Shipping on the edge

Negotiations of precariousness in a Chinese real-person shipping fandom community

Bibliographic Data

ID7534645
AuthorsJack Lipei Tang (0000-0001-6207-6367, University of Southern California, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume26
Issue3
Pages293-309
Publication date2023-03-06
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Cultural Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1367-8779 • E-ISSN: 1460-356X
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/13678779231159148
OpenAlexW4323364055
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited37

The fandom community has been one of the most engaging and active segments in the global participatory culture. However, fans face multilevel and intertwined constraints from various social forces while seeking pleasure and fantasies. This study zooms in on a real-person shipping fan community in China where shippers are doubly marginalized as they fantasize about two male idols being in a romantic relationship in a society with both the derogative projection of fans and low levels of acceptance of same-sex relationships. Relying on a mixed-methods approach, this study found that the radical and disruptive practices are the results of tactical and calculative negotiations in relation to political, social, and technological risks while being driven by pleasure-seeking. I call these practices precarious shipping. The contextualized understanding of the fandom community emphasizes the importance of realizing the local tensions that are rarely addressed in previous literature that focuses on Western fandom

Citizen journalism · Fandom · Media studies · Negotiation · Pleasure · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Cultural Industries and Urban Development · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Law · Psychology