The Phenomenon of “Formal Marriage” Among Sexual Minorities Under the Pressure of Family Marriage and Its Impact on The Experience of Intimate Relationships: The Case of Chinese Youths

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_81How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Formal Marriage; Homosexuals; Traditional Marriage; Gender Norms

Abstract

The social imperative that mandates marriage as the obligatory rite of passage for eligible bachelors and maidens”. Based on the theory of Doing Gender, this paper explores how sexual minorities (LGBTQ+) engage in strategic gender performances through “formal marriages” under the pressure of traditional marriage, and analyzes the complex impact of this practice on their intimate relationships, mental health, and social identities. The present study focuses on three central questions: first, how do marriage shapers allocate emotional resources between heterosexual and real same-sex couples through “double performances,” and how does this emotional labor reconfigure their patterns of intimacy? Secondly, playing traditional marital roles for a long period of time may lead to psychological problems such as identity fragmentation and anxiety, and how its mechanism can be explained through the Doing Gender theory. Finally, what risks may be involved after shape-shifting, and how risks can exacerbate the costs of Doing Gender. Through a combination of previous research and online ethnography, the study finds that shaped marriages are both a survival strategy for sexual minorities to cope with the oppression of gender norms and expose the systematic exclusion of non-heterosexuals from the traditional institution of marriage. Through the theoretical framework of “Doing Gender”, this paper reveals how the psychological and social pressures that come with marriage are experienced by those who are married in a form of marriage, while conforming to superficial norms.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Yaxuan Li
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/15
TI  - The Phenomenon of “Formal Marriage” Among Sexual Minorities Under the Pressure of Family Marriage and Its Impact on The Experience of Intimate Relationships: The Case of Chinese Youths
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on Mental Growth and Human Resilience (MGHR 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 734
EP  - 743
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_81
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_81
ID  - Li2025
ER  -