A case study of a trans/gender-diverse celebrity statesperson

On Audrey Tang’s political radicalness and Taiwan’s global image

Bibliographic Data

ID17814678
AuthorsS Chen (0000-0001-5293-5287, Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy, Academia Sinica, corresponding author), Sophia Huei-Ling Chen (0000-0002-5209-0525, Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy, Academia Sinica), Sairah L F Chen (0000-0001-5774-7058, Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy, Academia Sinica, corresponding author), Jia Guo (0000-0002-6422-2302, University of Wollongong)
Year2026
Volume17
Issue2
Pages1-16
Publication date2026-04-23
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCelebrity Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1939-2397 • E-ISSN: 1939-2400
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/19392397.2026.2660541
OpenAlexW7155367797
LanguageEN
References cited33

This article explores the public persona of Taiwanese politician and free software developer Audrey Tang, the first trans/gender-diverse national minister in the world. We demonstrate Tang’s gender identity trajectory is an integral part of her political radicalness, and that her public persona as a transnational celebrity politician reflects Taiwan’s nation branding as an LGBTQ-friendly country. We analyse media representations of Tang and her self-representations in Taiwan’s domestic press and English-language press, respectively, in 2016 and 2020. Specifically, we examine the connections and tensions between Tang’s gender identity and her celebrified public image as a radical politician in and from Taiwan. Tang’s political radicalness is demonstrated by her unique upbringing, activist practices, political landscape of digital democracy, and her trans/gender-diverse identity. However, her gender identity, compared to other facets of her radicalness, is under more public scrutiny and requires more effort from Tang to make sense of on Taiwanese mainstream media. Further, Tang’s transnational celebrity image has made her a conspicuous symbol of Taiwan’s queer liberalist image, in turn suggesting that her celebrity status is implicated in wider nation-building projects of Taiwan. Through Tang’s case, we add much specificity and complexity to the ongoing conversations about celebrity, politics, and transgender/gender diversity.

Image (mathematics) · Politics · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Interdisciplinary Cultural and Social Studies

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