Abstract

Fluid performances of gender online by gender-diverse individuals facing discrimination and fetishization raises questions about whether these acts are a source of empowerment or reinforce prevailing prejudice. We combine virtual ethnography and interviews with transwomen sex workers in Singapore (n = 14) to explore the dynamic between sociostructural oppression and agentic resistance. First, heterosexual power relations manifest online via digital practices of access, surveillance, and intervention to discriminate against and objectify respondents’ identities and bodies. Second, the online response can be categorized into specific digital practices of avoidance involving privacy and anonymity, accommodation via subtle practices of submission, and collaboration via community mobilization. Finally, gender performativity on sites for sex solicitation manifests in the presentation of both essentialist (submissive femininity) and provocative (hyper-sexual) embodiments, defying simplistic characterization into the structure-agency dynamic. We discuss the co-constructive nature of socially situated gender performances and the potential for challenging normative regimes of gender.

中文翻译：

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挑衅作为代理行为：变性性工作者在线策略中的性别表现

摘要

面对歧视和恋物癖的多元性别个体在网上的性别流动性提出了这样的疑问：这些行为是赋权的来源还是加剧了普遍的偏见。我们将虚拟的人种志和对新加坡跨性别性工作者的访谈相结合（n = 14），以探索社会结构压迫与代理抵抗之间的动态关系。首先，异性恋权力关系通过访问，监视和干预的数字化做法在网上体现出来，以区别和客观化受访者的身份和身体。其次，可以将在线响应归类为避免涉及隐私和匿名的特定数字实践，通过微妙的提交实践进行住宿以及通过社区动员进行协作。最后，性别征集网站上的性别表现体现在本质主义（顺从的女性气质）和挑衅性（超性）实施方式的呈现中，没有将简单的特征刻画到结构机构动态中。我们讨论社会定位的性别表现的共建性质和挑战性别规范制度的潜力。