Abstract
This special forum includes four papers, all on the theme of gender, sexuality and transgressive publics. Each paper, in its own way, explores the intersection between ‘communication’, ‘transgression’ and ‘the public’ through the prism of one or more aspects of gender and/or sexuality. Authors discuss how these particular concepts are contested in specific contexts and what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable transgression in public discourses. They also consider the implications of these contestations and constructions on the formation of public opinion and what is in their best interests.
These papers are situated in diverse social, political and cultural contexts, and, taken as a whole, they speak to the question of how gender intersects with race, ethnicity, class and sexuality to produce acceptable and unacceptable notions of transgression in public spaces and public discourses. Interrogating the asylum law in the United States, Sara McKinnon asks what kinds of gendered transgression are deemed safe and worthy of inclusion in US asylum law, and conversely, what acts of transgression pose threats or risks. Examining the paradoxes and ambiguities of danmei – an online forum for male-to-male romance – as an alternative public sphere in China, Ling Yang and Yanrui Xu question the rigid distinction between politics and entertainment in academic discourse. Sukhmani Khorana’s discussion of anti-rape campaigns in India and the United Kingdom points to the complexity of transgression as an analytic concept. The act of rape is clearly, morally and legally transgressive in most societies – be it the United Kingdom or India. Yet, in their effort to raise public awareness about the causes and consequences of this egregious social problem, activists in both countries have adopted rhetorical strategies and discursive tactics that themselves transgress their respective cultural and gender norms. Similarly, motivated by her concern about whether and how marginalised youths in China practise intimacy in public spaces, Wanning Sun asks how contestation over a number of notions – privacy, love and moral transgression – affords us a glimpse into the shape and nature of China’s cultural politics of class.
Although not exhaustive in terms of its empirical scope and theoretical breadth, this special forum aims to open a new space for further discussion and debate.