Ou Xiaobai (; born ) is the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...

designer of the

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on ...

iHomo, which connects

homosexuals Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

with someone of the opposite sex for the purpose of having a heterosexual marriage ().

Biography

Ou lived in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

with her long-term female partner. Due to increasing pressure from her family, she married a man in 2012. Her husband is also

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

and has a long-term male partner. During the wedding, Ou's girlfriend acted as her

bridesmaid Bridesmaids are members of the bride's party in a Western traditional wedding ceremony. A bridesmaid is typically a young woman and often a close friend or relative. She attends to the bride on the day of a wedding or marriage ceremony. Trad ...

. An advantage to her marriage is that Ou's mother is reassured Ou will be looked after when her mother dies. In addition, Ou's husband is no longer bothered by his colleagues to date women. The couple visit their parents as a married pair during festivals, but the rest of the time Ou lives with her girlfriend and her husband lives with his boyfriend.

iHomo

iHomo began as a service that Ou ran through

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social me ...

to help homosexual friends experiencing parental and social pressure to meet others for

marriages of convenience A marriage of convenience is a marriage contracted for reasons other than that of love and commitment. Instead, such a marriage is entered into for personal gain, or some other sort of strategic purpose, such as a political marriage. There are ...

. Ou reportedly organised over 80 events and assisted in making 100 marriages of convenience. In December 2015, Ou released a

beta version A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impr ...

of an iHomo

mobile application A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

, designed to allow gay and lesbian users to find each other for marriages of convenience. Beyond matchmaking, the app was designed to provide information on

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term i ...

cafes, shops and restaurants in China, where marriage between people of the same sex is not recognised.

Criticisms

Ou has pointed out that, for some people, a marriage of convenience can cause more problems than it solves, particularly if the individual's parents live in the same city. In addition, Chinese couples often face pressure from parents to have children soon after marriage. In the event that the couple of convenience has a child, by

IVF In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an ovum, egg is combined with spermatozoon, sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's Ovulation cycle, ovulatory process, remo ...

or other methods, then the question of which couple raises the child and in which house becomes problematic.

Awards

* 100 Women (

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

) - 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ou, Xiaobai Living people BBC 100 Women Chinese computer businesspeople Chinese activists Chinese women activists Chinese LGBT rights activists Computer programmers 1980s births Women civil rights activists