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The ebb and flow of female homoeroticism in the online Chinese queer fandom of the 2006 Super Voice Girl
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Zhao, Jamie J. (2018) The ebb and flow of female homoeroticism in the online Chinese queer fandom of the 2006 Super Voice Girl. Journal of Fandom Studies, 6 (1). pp. 33-45. doi:10.1386/jfs.6.1.33_1 ISSN 2046-6692.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/jfs.6.1.33_1
Abstract
Super Voice Girl (SVG) was an Idol-style Chinese reality show that allowed only female contestants. The show became famous worldwide for featuring gender nonconforming contestants. This article examines the rise and fall of the most popular online Chinese queer fandom of the 2006 SVG in the forum feise chaonv (FSCN). I focus on the fans’ ambivalent play with Chinese-specific female homoerotic imaginaries that initially popularized and protected but eventually led to the decay of FSCN as a queer fantasy space. First, I look at the subtle ways in which the 2006 SVG tactically normalized the female homoerotic imaginaries surrounding its tomboyish national finalists. Then, I examine FSCN fans’ struggles with both this female homoeroticism and the stigmatization of real-world lesbianism. I demonstrate that the fictional imagination of female homoeroticism sustained FSCN as a popular queer fantasy space after the show ended. Additionally, I detail the fans’ self-contradictory reactions to several real-life lesbian incidents involving the finalists that gradually came to light in the post-show years. I argue that the fans’ confinement of female homoeroticism to a youthful, memorable fantasy scenario that was substantially shaped by both Chinese mainstream and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender cultures eventually contributed to the abrupt end of FSCN’s queer-themed practices.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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Divisions: | Faculty of Arts > Film and Television Studies | ||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Journal of Fandom Studies | ||||||
Publisher: | Intellect | ||||||
ISSN: | 2046-6692 | ||||||
Official Date: | 1 March 2018 | ||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 6 | ||||||
Number: | 1 | ||||||
Page Range: | pp. 33-45 | ||||||
DOI: | 10.1386/jfs.6.1.33_1 | ||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 24 April 2018 | ||||||
Open Access Version: |
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