“Business Inquiries are Welcome”: Sex Influencers and the Platformization of Non-normative Media on Twitter
Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: By attending to the case of queer men’s sexual use of Twitter in China, this article analyzes how mainstream platforms provide underrepresented groups with unique opportunities in the erotic economy. Drawing on in-depth interviews with fourteen queer male “sex influencers”—people who capitalize on their erotic practices on Twitter and other platforms for economic and social perks—and a three-month digital ethnography, we probe how Twitter shapes sex media production in China and opens up multifarious modes of monetization. We suggest that Chinese queer sex influencers’ monetization practices not only construct vibrant sexual cultures, but also incentivize heightened cross-platform mobility, which serves as a strategy for coping with China’s precarious legal environment. Consequently, there has been a convergence of domestic and transnational platforms, which we argue showcases the vitality and creativity of Chinese non-normative media production and consumption in a globalized and platformized age.
Source: Television & New Media
Authors: Shuaishuai Wang, Runze Ding
Institutions: Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Shenzhen University
Language: English
Topic: Gender, Feminism, and Media
Subfield: Gender Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funder: Universiteit van Amsterdam
OpenAlex ID: W4210891925