Zhiqiu Benson Zhou
Biographic Data
| ID | 926025 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Zhiqiu Benson Zhou |
| GIVEN NAMES | Zhiqiu Benson |
| FAMILY NAME | Zhou |
| SIGNATURE | ZHOU Z B |
| AFFILIATIONS | New York University Shanghai |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2238-5178 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 8 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 25 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 8 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Being Chinese or becoming Chinese? Discursive imaginations of Eileen Gu across media platforms
This article examines representations and discussions of Eileen Gu, a biracial athlete who represented China in the 2022 Winter Olympics and won two gold medals and one silver medal, on Chinese state-owned and social media. Despite Gu’s unprecedented achievement, her identity drew controversy in China. This comparative study of media discourses on Gu reveals how Chinese identity is contested in a global context. The analysis suggests that state-o…
Performing lowbrowness: How Chinese queer people negotiate visibility on short-video platforms
In recent years, Chinese media have tightened regulations on LGBTQ-related content, yet queer people remain highly visible on short-video platforms. Many of them have become influencers with millions of followers. This paper examines queer people’s digital tactics of negotiating visibility and establishing queer connections. Based on extensive research from 2020 to 2023 on Douyin, this paper unpacks how rather than relying on bounded LGBT identit…
More bottoms than tops? Mediated sexual roles and masculinity assemblage in Chinese gay communities
This paper examines the discursive production of “there are more 0s (bottoms) than 1s (tops)” in a mediated environment, and its implications on gay communities. It explores why many Chinese gay men perceive it as a “sexual truth.” Based on ethnographic research from 2017 to 2021, I argue that this popular discourse is produced by the higher threshold to qualify as a 1 than a 0. The unequal threshold prevents many men from self-identifying, and, …
Patriarchal racism: The convergence of anti-blackness and gender tension on Chinese social media
By analyzing Douyin users’ mediated interactions with interracial couples in everyday contexts, this paper addresses the convergence of anti-blackness and domestic gender tension on Chinese social media. It introduces the perspective of ‘multiple triangulations’ to examine discussions of four types of interracial relationships on Douyin: black women and Chinese men, black men and Chinese women, white women and Chinese men, and white men and Chine…
Compulsory interracial intimacy: Why does removing the ethnicity filter on dating apps not benefit racial minorities
This paper reflects on the impact of dating apps’ removal of ethnicity filters on racial minority users. Many scholars, mass media, and dating app users believe that ethnicity filters mark an institutional endorsement of racism which is embedded in digital infrastructure. Accordingly, they have called for the removal of these filters. This advocacy is based on the assumption that expressions of racial preference are inherently racist. In the summ…
BesidesTongzhi: Tactics for Constructing and Communicating Sexual Identities in China
Through examining queer men's labeling practices, this paper illuminates the competing system of constructing and communicating queer identities in China. My research demonstrates that, in addition to relying on the termtongzhi, Chinese queer men have deployed three labeling tactics to make sense of distinct male homosexualities, using a wide range of slang terms. I argue that these tactics reveal the internal division and hierarchization on the …
Gender and Sexual Politics in China’s Online Dating Scene
Chinese dating apps have provided LGBT people with rare spaces for community building as well as personal connections. But the same apps can end up reinforcing heteronormative hierarchies and excluding some queer groups
(Un)Naturality and Chinese queer masculinities on Ailaibulai
This study analyzes the discourses of desire featured on the online queer reality TV program Ailaibulai. The show aired on LeTV in 2016 and was co-produced by a Chinese corporation—Blue City—that targets queer groups. This paper illuminates the hierarchized masculinities and widespread effeminophobia that are represented on the show. My analysis suggests that the show’s participants use the discourse of (bu)ziran—“(un)naturality” in English—to di…
Patriarchal racism: The convergence of anti-blackness and gender tension on Chinese social media
By analyzing Douyin users’ mediated interactions with interracial couples in everyday contexts, this paper addresses the convergence of anti-blackness and domestic gender tension on Chinese social media. It introduces the perspective of ‘multiple triangulations’ to examine discussions of four types of interracial relationships on Douyin: black women and Chinese men, black men and Chinese women, white women and Chinese men, and white men and Chine…
BesidesTongzhi: Tactics for Constructing and Communicating Sexual Identities in China
Through examining queer men's labeling practices, this paper illuminates the competing system of constructing and communicating queer identities in China. My research demonstrates that, in addition to relying on the termtongzhi, Chinese queer men have deployed three labeling tactics to make sense of distinct male homosexualities, using a wide range of slang terms. I argue that these tactics reveal the internal division and hierarchization on the …
Performing lowbrowness: How Chinese queer people negotiate visibility on short-video platforms
In recent years, Chinese media have tightened regulations on LGBTQ-related content, yet queer people remain highly visible on short-video platforms. Many of them have become influencers with millions of followers. This paper examines queer people’s digital tactics of negotiating visibility and establishing queer connections. Based on extensive research from 2020 to 2023 on Douyin, this paper unpacks how rather than relying on bounded LGBT identit…
Being Chinese or becoming Chinese? Discursive imaginations of Eileen Gu across media platforms
This article examines representations and discussions of Eileen Gu, a biracial athlete who represented China in the 2022 Winter Olympics and won two gold medals and one silver medal, on Chinese state-owned and social media. Despite Gu’s unprecedented achievement, her identity drew controversy in China. This comparative study of media discourses on Gu reveals how Chinese identity is contested in a global context. The analysis suggests that state-o…
Compulsory interracial intimacy: Why does removing the ethnicity filter on dating apps not benefit racial minorities
This paper reflects on the impact of dating apps’ removal of ethnicity filters on racial minority users. Many scholars, mass media, and dating app users believe that ethnicity filters mark an institutional endorsement of racism which is embedded in digital infrastructure. Accordingly, they have called for the removal of these filters. This advocacy is based on the assumption that expressions of racial preference are inherently racist. In the summ…
(Un)Naturality and Chinese queer masculinities on Ailaibulai
This study analyzes the discourses of desire featured on the online queer reality TV program Ailaibulai. The show aired on LeTV in 2016 and was co-produced by a Chinese corporation—Blue City—that targets queer groups. This paper illuminates the hierarchized masculinities and widespread effeminophobia that are represented on the show. My analysis suggests that the show’s participants use the discourse of (bu)ziran—“(un)naturality” in English—to di…
(Un)Naturality and Chinese queer masculinities on Ailaibulai
This study analyzes the discourses of desire featured on the online queer reality TV program Ailaibulai. The show aired on LeTV in 2016 and was co-produced by a Chinese corporation—Blue City—that targets queer groups. This paper illuminates the hierarchized masculinities and widespread effeminophobia that are represented on the show. My analysis suggests that the show’s participants use the discourse of (bu)ziran—“(un)naturality” in English—to di…
Gender and Sexual Politics in China’s Online Dating Scene
Chinese dating apps have provided LGBT people with rare spaces for community building as well as personal connections. But the same apps can end up reinforcing heteronormative hierarchies and excluding some queer groups
Compulsory interracial intimacy: Why does removing the ethnicity filter on dating apps not benefit racial minorities
This paper reflects on the impact of dating apps’ removal of ethnicity filters on racial minority users. Many scholars, mass media, and dating app users believe that ethnicity filters mark an institutional endorsement of racism which is embedded in digital infrastructure. Accordingly, they have called for the removal of these filters. This advocacy is based on the assumption that expressions of racial preference are inherently racist. In the summ…
BesidesTongzhi: Tactics for Constructing and Communicating Sexual Identities in China
Through examining queer men's labeling practices, this paper illuminates the competing system of constructing and communicating queer identities in China. My research demonstrates that, in addition to relying on the termtongzhi, Chinese queer men have deployed three labeling tactics to make sense of distinct male homosexualities, using a wide range of slang terms. I argue that these tactics reveal the internal division and hierarchization on the …
More bottoms than tops? Mediated sexual roles and masculinity assemblage in Chinese gay communities
This paper examines the discursive production of “there are more 0s (bottoms) than 1s (tops)” in a mediated environment, and its implications on gay communities. It explores why many Chinese gay men perceive it as a “sexual truth.” Based on ethnographic research from 2017 to 2021, I argue that this popular discourse is produced by the higher threshold to qualify as a 1 than a 0. The unequal threshold prevents many men from self-identifying, and, …
Patriarchal racism: The convergence of anti-blackness and gender tension on Chinese social media
By analyzing Douyin users’ mediated interactions with interracial couples in everyday contexts, this paper addresses the convergence of anti-blackness and domestic gender tension on Chinese social media. It introduces the perspective of ‘multiple triangulations’ to examine discussions of four types of interracial relationships on Douyin: black women and Chinese men, black men and Chinese women, white women and Chinese men, and white men and Chine…
Performing lowbrowness: How Chinese queer people negotiate visibility on short-video platforms
In recent years, Chinese media have tightened regulations on LGBTQ-related content, yet queer people remain highly visible on short-video platforms. Many of them have become influencers with millions of followers. This paper examines queer people’s digital tactics of negotiating visibility and establishing queer connections. Based on extensive research from 2020 to 2023 on Douyin, this paper unpacks how rather than relying on bounded LGBT identit…
Being Chinese or becoming Chinese? Discursive imaginations of Eileen Gu across media platforms
This article examines representations and discussions of Eileen Gu, a biracial athlete who represented China in the 2022 Winter Olympics and won two gold medals and one silver medal, on Chinese state-owned and social media. Despite Gu’s unprecedented achievement, her identity drew controversy in China. This comparative study of media discourses on Gu reveals how Chinese identity is contested in a global context. The analysis suggests that state-o…
Sociology (7 works) · Gender Studies (6 works) · Political science (5 works) · Asian Culture and Media Studies (4 works) · Gender Studies (4 works) · Gender, Feminism, and Media (4 works) · Aesthetics (3 works) · Art (3 works) · Law (3 works) · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy (3 works)