By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Attorneys in China claim between 30 and 50 writers have been arrested this year for writing gay erotica.
Attorneys in China claim between 30 and 50 writers have been arrested this year for writing gay erotica.
Dozens of writers have been arrested in China this year for publishing gay erotica online as law enforcement's crackdown on pornography increasingly targets LGBTQ+ stories.
Police have arrested as many as 50 writers in Gansu in the past several weeks, according to The New York Times, which spoke with two lawyers representing detained authors who said they knew of at least six other cases. Other attorneys told the BBC that at least 30 writers, nearly all of them women in their 20s, have been arrested across the country since February.
Many of the writers were arrested after publishing on the Taiwan-based adult fiction website Haitang Literature, which allows authors to earn money through tips and subscriptions. One of the most popular genres on the website is "danmei" — romantic and sexual relationships between men.
Some of the writers have come forward about their arrests on the social media platform Weibo only to be censored or taken down. One woman wrote, as first reported by the BBC, "I'll never forget it — being escorted to the car in full view, enduring the humiliation of stripping naked for examination in front of strangers, putting on a vest for photos, sitting in the chair, shaking with fear, my heart pounding."
The production and distribution of pornographic materials is illegal in China based on a 1997 law that defines obscene material as “publications, films, video and audio recordings, and images containing depictions of sexual acts." Writers who make more than 250,000 yuan ($34,500) from selling erotic materials face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The law, which applies even to writers making little or no money off their work, has not been consistently enforced. It has been used to shut down not just other fanfiction and erotica websites — with those running the platforms receiving sentences of up to 12 years in prison — but also to prosecute individuals consuming pornography in the privacy of their homes.
More than 50 writers were detained in the province of Anhui from June to January by a “special task force” assigned with targeting online distributors of erotic fiction. Some of the top authors on Haitang Literature received varying sentences of one to five years in prison, differences being based on whether or not the writers were able to pay back the money they earned.
"If I could go back, I'd still choose to write. And I will keep writing," another writer said on Weibo. "Right now, I can only hope the law will see beyond the words on the page - and see the girl who skipped meals to save money, the girl who sold her hair to buy a pen, the girl who believed her mind could carve a way through fate. I hope it gives all of us a fair chance."
Ryan is a reporter at The Advocate, and a graduate of New York University Tisch's Department of Dramatic Writing, with a focus in television writing and comedy. She first became a published author at the age of 15 with her YA novel "Someone Else's Stars," and is now a member of GALECA, the LGBTQ+ society of entertainment critics, and the IRE, the society of Investigative Reporters and Editors. Her first cover story, "Meet the young transgender teens changing America and the world," has been nominated for Outstanding Print Article at the 36th GLAAD Media Awards. In her free time, Ryan likes watching the New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild, listening to the Beach Boys, and practicing witchcraft.
Ryan is a reporter at The Advocate, and a graduate of New York University Tisch's Department of Dramatic Writing, with a focus in television writing and comedy. She first became a published author at the age of 15 with her YA novel "Someone Else's Stars," and is now a member of GALECA, the LGBTQ+ society of entertainment critics, and the IRE, the society of Investigative Reporters and Editors. Her first cover story, "Meet the young transgender teens changing America and the world," has been nominated for Outstanding Print Article at the 36th GLAAD Media Awards. In her free time, Ryan likes watching the New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild, listening to the Beach Boys, and practicing witchcraft.
