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Internet Sex Chatting and “Vernacular Masculinity” Among Hong Kong Youth

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Learning Bodies

Part of the book series: Perspectives on Children and Young People ((PCYP,volume 2))

Abstract

Through examining the highly popular practice of internet-based “sex chatting,” this work attempts to theorize the rapidly changing forms, norms, and values of sex as an important facet of internet chatting culture. Internet-based “sex chat” refers to the casual exchange of vernacular views about sexual beliefs, rumors, and behavior. Sociological, popular culture, and gender studies have suggested that internet-based social chatting about sex is an informal social practice pursued mainly by men, and as such, the chat room or forum is considered a space for the ongoing construction of particular modes of masculinity. This study is grounded in a detailed empirical netnographic study of the Hong Kong Golden Forum (GF), a highly popular internet chat site in a city known to have a vibrant culture of internet forum chatting. After investigating the main recurring themes in sex chatting conducted in GF, and the specificities of the language used by the chatters (including written and visual slangs, metaphors, tones, and registers), I ask how the themes and language of “sex chat” contribute to the construction of a “vernacular masculine culture” specific to youth culture in Hong Kong. Like a colloquial language, the notion of “vernacular masculinity” speaks the idiom of the curious, the obscene, and even the vulgar. It is hoped that this ethnographic study helps to reframe our theoretical and political understanding of sexual values shaped by a profoundly quotidian source of meaning-making.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In this project, I forgo the idea of recruiting the chatters for face-to-face interview, because that would have significantly lengthened the project. Besides, this project’s precepts rest in examining sexual speech and a masculine culture that arise from the modalities of chatting, and not from offline follow-up reflections.

  2. 2.

    The practice of silent observation, or “lurking,” complies with the existing practices endorsed by other netnographers. For instance, that have advocated beginning a participation observation study of online phenomena by “lurking” first.  These two researchers used lurking to gain information about consumer’s boycotting behavior. The initial period of observation, in fact, gave them information that they then used to create interview questions. In the same vein, in Shoham’s (2004) ethnographic study of Israeli chat rooms, he first lurked then gain the chatters’ trust, then introduced himself as a newcomer to the community engaged in netnographic research.

  3. 3.

    This icon is originally used in the Snitz Forum 2000 developed by an American company Snitz Communications. The Golden Forum at that period used the same forum operational program so the icon could also be used by Golden users. Those who did not know about this history would think that this icon was created by the Golden Forum. Nevertheless the icon has since been widely used by Golden users and it is now recognized as the representing icon of the forum (http://evchk.wikia.com/wiki/%E5%B0%8F%E4%B8%91icon).

  4. 4.

    The phrase “不考有三, 無 seed 為大” is a modification from the old saying of Mencius: “不孝有三, 無後為大” (“There are three infilial acts and the most infilial act is not to have an offspring.”), a creative connection of the act of sharing sexual materials with traditional Chinese ethics of filial piety. The phrase “借你老母一用” (“Please let me borrow your mother for a while.”) is another way of saying “fuck you,” since in Cantonese the expression “fuck you” is the same as saying “fuck your mother.” In this way, to say“let me borrow your mother for a while [so I can fuck her]” is just a playful way of saying “fuck your mother”.

  5. 5.

    Our research shows that there is another popular forum that has active (self-proclaimed) females to initiate and participate in sex chats. In the “3boys2girls” forum, there is a specific channel allocated to chatting about female sex known as “Sex issues—female physiology” (性事—女性生理). Most of the conversation in this channel involve female participation with topics centering on curiosity about sex and the body.

  6. 6.

    In many occasions, the non-professionally made amateur videos were intended for self consumption only. The private sex footages were captured by personal phones with cameras and other portable recording devices. Once these phones or devices were lost the videos in them might be obtained by others and often they would be posted and circulated on the internet. As these videos are portraits of “real” sexual images, they garner a hieghtened attention among the forum chatters.

  7. 7.

    Although there are no set criteria for the actresses to be identified as “Goddesses” among young males in Hong Kong, most of them would attain such status if they are fantasised to be “girlfriend-able” as well as enjoyable sexually. Therefore they would have attributes that can be desirable both as a girlfriend and a sex partner such as having a pretty but not too exotic face, nice personality, a bit of innocence; attractive but not over-exaggerating body figure with long legs, white skin and medium-sized breasts. Nevertheless it is difficult to define how a female celebrity would be turned into a Goddess and they could be in very different types of women catering to different tastes of these male chatters. In this way, Fala Chen mataches many of these qualities, and became wildly popular on GF and other chatsites. Other widely acknowledged Goddesses include Suki Chui (TV actress), Kay Tse (pop singer), Karena Lam (movie star), etc.

  8. 8.

    See the media coverage (in Chinese) of the transformation of Dongguan Woods from a GF post into a popular film: http://www1.hk.apple.nextmedia.com/template/apple/art_main.php?iss_id=20120313&sec_id=462&art_id=16150337).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Humanities and Creative Writing, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China

    John Nguyet Erni

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  1. John Nguyet Erni
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Correspondence to John Nguyet Erni .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia

    Julia Coffey

  2. University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

    Shelley Budgeon

  3. University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Helen Cahill

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Erni, J.N. (2016). Internet Sex Chatting and “Vernacular Masculinity” Among Hong Kong Youth. In: Coffey, J., Budgeon, S., Cahill, H. (eds) Learning Bodies. Perspectives on Children and Young People, vol 2. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0306-6_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0306-6_7

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