Ideological manoeuvres in and around Pink Dot

Abstract

This commentary comprises two parts. In the first part, different ways ‘ideological manoeuvres’ performed in and around Pink Dot discourses in Singapore and Hong Kong, as evinced in this special issue, are highlighted. ‘Ideological manoeuvres’ refer to the ideological actions and skilful management undertaken by social actors, explicitly or implicitly, to bring about or secure a tactical end in support of, or in opposition to, the Pink Dot LGBT social movement. In the second part, how the ideological manoeuvres are on-goingly shaped by, and shape, the geopolitics of gender/sexuality in Singapore and Hong Kong are discussed. In this regard, two areas are highlighted: the politics of Pink Dot’s expressed apoliticism; and the transnational purchase of Pink Dot’s mode of political organising. Both of these areas ‘speak to’ a critical project on the decolonisation of gender/sexual knowledge-making and practice in these two Asian contexts.