“Minorities of the Minorities”: Intersectional Identities and Intercultural Communication among Chinese Mainland Queer Overseas Students

Abstract Book of the 7th International Conference on Gender Studies and Sexuality

Year: 2026

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“Minorities of the Minorities”: Intersectional Identities and Intercultural Communication among Chinese Mainland Queer Overseas Students

Qiji Nie

ABSTRACT:

Overseas mobility has become an important pathway through which queer Chinese individuals imagine new possibilities for identity expression, particularly in response to conservative social attitudes toward queer identities in mainland China. Although previous studies have examined Chinese queer migrants’ experiences, less attention has been paid to how Chinese Mainland queer overseas students experience these imagined possibilities in intercultural encounters.
Drawing on intersectionality, this study examines how nationality, sexuality, student status, and cultural background shape identity negotiation, self-disclosure, and belonging abroad. Based on semi-structured interviews with Chinese Mainland queer overseas students in regions with more open attitudes toward queer identities, this study uses thematic analysis to examine mobility, marginalization, and conditional empowerment. The findings show that participants often understood themselves as “minorities of the minorities”, positioned at the margins of Chinese student communities, local queer communities, and broader intercultural spaces. Many blurred or withheld certain identities because of safety concerns, fear of family exposure, and resistance to labeling. Overseas mobility did not automatically lead to freer queer identity expression, as family expectations, cultural norms, and internalized identity conflicts continued to shape coming-out practices. Rather than producing cumulative oppression, intersectional identities operated unevenly: visible markers such as race, nationality, and regional origin often shaped intercultural encounters before sexuality became relevant. The findings suggest that queer mobility should not be understood as a linear movement from constraint to freedom, but as an uneven intersectional process through which multiple identities shape the negotiation of visibility, belonging, and identity boundaries in everyday intercultural encounters.

Keywords: Disclosure; Marginalization; Mobility; Sexuality; Visibility