Navigating the State-Family Nexus: Gay and Lesbian Experiences of Sexuality Governance in Urban China

This study examines the governance of sexuality in China in the absence of explicit legislation. Utilizing reflexive thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with 22 sexual minority adults in urban China and informed by a phenomenological approach to participants' lived experiences, we explore a regulatory framework in which same-sex relationships are neither criminalized nor protected. We identify four interrelated mechanisms operating within what we characterize as a state-family governance configuration. First, regulatory ambiguity refers to the lack of explicit laws, which creates ongoing uncertainty, allowing families to assume de facto enforcement roles. Second, familial sovereignty highlights parents' claims to direct the life choices of their adult children, grounded in economic dependencies and legitimized through the concept of mianzi (or "face"). Third, affective governance describes the reciprocal mobilization of emotional and cultural obligations, framing compliance as an expression of care. Finally, economic dependencies rooted in the post-reform neo-familist context provide the material foundation that strengthens the other mechanisms. Our contribution is positioned as a middle-range theorization within the governmentality tradition, specifically applied to post-reform urban China. We highlight familial sovereignty as the most novel mechanism, distinguishing it from perspectives that oversimplify parental authority to intergenerational reciprocity or cultural inheritance.