NONNORMATIVE MASCULINITY IN DANMEI LITERATURE: ‘MAIDEN SEME’ AND SAJIAO
<p dir="ltr"><span>Masculinity in contemporary China can be embodied by myriads of works featuring male-male same-sex intimacy and eroticism, which fall into a genre dubbed as danmei ‘addicted to beauty; indulgence in beauty’, aka Boys Love (BL). As a marginalised yet increasin...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Hacettepe University
2021-06-01
|
Series: | Momentdergi |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.momentdergi.org/index.php/momentdergi/article/view/438 |
id |
doaj-89fdc8fd40da4877bc2595dbb532d6b9 |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-89fdc8fd40da4877bc2595dbb532d6b92021-07-02T09:00:09ZengHacettepe UniversityMomentdergi2148-970X2021-06-018110.17572/mj2021.1.106123280NONNORMATIVE MASCULINITY IN DANMEI LITERATURE: ‘MAIDEN SEME’ AND SAJIAOAiqing Wang<p dir="ltr"><span>Masculinity in contemporary China can be embodied by myriads of works featuring male-male same-sex intimacy and eroticism, which fall into a genre dubbed as danmei ‘addicted to beauty; indulgence in beauty’, aka Boys Love (BL). As a marginalised yet increasingly visible subculture, danmei writing has attracted legions of female producers/consumers, who are (self-)referred to as ‘rotten girls’. The female-oriented fiction is overwhelmingly marked by a conspicuous dichotomy differentiating seme (top) from uke (bottom) roles, and a prodigious amount of narratives concern feminisation of uke characters, motivated by the prevailing ‘soft masculinity’. Nonetheless, readers also delight in a subcategory of danmei featured by shaonü gong ‘maiden/adolescent-girl seme’ manifesting epicene demeanour and conducting sajiao which denotes playing cute/winsome/petulant or performing pettishness/coquettish. The sajiao acts of semes indicate authorial personae and the ‘cuteness’ youth culture, especially the ‘paradoxical cuteness’ integrating masculinity and femininity as well as cross-dressing and cross-gender performance. Furthermore, seme characterisation entailing enfeebled virility enables female readers to challenge heteropatriarchal and heteronormative zeitgeist, and it mitigates women’s dread and anxiety concerning sexual violence, exploitation, and oppression in real-world contexts. </span></p>http://www.momentdergi.org/index.php/momentdergi/article/view/438danmeifeminised uke‘maiden seme’sajiaoheteronormative |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Aiqing Wang |
spellingShingle |
Aiqing Wang NONNORMATIVE MASCULINITY IN DANMEI LITERATURE: ‘MAIDEN SEME’ AND SAJIAO Momentdergi danmei feminised uke ‘maiden seme’ sajiao heteronormative |
author_facet |
Aiqing Wang |
author_sort |
Aiqing Wang |
title |
NONNORMATIVE MASCULINITY IN DANMEI LITERATURE: ‘MAIDEN SEME’ AND SAJIAO |
title_short |
NONNORMATIVE MASCULINITY IN DANMEI LITERATURE: ‘MAIDEN SEME’ AND SAJIAO |
title_full |
NONNORMATIVE MASCULINITY IN DANMEI LITERATURE: ‘MAIDEN SEME’ AND SAJIAO |
title_fullStr |
NONNORMATIVE MASCULINITY IN DANMEI LITERATURE: ‘MAIDEN SEME’ AND SAJIAO |
title_full_unstemmed |
NONNORMATIVE MASCULINITY IN DANMEI LITERATURE: ‘MAIDEN SEME’ AND SAJIAO |
title_sort |
nonnormative masculinity in danmei literature: ‘maiden seme’ and sajiao |
publisher |
Hacettepe University |
series |
Momentdergi |
issn |
2148-970X |
publishDate |
2021-06-01 |
description |
<p dir="ltr"><span>Masculinity in contemporary China can be embodied by myriads of works featuring male-male same-sex intimacy and eroticism, which fall into a genre dubbed as danmei ‘addicted to beauty; indulgence in beauty’, aka Boys Love (BL). As a marginalised yet increasingly visible subculture, danmei writing has attracted legions of female producers/consumers, who are (self-)referred to as ‘rotten girls’. The female-oriented fiction is overwhelmingly marked by a conspicuous dichotomy differentiating seme (top) from uke (bottom) roles, and a prodigious amount of narratives concern feminisation of uke characters, motivated by the prevailing ‘soft masculinity’. Nonetheless, readers also delight in a subcategory of danmei featured by shaonü gong ‘maiden/adolescent-girl seme’ manifesting epicene demeanour and conducting sajiao which denotes playing cute/winsome/petulant or performing pettishness/coquettish. The sajiao acts of semes indicate authorial personae and the ‘cuteness’ youth culture, especially the ‘paradoxical cuteness’ integrating masculinity and femininity as well as cross-dressing and cross-gender performance. Furthermore, seme characterisation entailing enfeebled virility enables female readers to challenge heteropatriarchal and heteronormative zeitgeist, and it mitigates women’s dread and anxiety concerning sexual violence, exploitation, and oppression in real-world contexts. </span></p> |
topic |
danmei feminised uke ‘maiden seme’ sajiao heteronormative |
url |
http://www.momentdergi.org/index.php/momentdergi/article/view/438 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT aiqingwang nonnormativemasculinityindanmeiliteraturemaidensemeandsajiao |
_version_ |
1721333742153236480 |