Chinese

Nǚ tóngzhì (女同志)

Nǚ tóngzhì (女同志) is a positive Chinese expression that means “female tóngzhì”. It derives from the word Tóngzhì (同志) which is translated “officially” as “comrade”. However, in the 80s, in Hong Kong and Taiwan, LGBT activism began using it to refer to people of any sexuality and/or gender, since it literally means “with the same interest” thus transforming it into “interest in the same sex. ” Although Tóngzhì also includes lesbians, as is the case with the word Gay, it is mainly used for homosexual men, and Nǚ tóngzhì (女同志), and its Mandarin variant nǚ tōng (女通), are used for lesbians.