Queer Transfigurations by James Welker

Author:James Welker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Published: 2022-03-07T12:28:49+00:00

Tolerating LGBT people but Not Accepting LGBT Values

Prior to their exposure to BL, many of the individuals with whom I spoke were not even familiar with homosexuality. BL was the first media that made them aware of the existence of male–male relationships and of people who make and enjoy fictional representations thereof. Nevertheless, my informants who confessed that they were shocked by the content were not necessarily appalled by the homosexual relationships themselves but rather by the sexual vulgarity of the works they read. While a feeling of guilt might arise from deliberate engagement with materials that run counter to their values, these readers’ lack of familiarity with BL and with homosexuality may have prevented this. That is, at least initially they were not seeking depictions conflicting with their values. However, the necessity of exhibiting dignity and decency (especially for females) is ingrained in Indonesian children. As a result, suddenly finding sexual content in something they are reading can be quite shocking.

Although these fans might not have thought much about homosexuality when they were teenagers, all of them agreed that society does not tolerate it. Half of these fans spent their youth in religious schools—some strict, some lenient—but at some point in their education, they heard anti-LGBT messages based on religious values. When asked about their reaction to such messages, many of them told me they did not really remember because the issue did not seem to be a big deal at that time, nor did they think it related to them in any way. Fans who identify as members of the LGBT community, however, might not easily forget such messages. One informant, who identifies as transgender and possibly queer, confessed that because of such ideas taught them by their school and society, they ended up hating themselves until they finally left Indonesia to pursue a university education overseas. They also regarded BL as a form of media into which they could project themselves.

Intriguingly, most of the individuals with whom I spoke, however, agreed that BL itself has had little direct impact on their own perspectives about LGBT issues. To be sure, it did give them an awareness about the existence of homosexuality and, to some extent, provoked them to question their own religious values. But what has most shaped their perspectives on the LGBT community and LGBT rights, they indicated, have been discussions with other people, both online and offline—a point to which I will return in my discussion of Wattpad. Nevertheless, some of them also expressed that reading BL gives them a feeling of emotional attachment to homosexual couples, which, I would argue, is connected with why these fans finally decided to take a “neutral” stance toward LGBT issues—neutral in the sense of not engaging with LGBT issues even though they might not feel accepting toward nonheteronormative, noncisgender people in the real world. Regardless, through emotional involvement with male–male relationships in BL, these fans are able to feel sympathy toward same-sex couples and recognize a certain common humanity.

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