Literature has shown that privacy is important for an individual to manage their boundaries. As individuals’ subjectivity is greatly shaped by society, privacy can provide some sense of self-determination. 

Visibility of queer bodies and queer expression can put queer people at risks of violence in the heteropatriarchal society, thus navigating privacy is built in everyday queer lives. In addition, the profit-driven motive of most of the digital technologies, privacy is capitalised and bodies are digitalized without one’s consent. When raised privacy concerns related to digital innovation and privacy breach, privacy is seen as anti-progressive and anti-innovation. But the very data breach and context collapse is making it harder for one to take control of their privacy. While the digital space continues to be an escape and safer space for queer young people, the policies and infrastructure around it can shape their behavior and can be determinant on choices they made.

Today, privacy is a highly contentious topics given everyday life of people and the systems around them now intersects with digital technology, without always having an option to opt-out. The affordances of digital technology has been studied in great extent in the lives of queer people, showing the opportunities, it creates for them to find community and space for exploration and expression. However, digital space also mirrors the queerphobia, stigma and discrimination queer people face in their daily lives because of their socio-cultural, legal and political situation. Queer privacy is therefore an important area to explore to learn queer digital culture. Studying how queer people understand privacy will provide a framework on how they are navigating balance between privacy and visibility in the age of surveillance capitalism. 

In such a context, this research aims to unpack how different institutions in Nepal including social, cultural, political, legal, technological ecosystem and geographical help shape understanding of privacy among young queer people. The research will further investigate how the understanding of privacy among young queer people shape their identity of self and sexual expression in digital space. The study attempts to document various privacy based strategies queer people in Nepal employs to protect themselves while expressing themselves. This qualitative research employs interviews, focus group discussion and digital ethnography as research tools.