Analysis Of Farewell My Concubine And The King And...

Throughout many countries around the world, homosexuality has always been subjected as a controversial matter. The societal attitudes towards the behavior of homosexuality vary substantially across Asia. Surprisingly, there are two conflicting attitudes toward homosexuality. Some Asian countries strongly condemn against homosexuality. Whereas, in some Asian countries visibly accept homosexuality. Judith Butler explained that gender is represented as a stylized repetition of acts or imitation. She described the categories of sexuality and gender as a form of performativity (Butler 1996, 368). This essay will explore and examine the experience of gender identity via the exploration of case studies in two distinct socio-cultural contexts.†¦show more content†¦Homosexuality in ancient China was extensively well-recognized and moderately tolerated, although it was not solely accepted (Wu 2003, 118). Before the thirteenth century, the early ancient Chinese possess an open-minded v iew towards human sexuality (Wu 2003, 118). There was no form of an equivalent abstract idea to one’s identity as being â€Å"gay† or â€Å"lesbian† (Wu 2003, 118). According to a Hong Kong sociologist Chou Wah Shan, the adjective â€Å"homosexual† was never a noun in ancient China (Drescher and Vittorio 2003, 118-119). This is because ancient China’s mainstream belief system did not have views on homosexuality. Homosexuality in traditional China was not reported as an identity nor a particular gender difference. In fact, it is known as a formation of behavior or act (Dubel, Ireen and Andre 2010, 173). This structural interpretation is similar to Judith Butler’s argument in which gender identity is a performative of acts, behaviors, and gestures. Moreover, homosexuality was very popular in the midst of man dynasties among the Chinese emperors. During the history of the West Han Dynasty, ten out of the eleven Chinese emperors had at least one homosexual lover or had expressed some form of homosexual proclivities (Wu 2003, 120). In ancient China, those who were considered homosexual or had any sexual activity with the same sex were not perceived with deviant personalities. Instead, it was considered as simply sharing the passion (Dubel,