 69–85.
17.
JollyM (2001) Coming out of the coming out story: Writing queer lives. Sexualities4(4): 474–496.
18.
JonesGW (2005) The ‘flight from marriage’ in Southeast and East Asia. Journal of Comparative Family Studies36(1): 93–119.
19.
KleinKet al. (2015) Complicating the coming out narrative. Journal of Homosexuality62(3): 297–326.
20.
KuoSCG (2007) A cultural legal study on the transformation of family law in Taiwan. Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal16: 379–396.
21.
LanPC (2014) Compressed modernity and glocal entanglement: The contested transformation of parenting discourses in postwar Taiwan. Current Sociology62(4): 531–549.
22.
LinJPChangTFHuangCH (2011) Intergenerational relations and life satisfaction among older women in Taiwan. International Journal of Social Welfare20(S1): S47–S58.
23.
LuMCW (2005) Commercially arranged marriage migration: Case studies of cross-border marriages in Taiwan. Indian Journal of Gender Studies12(2–3): 275–303.
24.
MartinF (2003) Situating Sexualities: Queer Representation in Taiwanese Fiction, Film, and Popular Culture, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
25.
McLelland M (2001) Out on the global stage: Authenticity, interpretation and orientalism in Japanese coming out narratives. electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies 1(1). Available at: http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/articles/McLelland.html (accessed 23 December 2016).
26.
Poston DL, Yang WS and Farris DN (eds) (2014) The Family and Social Change in Chinese Societies. New York: Springer.
27.
TanCKK (2011) Go home, gay boy! Or, why do Singaporean gay men prefer to ‘go home’ and not ‘come out’?Journal of Homosexuality58(6–7): 865–882.
28.
TangDTS (2011) Conditional Spaces: Hong Kong Lesbian Desires and Everyday Life, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
29.
ThorntonAChangJSLinHS (1994) From arranged marriage toward love match. In: ThorntonALinHS (eds) Social Change and the Family in Taiwan, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
30.
ValensK (2013) Desire between Women in Caribbean Literature, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
31.
WangFTYBihHDBrennanDJ (2009) Have they really come out? Gay men and their parents in Taiwan. Culture, Health & Sexuality11(3): 285–296.
32.
WongD (2007) Rethinking the coming home alternative: Hybridization and coming out politics in Hong Kong’s anti-homophobia parades. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies8(1–2): 600–616.
33.
WongCYTangCSK (2004) Coming out experiences and psychological distress of Chinese homosexual men in Hong Kong. Archives of sexual behavior33(2): 149–157.
34.
YiCCLinJP (2009) Types of relations between adult children and elderly parents in Taiwan. Journal of Comparative Family Studies40(2): 305–324.
35.
YuRRLiuYS (2014) Change and continuity in the experience of marriage in Taiwan. In: DavisDFriedmanS (eds) Wives, Husbands, and Lovers: Marriage and Sexuality in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Urban China, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 239–261.
