Report identifies LGBT preferences in capital

China Daily

Chinese gay men prefer sports like volleyball, tennis and badminton and pay more attention to their buttocks and chest muscles during workouts, while straight men prefer soccer and are more concerned with their abs and thighs, according to a lifestyle report from the LGBT community.

The report was based on data from gay and lesbian social networking apps Blued and Lesdo, Gaode maps and Yidianzixun.com, which provides tailor-made information to readers.

China has an estimated 70 million LGBT people.

"The LGBT community in China should be seen and their voices heard. The report, the first of the kind here thanks to big data assessment, aims to do that," said Yidianzixun CEO Li Ya.

More than 2 million people subscribe to LGBT-related information and news, and nearly 110 million pieces of information can been seen via the platform, the report said.

Gay men tend to follow news and information on entertainment, relationships, fitness, cosmetology and food, while straight men like military affairs and politics better, it said.

Nationwide, LGBT people are more concentrated in areas like Beijing and Shanghai, as well as the northeastern and southwestern parts of China, it said.

In Beijing, gay men are most likely to frequent areas like Sanlitun, where many bars and posh boutiques are located, as well as Xidan and Shuangjing, it found.

On weekends, one in five men present in Sanlitun might be gay, it said.

Geng Le, Blued CEO, said: "More media exposure of the community, like the report, helps improve public awareness and fights social discrimination and stigma."

Companies that want to tap into the "pink economy", businesses and commodities for the LGBT community－can access useful information in the report, he added.

This includes shopping, entertainment, travel, insurance and even assisted reproductive technologies, he said.

About 60 percent of Blued and Lesdo users have an iPhone, the most popular smartphone brand among Chinese homosexuals. The top three auto brands for gay men are BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi, while for lesbians they are Land Rover, Lamborghini and Mini Cooper, the report said.

Li said gay men are generally economically well off, as they usually work in occupations like public relations, advertising, culture and movie/TV production.

Li Yinhe, a sociologist and sexologist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the report was "interesting".

But "no one should be stereotyped, as everyone, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, is different," she said.