What Content in Videos Posted by Gay Bloggers on YouTube Could Make Chinese People More Accepting of Sexual Minorities

Authors

  • Shuyi Chen Department of ENGL, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54097/m4vjh063

Keywords:

Sexual minorities, gay bloggers, YouTube, China, content analysis, public acceptance, social media communication, video narratives.

Abstract

This study considers how the video content the gay bloggers post on YouTube can make the sexual minorities to be more accepted by Chinese audiences. The question is put in the context of China in its changing social, policy and media environment, in which the sexual minorities suffer the discrimination but also are more visible by the online. With the qualitative content analysis, we review the videos by some famous lesbian and gay bloggers, and compare the visible presentation, the language style, the video-cover's design, the narrative topics, and the implicit social messages. The result shows that the familiar everyday dress, the friendly language, the visually coherent cover, the funny or the emotionally persuade story-telling, and the narratives of the discrimination and the family to accept them all help to reduce the social distance. The paper believes that social media can make the life of sexual minorities to be more legible to mainstream view, and it can provide the organization with the communication strategy of improving the public understanding.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

[1] Liang, A. (2023, June 28). China's plight of sexual minorities under force majeure. BBC News. http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-66040480

[2] BBC. (2021, July 9). Chinese gay group's WeChat account blocked in protest: We're all unnamed public numbers. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-57763594

[3] United Nations Development Programme. (2016). Being LGBTI in China: A national survey on social attitudes toward sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. UNDP China. https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/migration/cn/UNDP-CH-PEG-Being-LGBT-in-China_CH.pdf

[4] Hu, J., Tan, L., Huang, G., & Yu, W. (2020). Disparity in depressive symptoms between heterosexual and sexual minority men in China. PLOS ONE, 15(1), e0226178. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226178

[5] Zhang, Y. (2020). Mental health status of transgender and cisgender college students. Chinese Journal of Mental Health, 34(1), 61 65.

[6] Pang, T. K., Chow, L. Z., & Huang, Y. T. (2022). Far more than a deal: Sexual and gender minorities' experiences of the rental housing market in Hong Kong. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 19, 1795 1807. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13174-022-00847-8

[7] Lo, I. P. Y. (2022). Violence in the double closet: Female same-sex intimate partner violence and minority stress in China. Journal of Lesbian Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/10894160.2022.2091732

[8] Suen, Y. T., Chan, R. C. H., & Badgett, M. V. L. (2021). The experiences of sexual and gender minorities in employment: Evidence from a large-scale survey of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people in China. The China Quarterly, 245, 142 164. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741020000987

[9] Legislation Division, State Council of the People's Republic of China. (2023, March 20). Law of the People's Republic of China on Population and Family Planning. National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China. http://www.nhc.gov.cn/fzs/s3576/202303/5f2c908317154d2f8e57d1df4b0df41a.shtml

[10] Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. (2021, January 28). Letter of reply to proposal No. 4404 of the third session of the 13th National Committee of the CPPCC. http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xxgk/xxgk_jyta/jyta_jiaoshisi/202101/t20210128_511584.html

[11] National Medical Products Administration. (2022, November 30). Announcement on the publication of the prohibited list of drugs sold on the Internet (No. 111 of 2022). https://www.nmpa.gov.cn/yaopin/ypggtg/20221130200847133.html

[12] National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China. (2022, April 20). Interpretation of the national catalog of restricted technologies and clinical application management specifications (2022 edition). http://www.nhc.gov.cn/yzygj/s3586/202204/5030835ba4d74ab995a0ebf1d55d5034.shtml

[13] Wachler, B. B., & Youn, T. (2022). Influenced: The impact of social media on our perception. ProQuest.

[14] Alrasheed, M., Alrasheed, S., & Alqahtani, A. S. (2022). Impact of social media exposure on risk perceptions, mental health outcomes, and preventive behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gale Academic OneFile.

[15] Guadix, M. G., & Incera, D. (2021). Homophobia is online: Sexual victimization and risks on the internet and mental health among bisexual, homosexual, pansexual, asexual, and queer adolescents. Computers in Human Behavior, 119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106742

[16] Bowstead, J. M. (2023). Gay men's style: Fashion, dress and sexuality (Book review). Fashion Theory, 27(7), 1005 1009. https://doi.org/10.1080/1362704X.2023.2211456

Downloads

Published

25-08-2026

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Chen, S. (2026). What Content in Videos Posted by Gay Bloggers on YouTube Could Make Chinese People More Accepting of Sexual Minorities. Academic Journal of Management and Social Sciences, 17(1), 126-131. https://doi.org/10.54097/m4vjh063