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VIDEO GAMES: China Plans to ban Games with Queer Content

Beijing - Pixabay

China will ban video games featuring same-sex relationships, ‘effeminate’ men and moral choices, according to a leaked memo. The internal memo from a recent internal training by the state-backed gaming association was revealed by the South China Morning Post, lays out new restrictions for approving video games in China. According to the publication, the memo said that video games must not be viewed as “pure entertainment”, and should instead convey “a correct set of values”. Games that feature queer relationships or “effeminate males”, the memo states, should not be approved for release in China. “If regulators can’t tell the character’s … Read more

Asta’s Annotations: Queer Theory in Modern Culture

In his 1993 essay “There’s something queer here” Alexander Doty stated that queer erotics were “already part of culture’s erotic centre” (Hollows, Hutching & Jancovich, 2000, pg 339) when he discussed queer readings of films. More than twenty years on, and with gay rights movements slowly gaining ground around the world, to what extent does this statement still hold true? I believe that these readings have become more mainstream. No longer merely the purview of cultural critics, they are readily embraced by an audience happy to celebrate diversity. In a previous column I discussed the role of fan fiction in … Read more