Hao: Lonely and isolated, but in a new relationship...
Introduction:
Hao is a 29 year-old gay Han Chinese male living in Vancouver, Canada. Because he hails from Hubei, China (where Covid-19 was first identified), the pandemic began affecting Hao's life early in the year. He was especially anxious about the safety of his family, particularly because little was known about the novel coronavirus in January and February. Thankfully, Hao's parents survived the outbreak. Covid-19 eventually spread to Canada, and Hao went into lockdown with the rest of Vancouver. Hao says the pandemic makes him feel both lonely and isolated. Before the pandemic hit, he had an active sex life, perhaps two encounters per month. Since the lockdown was lifted, he has had only two sexual encounters. Hao says both of those meetings made him very nervous; he was reticent to kiss, and was especially attentive to his hygiene after the encounter. He uses gay apps to seek out such encounters, and has noticed that online chats have become more conversational and less directly focused on sex and sexuality, as if users are virtually keeping each other company throughout the pandemic. More recently, Hao met someone, and they are now in a relationship. Unfortunately, because his new-found partner works in long term care, they are not spending time with each other frequently.
Notable Quotes:
WHAT'S BEEN YOUR EXPERIENCE OF THE PANDEMIC THUS FAR?
“So my experience is probably a little bit different from most people because I'm originally from Hubei Province. So, that's where the pandemic began. So, at the beginning when the pandemic is not in the US or Canada yet, I was already feeling nervous, I was anxious. We didn't know much about the virus. So, I was worried about my family. Well, thankfully they were ok. And then the virus spread to the US and Canada, and then I had to experience lockdown myself. And during this whole year, I've been feeling quite lonely and isolated.”
HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC AFFECTED YOUR SEX LIFE?
“So, before the pandemic, I think I was really, I was quite active, in terms of my sexuality. I would have sex with someone once a couple weeks, one a two weeks, or something like that. And then, since the pandemic, because at the beginning there was rules, and there was the lockdown, so during that time you were not supposed to, you know see anyone, out of your own household. So I didn't, yeh I didn't have any sex. And then after the lockdown was lifted, I think I saw people, I hooked up with people, like twice in total, during this whole last year.”
HOW HAS COMMUNICATION ON GAY ONLINE PLATFORMS CHANGED?
“Since the pandemic, I've seen a lot of profiles saying, oh, we're only looking for chats, we're supposed to physically distancing. And then, a lot of people are just chatting.”