This was like 5 or 6 years ago as I recall, I guess it stuck though (referring to party officials as “comrade” again).
Still a market economy though after all that time. I know attitudes toward gay people are largely overblown by more conservative elements in PRC’s censorship apparatus. A lot of that is a result of US-backed operations in the region though, when your adversary is willing and able to spend billions on propaganda against your domestic constituency it’s hard to combat that with anything other than police powers, and anything “Western” often has to be treated with the same brush. The marketplace of ideas is pretty obviously going to favor the ones with the most capital to burn, definitely if you look at the US for example. My fiance is from Shanghai and over 50, has no negative opinion whatsoever with gay or trans folks.
:inshallah-script: :inshallah:
I once talked to a girl on HelloTalk who was like “it’s so improper to take a term as noble as 同志 and use it for non-political reasons!” I don’t think she was really homophobic or anything and it was all good after I clarified I was both gay and a communist, just a very funny interaction with a Chinese college student
Who the hell was she? The language police? So what if someone wants to call their gay lovers comrades?
Some 19 year old who probably has some lingering homophobia picked up from her surroundings, but also a very positive opinion of communists.
The people I talk with on HelloTalk trend younger and more educated (lots of college students trying to master their English speaking), but it’s really heartwarming to see that most people I talk with have very fond views of communism (even if just the sense of “our government is good”), and hostile homophobia is very rare to see. Everyone seems chill with lesbians, and the worst I’ve heard about gay men is that they are sometimes too girly, but even then most people have positive responses to my questions. I’ve only told a few people I’m trans, and that took a little more explaining, but nobody was shitty about it. No Chinese ever called me 人妖.
The Chinese kids are alright.
even if just the sense of “our government is good
Imagine being able to feel this way :cri:
Not familiar with HelloTalk - if I’d like to reach out to Chinese comrades and talk to them, is it like an ESL app? Or just a standard social media thing?
But at what cost?
