Sexual Identity and Lesbian Family Life : Lesbianism, Patriarchalism and the Asian Family in Taiwan

297 Pages·2017·8.717 MB·English

by  Pai, Iris Erh-Ya

Gender, Sexualities and Culture
in Asia
Series Editors
Stevi Jackson
Centre for Women’s Studies
University of York
York, United Kingdom
Olivia Khoo
School of Media, Film and Journalism
Monash University
Melbourne, Australia
Denise Tse-Shang Tang
Department of Sociology
The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
The Gender, Sexualities and Culture in Asia book series provides a wel-
comenewforumformonographsandanthologiesfocussingontheinter-
sections between gender, sexuality and culture across Asia. Titles in the
seriesincludemulti-andinterdisciplinaryresearchbyscholarswithinAsia
aswellasinNorthAmerican,EuropeanandAustralianacademiccontexts.
The series provides a distinctive space for the exploration of topics of
growing academic concern, from non-normative cultures of sexuality in
Asia, to studies of gendered identities cross the region. The series will
expandthefieldofAsiangendersandsexualitiesbyapplyingaculturallens
to current debates, including rural lives, migration patterns, religion,
transgender identities,sexindustryand family.
More information aboutthisseries at
http://www.springer.com/series/15191
IrisErh-YaPai
Sexual Identity and
Lesbian Family Life
Lesbianism, Patriarchalism and the Asian Family in
Taiwan
IrisErh-YaPai
York,UnitedKingdom
Gender,SexualitiesandCultureinAsia
ISBN978-981-10-4004-7 ISBN978-981-10-4005-4(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-981-10-4005-4
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To Mama,Papa and Eunice
P
REFACE
In November 2016 Taiwanese LGBT people had never been so close to
marriage equality under the law. The way this was being addressed was
through amending Civil Code #972 to give non-heterosexual partners
legal status as a spouse; a bill that would make Taiwan the first Asian
countrytolegalisesame-sexmarriage.On8Novemberthefirstreadingof
three draft amendments, proposed by the Democratic Progressive Party
(DPP), the Kuomintang (KMT) and the New Power Party (NPP), were
passed in the Legislative Yuan. Later, on 17 November, anti-marriage
equality demonstrators, mostly Christians, dressed in white and gathered
outsidetheLegislativeYuan,whileinsidetheJudiciaryandOrganicLaws
andStatutesCommitteereviewedtheproposalsbeforeasecondandthird
reading. In the end, the further progress of the bill was stalled, with
physical clashes breaking out within the Legislative Yuan between the
DPP and the KMT. They finally agreed that two public hearings would
be held on 24 (by KMT) and 28 (by DPP) November. Opponents from
KMT originally demanded thirty hearings, before this was negotiated
down to two. Holding public hearings is seen as a way to vent public
angerfromanti-marriage equalitydemonstrators.
TherulingDPP,whichcontrolsTaiwan’sparliamentandtookpowerin
2016, was considered to be more LGBT-friendly than the KMT. In
particular,presidentTsaiIng-Wenhadmadecampaignpromisestorealise
marriageequality.Thereweresomestronganti-gayelementsintheDPP,
however,whostalledtheCivilCodeamendmentsandturnedtosupport-
ingcivilpartnershipsornothing.NowitwastimetoseewhetherTsaiand
herparty wouldkeepher promiseornot.
vii
viii PREFACE
The anti-LGBT demonstrations spread false rumours and twisted the
facts of the bill once Taiwan started to debate marriage equality. The
opponents’ argument against legalising same-sex marriage was that such
a move would lead to Taiwan becoming an ‘island of AIDS’, somehow
harming the children of heterosexual couples by steering them towards
sexual perversion, or otherwise offend God. In an anti-marriage equality
protest on 3 December, seven LGBT activists were hurt when they
showed up with rainbow flags. What worries me most is the hate speech
andhomophobicsentimentsagainstLGBTsexualityandlifestylechoices.
Theuniformidea‘onlywifeandhusband,onemotherandonefathercan
formafamily’hasmade‘family’loseitscolouranddiversity.Theexistence
of non-heterosexual families, lesbian families in this book, is a solid fact
thatprovesthem wrong.
Protests against same-sex marriage outside the Legislative Yuan took
place in November and early December and I believed there would be
moreduringtheprocessoflegalisingmarriageequality.Toshowthatthey
far outnumbered anti-marriage equality demonstrators, pro-marriage
equality groups organised a demonstration on 28 November and mobi-
lised about 30,000 participants on a weekday with little notice. It is
believed it was the first large assembly on LGBT matters, if the annual
LGBT pride parades are not counted. The next event for pro-marriage
equalitywasamusicfestival,whichtookplaceatKetagalanBoulevardon
10 December to coincide with World Human Rights Day. This event
gatheredupto250,000supportersandeveryonehopedforthebestasthe
LegislativeYuanhadmarked26Decemberasthenextdateforreviewing
the amendments. However, the future of marriage equality in Taiwan
remainsto be seen.
Backin2003therewereonly500participantsinthefirstTaiwanLGBT
pride. On 29 October 2016 over 80,000 took to the street to call for
marriage equality. I have been on marches for LGBT rights many times.
Walking in the parades, I am always touched by LGBT people and their
bravery.Eachfacerepresentsachoiceoflifestyleandfamily.Theyallhave
storiesbehindthem.Theunconventionallifestylechoicesofthemarchers
motivatedthemtospeakup.Istartedthinkingabouttheirstories,Imean,
our stories. I realised that my story would contribute to the picture one
day. Empirical study is one of the methods that can be used to approach
thesestories andIdecided thismight be a goodstartingplace forme.
So, I sought to talk to the lesbian couples around me. This way of
gatheringinformationledtomychoiceofaqualitativemethodologyand
PREFACE ix
in-depthinterviewsasmyresearchmethod.Iwishedtocollectlesbianlife
storiestoillustratetheirwaysofmakingtheirownfamilies.Theaimwasto
documentdetailednarrativesoflesbiansinmygeneration;thusthisstudy
does not constitute a representative sample of the population. These
methodsarediscussed ingreaterdepth in Chapter3.
Beforetheanalysiscanbegin,however,itisnecessarytoexpandonthe
relevantliterature.BesidesAsianauthors,Iconsultedwesternstudiesand
foundsomething‘different’.Thedifferencesreflectedspecificculturaland
socialcontexts.Inthefirstchapter,throughliteratureonsocialchangein
Taiwan and women’s stories in my own family, I present a picture to
situate myself and to consider accounts of how women’s lives and family
relationships have been changing, which help to explain women’s life
experiences in Taiwan. Chapter 2 contextualises my research within wes-
terndiscussionsanddebatesonsame-sexintimacy.Chapter3concentrates
on the analysis of interviews I conducted with 15 lesbian couples, sepa-
rately and jointly. In Chapter 4 I discuss stories about the realisation of
same-sex attraction and formations of lesbian identity, with data mostly
fromindividualinterviews.Chapter5dealswiththesewomencomingout
and their relationships with their families of origin. I also explore their
relationships with their partners’ families of origin and develop a new
perspective on relationships outside the patriarchal family. Chapter 6
focuses on my participants’ relationship histories and their making of
commitments, with data from both couple and individual interviews.
Finally,inChapter7,Idiscussthesecouples’viewsonegalitarianrelation-
ships andhowthismay be reflected intheirdailyinteractions.
This research would not have been possible without these women’s
supportandknowledge,sofirstlyIwouldliketoexpressmyappreciation
to all the women who participated in this research for their generosity in
sharing stories. I also owe many thanks to my PhD supervisor, Stevi
Jackson from the Centre for Women’s Studies at The University of
York. My grateful thanks are also extended to women in my family and
in mylife.
C
ONTENTS
1 Womenin TaiwaneseFamilies:A Personal History 1
Taiwanese Marriageand Family:The Past 1
Social Changein Taiwan (1970s-1990s) 10
Single Womenand Lesbians in TaiwaneseFamilies:The Present 30
References 42
2 WesternTheories onSame-Sex Intimacies 45
Same-Sex Intimacies 46
Lesbian/Gay Normalisationand EgalitarianLesbian
Relationships 58
References 71
3 Methodology 73
Contacting Interviewees 74
Characteristics ofInterviewees 79
Interviewing 83
Analysisof Data 94
Reflection onthe Process 98
References 99
4 IndividualSexual Stories 101
Becoming aLesbian 102
Lesbian Identity andSexual Roles 124
xi