本文首先介紹晚明男色小說與本文的問題意識，然後討論晚明男色是否已經形成了如西方早期現代同性戀的群體或身分─西方同性戀身分的建構過程除了城市化，還有來自社會控制與科學知識話語的力量。本文首先討論相當於科學知識話語的晚明之神魔或神怪小說的話語建構（以及後來帶有自然啟蒙的話語建構）。接着本文指出對賣淫群體的社會控制才是形成男色群體身分的關鍵，而非引發男風話題的仕人。最後本文批評了當前評價男色（受女權主義影響）的觀點，由此比較中國男色與西方同性戀的差異，以期展望中國男色與西方同性戀兩者做為具有歷史源起的知識概念系統之範式競逐。

This essay begins with an introduction to the nanse (male beauty) novel of late-Ming dynasty and then discusses whether the nanse was comparable to the homosexual in the early modern of the West in terms of its collective consciousness and identity, focusing on the “scientific” discourse that functioned in the construction of homosexuality/nanse. This essay argues that the Chinese god-demon-ghost-goblin stories initially serve as “scientific/mythological” discourse (and later supplemented by naturalist enlightenment narratives) in constructing the nanse identity. Furthermore, this essay maintains that the practice of prostitution is the key to the forming of collective consciousness and identity of nanse, rather than the topical performance of radical literati. In latter sections of the essay, the prevalent evaluation of nanse from an egalitarian or feminist viewpoint is criticized, and thereby this essay demonstrates the difference between Chinese nanse and Western homosexual, both as historically originated conceptual-systems. The essay ends with the outlook of nanse as a new paradigm in recounting the same-sex phenomenon and its politics.