“Boys’ Love”, these cheerful erotic fictions written by women who irritate Chinese police

Editorial phenomenon in Asia and beyond, the “Boys’ Love”, this concentrate of romance and eroticism telling stories of homosexual couples for female readership, comes up against the growing zeal of the Chinese police.

Most often. Furthermore, heterosexual women have held the pen and in recent months, dozens of them, notably publishing on the Taiwanese site Haitang Literature City have said that they were arrested and accused of falling under the law.

The “boys’ love” romances, or BL for initiates, are a rare space of expression for LGBT+ people and feminist ideas. In addition, These stories jostle stereotypes on the roles of men. Moreover, women, explains to AFP Miu Miu, a 22 -year -old author who writes under pseudonym.

“It is a way of resisting male domination,” she says.

The last wave of repression. However, led by the Lanzhou police (northwest), mainly targeted non-professional authors who earn very little money, when they earn, with their writings.

China prohibits taking advantage of “dissemination of obscene content”. For example, “Serious” cases can be punished by ten years in prison. This law applies when a publication exceeds 10,000 views or when it earns more than 50,000 yuan (nearly 9,550 dollars).

In theory, the law provides an exception for artistic works. But in practice, the police are generally free to decide where they apply it.

“The criteria are obsolete,” denounces the lawyer for one of the authors prosecuted, who requested anonymity. “Chinese “boys’ love”, these cheerful erotic society no longer has the same sex to sex as 30 or 40 years ago.”

“Are they really going to condemn me to three or five years in prison?” They know what it represents, three or five years in a lifetime? ”, Worries an author on the Weibo social network.

Threatened by police, she claims to have won only 2,000 yuan (approximately 382 dollars) for two books consulted 100,000 times.

Borderless censorship

This wave of repression rekindles criticism of the practices of certain Chinese police officers, accused of going to fishing for suspect far beyond their jurisdiction area, sometimes thousands of kilometers.

“Police believe “boys’ love”, these cheerful erotic that this kind of thing can bring him money. ” said Liang GE, lecturer at the University College in London.

An officer of Lanzhou. in the northwest of the country, thus traveled 2000 kilometers to question an author residing on the East Coast.

Returning provisional. it risks a prison sentence and a fine – which would make it ineligible to the competitions of the public service or to certain positions in education and health.

Another 20-year-old author. who had won around 21,000 yuan ($ 4,000), had to travel thousands of kilometers to get from Chongqing (southwest) to Lanzhou.

When he arrived, the police asked him to “make the income illegal” to hope to see his sentence reduced.

“These methods are deeply unhealthy,” denounces his lawyer, adding that the Chinese government has issued several directives against these practices.

“Collective awakening”

For activists. these arrests are part of a broader movement of “boys’ love”, these cheerful erotic the public expression of the LGBT+movement, which has accentuated under the reign of Xi Jinping.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in China in 1997, but discrimination remains strong, and marriage between people of the same sex always illegal.

The genus “Boys’ Love”. which originates in Japanese manga published in the 1960s and whose popularity exploded, was also quickly censored. The adapted television series from these fictions have erased all allusion to homosexual relationships. the lovers being transformed into simple “friends”.

In 2018. an author nicknamed Tianyi received more than ten years in prison for having won the equivalent of around 18,000 euros with a homoerotic novel featuring a teacher and her pupil.

Many Chinese “have the feeling that space to express themselves freely has been reduced,” judges Liang GE.

“It is no longer a question of posting something on a social network. but it now affects what you read, alone, at home, “boys’ love”, these cheerful erotic in your private life”.

After alert messages have circulated on social networks, many users have hastily deleted their account on Haitang.

The author Miu Miu. she did not completely give up the idea of ​​finishing her stories, even if she recognizes that this is now almost “fantasy”.

“Sex education has become taboo,” she explains. But this movement “is perhaps also the sign of a collective awakening”.