Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date

2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Sociology

Committee Chair

Carol Rambo

Committee Member

Gretchen Peterson

Committee Member

Jeni Loftus

Abstract

Existing research on Boys Love (BL) fans has focused primarily on heterosexual womens consumption of the media. Queer audience members have rarely been included in BL studies. Drawing on autoethnographic materials and 36 in-depth interviews, this project documented the ways that individuals who self-identify as BL fans created, resisted, and challenged the perceived stigma that all BL fans are fetishizers of gay men. Respondents relied on Biographical Work to construct their identities and frame their experiences with BL media in relation to fetishizer exemplars. Some participants engaged in Identity Politics where they made claims about the wrong ways and right ways to consume BL media, thus using fetishizer exemplars to construct both individual and group identities. In the end, the wrong way was always about fetishizing, and the right way was always in the direction of connection.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest

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