Queer Politics and Sexual Modernity inTaiwan

This book analyses the critical reception of Pai Hsien-yung’s Crystal Boys, one of Taiwan’s first recognized gay novels, and one which has played an important role in redefining sexual modernity and linking this to ongoing cultural dialogues on state building. It examines the deployment of sexuality over the past five decades in Taiwan by paying particular attention to male homosexuality and prostitution. In addition to literary and film material, the study engages a number of relevant legal cases and media reports. Through Hans Huang’s primary research and historical investigations, the book not only illuminates the construction of gendered sexual identities in Taiwanese culture but also, in a reflexive fashion, critiques the culture that produces them.