Abstract
Layered colonial experiences and literary
discourses on the congregating of early gays and lesbians in the Hsimenting area of Taipei together make up part of the reason for the continued association of Hsimenting as social space with both youths and sexual
minorities, especially lesbians and gays. This thesis investigates the complex
relations between class and body expression among young Hsimen T’s and Po’s, including 1) Hsimen T/Po-lesbian’s
conscious discourse concerning their appearance, intimate relations and sexual
interaction; 2) the multiplicity and mobility of their “sex” and “sexuality”;
3) the ways in which T/Po-lesbian intimate relations cannot simply be reduced
to copy versions of heterosexuality.
This thesis contends that Hsimen young T/Po-lesbians ’ “class” must be seen as made up
of and through the following three dimensions. 1) The socio-economic “class”
that is formed through education, age, economic status, etc. 2) The cultural
“class” reproduced even within the last decade of ga y and lesbian critical discourse wherein an intellectual position leads to the
subordination of Hsimen young T/Po’s and T/Po’s in
general. 3) The “sex/gender system” wherein public society will exclude that
“sex” that does not correspond with “gender;” in such a hierarchical system,
“gender-benders” and especially young “gender-benders” are regarded as “freaks”
whether or not they are of higher socio-economic status. These three concepts of “class”
intermingle and interweave in the lives and discourse of Hsimen T/Po. This thesis explores how a subordinate “class” (in the above three
dimensions) of Hsimen T/Po-lesbians practice and
trespass the inflexible boundaries of heterosexual masculinity and feminity in their bodily appearances and their sexual
interactions.
This thesis concludes that Hsimen T/Po’s body expression and practices transgress the traditionally defined dual
gender frame as it blurs the binary concepts of male and female derived
masculine and feminine. Hsimen T/Po-lesbians bodies
and their sexual interactions together establish distinct subjective identities
through important processes of dress-codes, hair-styles, breast-binding, and
particular mannerisms in talking, action and sexual practice. These processes
of shaping complex Hsimen young T/Po identities
interweave socio-economic class and sexual pleasures, while negotiating with
hegemonic social exclusionary practices through complex exchanges of social
resources. Through the everyday lives and actions and perceptions of young Hsimen T/Po-lesbians, we glimpse the vitality and diversity of
Taiwan
’s lesbian cultures.
Key word: Hsimenting, lesbian cultures, T/Po
identities, space, class, body