Gender and Sexuality Stream
Research Stream: Gender and Sexuality
The research stream on gender and sexuality at the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies explores the complex interplay among gender, sexual, and cultural/national identities in contemporary China. We draw on interdisciplinary expertise across gender and sexuality studies, cultural and media studies, Chinese studies, and political science to explore how ideas and practices of gender are transformed in mediated and unmediated realities. We are also keen to join public debates on gender issues in China and participating in the making of counterculture. The stream aims to foster transformative understandings and practices of gender and sexuality through a combination of scholarly inquiry, creative expression, and social engagement, contributing to ongoing debates on identity, representation, and social justice in the region.
Latest Publications
- Tang, Ling. 2025. ‘No Success No Queer: Burnout Queerness for Queer Female Entrepreneurs in Post-Socialist Urban China.’ Media, Culture & Society 47(7). Link.
- Cui, Le, and Song Lin. 2025. 'The Im/Possibility of Home: Chinese Queer International Students’ Homing Experiences in New Zealand.' Mobilities. Link.
- Tang, Ling, and Yihuan Zhang. 2025. ‘Invoking Humor: The Digital Making of Queer Affective Solidarity through Gaoxiao Vlogs in China.’ Communication, Culture & Critique 18 (3). Link.
- Wang, Hongkun, Yihuan Zhang, and Ling Tang. 2025. ‘Indigenizing Feminist Rage: The Affective Formation of Rad-Feminist Politics in Digital China.’ International Journal of Cultural Studies. Link.
- Lin, Song, and Tingting Liu. 2024. 'Can China Really Ban Sissies?: Situating "Sissiness" between State and Popular Discourses in Trans/national China.' Nan Nü: Men, Women and Gender in China 26: 326–49. Link.
- Cui, Le, and Song Lin. 2024. 'Queer Migration, Heteronormativity, and the "Ethnic Closet": Chinese Queer International Students’ Intersectional Experience in New Zealand.' European Journal of Education. Link.
- Ding, Runze, and Song Lin. 2023. 'Digital Sexual Publics: Understanding DIY Gay Porn and Lived Experiences of Sexuality in China.' International Journal of Communication 17: 2463–78. Link.
- Lin, Song, and Shangwei Wu. 2023. 'Walled Cosmopolitanization: How China’s Great Firewall Mediates Young Urban Gay Men’s Lives.' Journal of Computer-mediated Communication 28(2). Link.
Events
Webinar Series: Confronting Online Gender-Based Violence in China
This three-part webinar series is organised by the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Melbourne in collaboration with Global China Lab as part of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence in November and December2025. Bringing together survivors, advocates, legal experts, journalists, and international scholars, the series examines how technology-facilitated sexual violence unfolds in China, who bears the brunt of it, and where legal and policy gaps persist, while also drawing on global experiences and promising practices. Across all three events, the goal is to foster cross-cultural learning, collective action, and new strategies to confront digital violence in all its forms. Full program and registration links here.