Since graduate school, I have been invested in the “Queer Asias” project defined by various scholars, such as Howard Chiang, Alvin Wong, Helen Leung, and more. I see my contribution to this mainly in the areas of popular culture and sexual health and behavior. For me, the project of queer Asias is very much a collaborative exercise and for this reason, my publications on this tend to be co-authored.
Examples of publications on this are:
Lai, Zishan and Michelle H. S. Ho. 2024. “‘Banning Sissy Idols to Clean Up the Entertainment Industry’: Queer Practices of Shipping BTS in Mainland China,” in East Asian Journal of Popular Culture. 10: 205-223.
Ho, Michelle H. S. and Evelyn Blackwood. 2024. “Queer Asias: Genders and sexualities across borders and boundaries” in Sexualities 27(1-2): 68-76.
Ho, Michelle H. S. 2022. “‘Queer’ Media in Inter-Asia: Thinking Gender and Sexuality Transnationally” in Media in Asia Global, Digital, Gendered and Mobile, edited by Youna Kim, 226-238. New York: Routledge.
Ho, Michelle H. S., Eva Cheuk-Yin Li, and Lucetta Y. L. Kam. 2021. “Editorial Introduction: Androgynous Bodies and Cultures in Asia,” in Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 22(2): 129-138.
Queer Men in Singapore: Digital Intimacies, Sexual Behaviors & Mpox Perceptions
Launched in 2023, I have led a new project as co-Principal Investigator alongside Dr. Borame Dickens. “Queer Men in Singapore” explores the perceptions, understandings, and lived experience of gay, bisexual, or queer (GBQ) men in Singapore, with a focus on digital intimacy, sexual behaviors, and mpox.
“Queer Men in Singapore” is in collaboration with a team of various scholars and stakeholders: (from left to right, top to bottom) Dr. Borame Dickens (SSHSPH, NUS), Dr. Rayner Tan (Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill & SSHSPH, NUS), Dr. Yudara Kularathne (HeHealth), Dr. Jungup Lee (Social Work, NUS), Dr. Lim Jue Tao (Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, NTU), and Dr. Kriti Vikram (Sociology and Anthropology, NUS).
Grant supporting Queer Men in Singapore:
2023
Reimagine Research Scheme Category A, Ministry of Education (MOE) Tier 1 Grant for “Queer Men in Singapore: Digital Intimacies, Sexual Behaviors, and Mpox Perception”; “Constructing sexual contact matrices for the men who have sex with men (MSM) community to perform Monkeypox transmission modelling.”
Presentations on Queer Men in Singapore:
2025
“Queer Side of Things: Digital Intimacies and Dating App Desires Among Men in Singapore.” International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), Singapore, July 13-17. Co-presented with Wi En Ng and Philippa Rae Self.
“Dating App Desires: How Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Men in Singapore Navigate Intimacy in a Digital Age.” International Communication Association Annual Conference, Denver, United States, June 12-16. Hosted by the LGBTQ Studies Interest Group. Co-presented with Wi En Ng.
“Side of the times: How new dating app categories influence gay, bisexual, and queer men’s identities in Singapore.” Nordic Conference on Masculinity Research, Stockholm, Sweden, June 11-13. Presented by Philippa Rae Self.
“Digital Intimacies of Gay, Bisexual, and Queer (GBQ) Men in Singapore .” Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Brown Bag Seminar Series, Singapore, April 11. Co-presented with Wi En Ng and Philippa Rae Self.
Michelle H. S. Ho 