Reclaiming and remediating space
The dynamics of queer presence in audio drama platform
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7150996 |
|---|---|
| Authors | T Hu (0000-0001-6479-0337, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University), Tingting Liu (0000-0002-8179-6180, University of Technology Sydney, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 971-989 |
| Publication date | 2025-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Convergence The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1354-8565 • E-ISSN: 1748-7382 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/13548565241301277 |
| OpenAlex | W4404456072 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 35 |
The censorship of Boys’ Love (BL) content in mainland China is marked by inconsistencies in both its intensity and scope. Amid these shifting regulatory boundaries, this study analyzes the systematic removal and occasional reappearance of visual BL content from the public sphere. We found that as visual channels are most susceptible to suppression, audio – though still monitored – emerges as a crucial medium, leveraging the agentive power of sound and media remediation to sustain fan engagement with BL narratives. Focusing on Miss Evan, a Chinese audio streaming platform, we explore how it navigates state censorship and market marginalization while restoring the BL subculture through innovative design features, sexually appealing voice performances, and provocative sound effects. Additionally, we investigate the agency of Chinese BL fans in reclaiming BL’s presence through polymedia engagement. We argue that the dynamic negotiation between the platform, state censorship, and fandom reveals an ongoing contest between queer marginalization and restoration. While the platform seeks mainstream acceptance by conforming to censorship through the minimization of queer visual representation, the BL fandom employs counterstrategies to sustain the subculture in audio form. This tension highlights the cultural resilience and technological adaptability of queer subcultures as they navigate and resist the censorship imposed by state and societal norms
Aesthetics · Art · Drama · Pedagogy · Queer · Sociology · Visual arts · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Computer Science · Gender Studies · Media Studies and Communication · Media, Gender, and Advertising
Remediation
Governmentality, governance and China
From Novels to Video Games
The invisible theatre of radio drama
Theater of the Mind
Televising Chineseness
Queering Chinese Kinship
Soundtracks of human mimetic sexual play
“Protecting our female gaze rights”
The New Imperialism
Let me take care of you
The bitches of Boys Love comics
Six propositions on the sonics of pornography
Where radio dare not tread
Only half the story
The walkthrough method
Masculinity in crisis? Reticent / han-xu politics against danmei and male effeminacy
A Transmedia ‘Third’ Space
Neoliberal ethos, state censorship and sexual culture
A state against boys’ love? Reviewing the trajectory of censorship over danmei
Drama Theory and Entertainment Education
Still a Hetero-Gendered World
Dual ambivalence
Impeding Dispossession, Enabling Repossession
Infrastructures of discovery
Danmei , Xianqing, and the making of a queer online public sphere in China
Fan Conflicts and State Power in China
Podcasting as an Intimate Medium
Dispossession and the Anthropology of Labor
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |