Journal of Asian Pacific Communication - Volume 33, Issue 2, 2023

Abstract

This case study focuses on the educational materials created by an NGO drop-in centre for the queer/questioning community in a Cambodian city. These materials consist of bilingual posters (English and Khmer) on display at the centre which provide explanations to those who make use of this space about diverse gender/sexual identities (LGBTQ+), as well as online resources featured on the NGO’s website/social media that raise awareness of these issues at both local and global levels. The study seeks to gain critical insight into the use of certain linguistic resources for sexuality education at this site of instruction. To do so, we present a multimodal discourse analysis of a sample of the materials, together with an analysis of metapragmatic reflections drawn from interviews conducted with the centre’s director. We therefore attend to how multilingual linguistic resources, and other semiotic forms, are being used to foster and shape knowledges about gender and sexualities at this site of community engagement, and how a metapragmatic negotiation of these knowledges in the interview reveals identity work that impacts these linguistic choices and their potential effects.

Abstract

The past decades have witnessed a growing preoccupation with gay languages across the world. However, little attention has been devoted to gay language in the Chinese context. To address the gap, this article examined the case of gay language used on a Chinese social media. Specifically speaking, we conducted a corpus-based analysis of sexual anti-languages (SA) on Blued, by following Halliday’s concept of anti-language defined as an extreme case of social dialects and the language of an anti-society. Using a total of 1,744 text-headlines collected from Blued users’ profiles, we identified and grouped Chinese SA into six categorizations. The findings reveal that Blued abounds with SA, each of which has undergone a unique formation process. In the end, we concluded by providing several directions for future research.

Abstract

This study adopts three-level narrative positioning to analyze the construction of the closet and integrate the identity- and desired-centered approaches to language and sexuality. In two coming-out narratives, the same-sex desiring Indian immigrants in the U.S. portray their heterosexually married counterparts as ‘deceiving and hiding’. In their recounts (level 1), the narrators position themselves opposite these story characters to create an ‘open and honest’ self. In the interaction (level 2), they evoke shared cultural knowledge with the interviewer regarding the pressure from family. Against the socio-historical context (level 3), the narrators’ outness is accentuated through such authenticating conditions as one’s marital status and nationality. Such coming-out binarism reinforces a normativity that validates ‘out’ homosexuality while/by discrediting its ‘closeted’ form. The theoretical integration highlights the interviewer’s role in coming-out research and illustrates the exclusionary force of coming out that reconfigures same-sex desires into hierarchized, intelligible sexual identities.

Abstract

The popularity of Mimi Peri as a queer micro-celebrity on Instagram shows a paradox in the Indonesian digital society, widely known for being very heteronormative towards gender and sexual identities. Despite the controversy over their queer performance and identity, Mimi Peri’s positive image as a “kind-hearted” and funny micro-celebrity managed to attract the attention of 1.9 million followers on Instagram. By using a virtual ethnographic paradigm within the framework of queer studies, this research examines how queer performativity in the @mimi.peri Instagram account during the periode between 2017 and 2018 presented and related to the Camp strategy. Switching their virtual identity, playing a role as a “female fairy”, parodying, and representing it as a comic figure have been identified as Mimi Peri’s practice and strategy to effectively gain the attention and acceptance of their followers. While there are established assumptions of queer subjects as fun and funny, we also argue that the strategy to commodify their comical performance can be seen as a form of negotiation to the predominant gender norms on Instagram.

Abstract

The study examined how LGBTQ individuals negotiate their identities in the Malaysian heteronormative society using the Discourse-Historical Approach. In-depth interviews were carried out with 13 LGBTQ individuals to find out the discursive strategies they used in describing the triggers for coming out, their experiences, and the reasons for their struggles. The analysis of the interview data showed that the participants used the “destiny” and “rights” arguments to counter the “legal”, “religious” and “traditional values” arguments used by heterosexuals to reject them. Referents and personal pronouns were selectively used by LGBTQ participants to present different perspectives, “us” versus “them” (heterosexuals), “I” and other LGBTQ individuals, and “I” versus “they” or “you” (other sexual orientations). The findings have implications that are relevant to mitigation of LGBTQ identities in contexts which have strong heteronormative norms due to legal, religion and traditional values.

Abstract

Gay men and the bakla in the Philippines have long battled invisibility that any chance to perform their gendered identities is a welcome gamble and opportunity to self-represent and be visible. This study looked into the nature of self-representation among gay and bakla in dating applications and how these representations become source of tensions in the LGBTQ+ community. In this study, ten gay men and ten bakla were interviewed to construct their self-representations and unearth the reasons why such presentations are enacted in the dating apps. Findings showed that gay men displayed heteronormative gay masculinity. Further, most of the bakla self-censored their profiles to get matches and dates. There were some bakla, however, who refused invisibility and used the apps as space for showing their authentic gender identity. Results of this study also identified the role of technology in enabling masculine idealizations that emphasize hegemonic masculinity while reinforcing bakla invisibility.

This article reviews The politics of dating apps: Gender, sexuality, and emergent publics in urban China30 USD

This article reviews Oral Histories of Older Gay Men in Hong Kong: Unspoken but Unforgotten978-988-8528-06-6$ 28

This article reviews The Language of Feminine Beauty in Russian and Japanese Societies

This article reviews Language Before Stonewall: Language, Sexuality, History978-3-030-33515-1$108