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Sexy Media Dissidents: State Regulation, Dissidence, Pornography and Gay Men in Malaysia

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Abstract

This paper considers the effects of media censorship and dissidence in Malaysia within the context of gay men and pornography, and how these oft-considered taboo subjects intersect within the society. Malaysia’s media landscape has revealed many flaws in the country’s political and social environment. The place of gay men and pornography within this media landscape is examined through interviews with gay Malaysian men. It frames the intersection of politics and private lives through the lenses of sociologist and philosopher Jürgen Habermas, feminist Carol Hanisch, psychologist Todd G. Morrison and sociologist Jeffrey Weeks. An analysis of selected interviews reveals that within the Malaysian media landscape, pornography surpasses the realm of pleasure, and is a form of dissent and discreet protest against the regulation of sexual lives. The stigmatisation of pornography and pervasive homophobic rhetoric has allowed these sexy media dissidents to perform new connections, foster self-awareness and move toward increasing political and sexual freedom and subjectivity.

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Notes

  1. As most Malaysians of Malay descent have patronymic names, we refer to them by their first names in this article.

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Correspondence to Joseph N. Goh.

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Joseph N. Goh declares that he has no conflict of interest. Ghislaine L. Lewis and Pauline P. Y. Leong declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Goh, J.N., Lewis, G.L. & Leong, P.P.Y. Sexy Media Dissidents: State Regulation, Dissidence, Pornography and Gay Men in Malaysia. Sexuality & Culture 23, 192–208 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-018-9550-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-018-9550-2

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