I gotta agree with R... nisu deffo does not feel like lesbian shit. Although shouts to the fact that the butch chinese teens on douyin basically dress like male kpop idols, genuinely interesting to think about how what we think is masculine and feminine is incredibly socially constructed.
finally an article explaining nisu! it's something that's hard for me to explain to people who haven't been actively involved in chinese online fandom circles. from my unprofessional viewpoint, i think it is similar to western women's obsession with himbos in the sense that non-threatening men are just rare to come by in real life.
some other points that i found interesting in the weibo screenshots you shared:
- the username that shared the series of gifs that has the caption 'male wives/wife guys' is interesting since 'golden cucumber' (金瓜) refers to the
'top' in a relationship in slash circles.
- the other weibo post with photoshopped images of male idols with the caption 'wake up, i'm a nisu artist' is a play on the lyrics of jolin tsai's 'the great artist', in which she sings 'wake up, 我是大艺术家‘
Thank you for this incredible comment! We have the perfect 学习了 sticker on Wechat that we wish we could reply with.
We're still thinking through just how radical nisu is...from our equally unprofessional viewpoint, it occupies this unique space negotiating the gaps between distinctive categories (here would be the wife/guy or hetero gender dichotomy), producing new identities that will bring us into the vicinity of something politically or even ethically transformative.
Hi! I just want to say that I LOVED this episode! Chinese online culture (as any online culture ofc, not trying to be orientalist here) is fascinating, and I'm so happy that you guys are taking on presenting it to the international audience. I'm going to get a paid subscription now, and I really hope that your project becomes popular and helps the western audiences to step away from the frankly naive and idiotic conception of China imposed to them by Twitter. Thanks!!
I gotta agree with R... nisu deffo does not feel like lesbian shit. Although shouts to the fact that the butch chinese teens on douyin basically dress like male kpop idols, genuinely interesting to think about how what we think is masculine and feminine is incredibly socially constructed.
finally an article explaining nisu! it's something that's hard for me to explain to people who haven't been actively involved in chinese online fandom circles. from my unprofessional viewpoint, i think it is similar to western women's obsession with himbos in the sense that non-threatening men are just rare to come by in real life.
some other points that i found interesting in the weibo screenshots you shared:
- the username that shared the series of gifs that has the caption 'male wives/wife guys' is interesting since 'golden cucumber' (金瓜) refers to the
'top' in a relationship in slash circles.
- the other weibo post with photoshopped images of male idols with the caption 'wake up, i'm a nisu artist' is a play on the lyrics of jolin tsai's 'the great artist', in which she sings 'wake up, 我是大艺术家‘
Thank you for this incredible comment! We have the perfect 学习了 sticker on Wechat that we wish we could reply with.
We're still thinking through just how radical nisu is...from our equally unprofessional viewpoint, it occupies this unique space negotiating the gaps between distinctive categories (here would be the wife/guy or hetero gender dichotomy), producing new identities that will bring us into the vicinity of something politically or even ethically transformative.
Hi! I just want to say that I LOVED this episode! Chinese online culture (as any online culture ofc, not trying to be orientalist here) is fascinating, and I'm so happy that you guys are taking on presenting it to the international audience. I'm going to get a paid subscription now, and I really hope that your project becomes popular and helps the western audiences to step away from the frankly naive and idiotic conception of China imposed to them by Twitter. Thanks!!
Thank you so much! <3