Not coming out as affective care: LGBTQ+ individuals navigating the feeling landscape of intergenerational relationships

Using the decision to not come out amongst a group of Chinese LGBTQ+ individuals as its basis, the present study explains how care about and care for parents’ feelings is viewed by adult children as a key and distinct form of care that is central to the working and doing of intergenerational intimacy. The study critically engages with research on affect, emotion and care, the body of literature on the intimate turn in contemporary families, and the literature on the coming out and the intergenerational relationships of LGBTQ+ individuals. It defines the concept of affective care; illustrates its characteristics of duality, rationality and morality, and relationality; and discusses its dilemma and dark side. The results show how the doing of affective care reflects the broader transformation of intergenerational dynamics within Chinese families, the centrality of affect and the complexities involved in navigating the feeling landscape of contemporary Chinese family life.