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An inside look at the lives of gay male and transgender sex workers in China
In Unlocking the Red Closet, Eileen Yuk-ha Tsang takes us to an upscale gay bar in the port city of Tianjin in Northeastern China, where the male staff have sex with regular clientele. She brings this world to life through interviews with over two-hundred people, including gay male sex workers and their wives, known as “Tongqi” (heterosexual women married to gay men), transgender sex workers, HIV patients, and the doctors who care for them.
Tsang argues that the violent oppression against the LGBTQ community in China has far-reaching consequences: the limitation of careers outside of the sex industry for gay men, because they do not adhere to traditional ideas of masculinity; the constant exposure to high-risk sexual practices and poor medical care due to stigma in the medical community; and the maintenance of the facade of heterosexual married life. Tsang denounces the homophobic culture and state-sanctioned oppression of the gay community, making a case that, in addition to the very real health risks many face in their profession, many of the gay male and trans sex workers also face social death should they try to lead lives that would embrace their gender and sexual identities.
Unlocking the Red Closet is a fascinating look into a rarely seen world that successfully locates the necropolitical within the queer and the queer within the necropolitical.
"An insightful account of a marginalized community that survives less on the edge than in the midst of urban society. Tsang’s narrative is nuanced, contextual, insightful, and a delight to read. I learned a lot. I'm sure you will too."
"Unlocking the Red Closet is a rich ethnographic study of male sex workers and their male and female clients. This important book exposes how economic independence has significant limitations as a force for liberation from social stigma and institutionalised prejudices—be they based on sexual identity, health status, or rural residency. It also shows how poverty and inequality intersect with prostitution to produce a thriving sector in urban areas, despite its illegality. Tsang provides readers with powerful insights into parts of Chinese society largely unseen and often misunderstood."
"Eileen Yuk-ha Tsang builds a textured portrait of queer labour, desire, and marginalisation...The book is essential reading for scholars, students, and activists concerned with LGBTQ issues, gender, sexuality, and the politics of survival in contemporary China."
"Unlocking the Red Closet is an outstanding book. There is deep research here. For anyone who has done qualitative research, 371 in-depth interviews is extremely impressive. It also is a methodological tour de force, not just in the research conducted, but also in how Dr. Tsang talks about qualitative methodology. It is amazing, important work."
"Unlocking the Red Closet is, like other books on this subject, a mix of sociological analysis and transcripts of the subjects’ interviews. There is mercifully little jargon, and the monologs are highly theatrical. And they are what make the book."
"A rich ethnographic account of a marginalized community that lingers on the edge of urban society."