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Queer Diaspora and Digital Intimacy: Chinese Queer Women's Practices for Using Rela and Her in Australia

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Queer Diaspora and Digital Intimacy: Chinese Queer Women's Practices for Using Rela and Her in Australia QUEER DIASPORA AND DIGITAL INTIMACY: CHINESE QUEER WOMEN’S PRACTICES FOR USING RELA AND HER IN AUSTRALIA Haili Li BA, MA Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Digital Media Research Centre School of Communication Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice Queensland University of Technology 2021 Keywords Australia Chinese diaspora Chinese queer women Cross-cultural context Digital intimacy HER Identity Negotiation Lesbian social and dating apps LGBTQI Queer diaspora Rela Queer Diaspora and Digital Intimacy: Chinese Queer Women’s Practices for Using Rela and HER in Australia i Abstract This research explores how social and cultural contexts play into Chinese queer women’s experiences of and practices for using lesbian social and dating apps, such as Rela and HER, in Australia. Rela is a Chinese lesbian social app, and HER is an English-language Western lesbian dating app. This research deploys the app walkthrough method (Light, Burgess, & Duguay, 2018) to analyse these two lesbian dating apps’ respective development trajectories and primary technological features and explores how key design elements are intertwined with the social and cultural contexts in which Rela and HER are situated. This data is then combined with semi- structured in-depth interviews with 25 Chinese diasporic women who use Rela and/or HER to unpack their digital practices for socialising and dating as mediated through lesbian social apps in the Australian context. With its Chinese social media design logic, Rela is shown to have consistently foregrounded multifunctionality since its launch and established stringent censorship mechanisms to cope with China’s online censorship system. However, HER is marked by its minimalistic and single-functioned design, which coheres with popular English- language dating apps such as Tinder and Bumble, developed in the Western context. The app’s transition from a copy of male-oriented dating/hook-up app design to a service with more female-oriented features and functions is also shown to reflect changing perceptions around gender and sexuality and the nature of mobile lesbian social cultures in a global context (especially in the West). Thus, despite their clear differences, both Rela and HER are seen to have iteratively developed into platforms targeting broader and more diverse user groups than simply ‘lesbian women’. Moreover, social and cultural contexts have been instrumental in shaping these two apps’ technological infrastructures to this end. Findings from this research also suggest that Chinese queer women have felt both enriched and challenged by using Real and HER in Australia. For example, digital intimacy enabled by lesbian social apps has assisted users in feeling a sense of belonging and security while living in Australia. This occurs through building connections with (primarily Chinese) queer women’s communities, both in the transnational and local contexts, and by allowing them space to explore their own Queer Diaspora and Digital Intimacy: Chinese Queer Women’s Practices for Using Rela and HER in Australia ii sexual identities and desires, negotiate family pressures, and experience a different kind of life. At the same time, however, perceived privacy and safety risks, race-related prejudice, disputes and tensions- particularly in the context of interracial and intercultural communications and connections- also challenged the women in this research, aggravating their underlying concerns about mobile lesbian socialising and dating. By shedding light on Chinese queer female diaspora’s practices for using lesbian social and dating apps in Australia, this study contributes to enriching existing work in the domain of lesbian social and dating apps and their user practices, particularly in non-Western and cross-cultural contexts, which remains largely understudied. In a broader sense, this research also offers insights into understanding digital intimacy practices and cultures within queer diasporas, highlighting how migration experiences and sociocultural contexts play into queer diasporic groups’ digital media use. Queer Diaspora and Digital Intimacy: Chinese Queer Women’s Practices for Using Rela and HER in Australia iii Table of Contents Keywords .................................................................................................................................. i Abstract .................................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents .................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ........................................................................................................................ vii List of Tables ........................................................................................................................ viii List of Abbreviations .............................................................................................................. ix Statement of Original Authorship ............................................................................................. x Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. xi Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................ 1 1.1 Research Background ......................................................................................................... 4 1.1.1 Development of mobile dating apps in the Chinese and global context ..................... 4 1.1.2 Homosexuality and heteronormative values in Chinese society ................................. 7 1.1.3 Chinese diaspora in Australia ................................................................................... 10 1.2 Research Design ................................................................................................................ 11 1.2.1 App cases: Rela and HER ......................................................................................... 12 1.2.2 Walkthrough ............................................................................................................. 14 1.2.3 Semi-structured in-depth interview ........................................................................... 15 1.3 Thesis Outline ................................................................................................................... 21 Chapter 2: Dating Applications and Digital Dating Cultures .............................. 25 2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 25 2.2 Dating App Studies ........................................................................................................... 26 2.3 LGBTQI Digital Dating Studies ....................................................................................... 29 2.3.1 Gay men’s digital dating studies ............................................................................... 29 2.3.2 Queer women’s digital dating studies ....................................................................... 32 2.4 Non-Western and Cross-Cultural Dating App Studies ..................................................... 37 2.4.1 Non-Western dating app studies in the Chinese context and beyond ....................... 37 2.4.2 Cross-cultural dating app studies .............................................................................. 42 2.5 Chinese Diaspora’s Digital Practices in Australia ............................................................ 45 2.6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 47 Chapter 3: Walkthrough of Rela and HER ........................................................... 51 3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 51 Queer Diaspora and Digital Intimacy: Chinese Queer Women’s Practices for Using Rela and HER in Australia iv 3.2 Walkthrough of Rela and HER ......................................................................................... 52 3.3 Walkthrough Findings of Rela .......................................................................................... 56 3.3.1 Multifunctional design and community building ...................................................... 57 3.3.2 Ubiquitous censorship and surveillance .................................................................... 66 3.4 Walkthrough Findings of HER ......................................................................................... 72 3.4.1 Rebranding and transformation: From a ‘Grindr-like’ model to a lesbian social community .................................................................................................................... 73 3.4.2 Community building and event design ..................................................................... 78 3.5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 85 Chapter 4: Networked Chinese Queer Women: Connection Building and Development ............................................................................................................. 89 4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................
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