Dozens of writers of LGBTQ+ erotica have been arrested in China in a bid to crack down on ‘pornographic’ content, it has been reported.
The People’s Republic (PRC) has a zero-tolerance approach to what it sees as vulgar or illegal content and has removed thousands of website in past crackdowns to ‘purify’ its internet.
Censors have now targeted as many as 50 authors in the eastern province of Anhui as part of a special operation.
Many were arrested after publishing on the Taiwan-based erotica 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.
Ten of those sentenced had posted gay erotica, Radio Free Asia reported, based on several accounts from newspapers in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.
‘One of my friends is an author, who was released on bail, called me from a new phone and told us to be prepared,’ one writer posted to the gaming bulletin board NGA, cited by the AO3 fan-fiction site on Reddit.
Another post referred to ‘a nationwide crackdown,’ adding that the Chinese distributor of the website has been targeted.
How the writers are sentenced under Chinese law depends on how much money they make, with some potentially facing a maximum sentence of life in prison.
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In 2018, a court in China sentenced a novelist, Ms Liu, to 10 years in prison for including gay scenes in her work.
Her book, titled ‘Occupation,’ featured ‘male homosexual behaviour… including perverted sexual acts like violation and abuse.’
China’s pornography laws, which prohibit the production, distribution, and sale of sexually explicit material, have long been used as a backdoor for censorship.
Despite the fact that homosexuality is neither a crime nor regarded as an illness in China, LGBTQ+ people face widespread discrimination.
This adds another layer of suppression of freedom of expression when it comes to publishing erotica.
Any LGBTQ+ content is specifically subject to censorship in China’s state-controlled media.
In 2016, for example, the government ordered the removal of China’s first online gay-themed TV series from the internet, Human Rights Watch reported.
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