« Gay ou pas gay ? » Panique énonciative sur le forum jeuxvideo.com

• Main Author: Noémie Marignier
• Format: Article
• Language: fra
• Published: Genre, Sexualité et Société 2017-06-01
• Series: Genre, Sexualité et Société
• Subjects: homosexual panic; online community; trolling; hegemonic masculinity; categorization; intimacy
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/gss/3964

This article aims at studying the homosexual panic dispositif (Kosofsky-Sedgwick) in an online community, jeuxvideo.com, regularly critisized by the French media for its sexism and homophobia. In this community, sex practices between men are discussed : sex between men (whether it be fellatio or mutual masturbation) is considered either a proof of heterosexual virility or a proof of homosexuality. I argue that the double categorisation of these sex acts paired with the continual practice of trolling on the forum, pertains to a phenomenon of homosexual panic articulated on enunciative panic. In fact, trolling enables Internet users to cast doubt on the meaning of the categories they themselves have defined. As such, the practice of trolling about sex between men suggests that the boundaries between homosexuality and heterosexuality exist while paradoxically remaining blurry and impossible to pin down: I show that this is a powerful way to produce a hegemonic masculinity.