Subverting mainstream in social media: Indonesian gay men’s heterotopia creation through disidentification strategies

ABSTRACT

This study discusses how Indonesian gay men use social media platforms to create a queer heterotopia by practicing disidentification – the process of distancing oneself from an unwanted identity. This disrupts the heterosexual dominant text to create the concept of disidentification self. The study finds that Indonesian gay men employ four strategies to create digital content, primarily to cope with their social location: queer literacy, identity disclosure, romantic relationships, and social community activism. Online data were collected from April 2020 through September 2020, while ten gay men were interviewed in depth from May 2020 through February 2021. This study shows that Indonesian gay men develop a parasitic relationship with the dominant ideology and create a performative mode to claim subjectivity and security within the dominant group’s power domain.

KEYWORDS:

• Disidentification
• gay community
• social media
• digital ethnography
• Indonesia

Acknowledgements

I dedicate this manuscript to the memory of Professor Mark McLelland, who passed away on November 18, 2020. I am truly grateful for the intellectual growth offered by three anonymous reviewers. The insights they offered include instructive and expert reviews. Finally, I want to thank all my gay friends who help me understand.

Notes

1 Sandoval’s asserts differential consciousness as subjectivity developed under conditions of multiple oppression (2013).

2 (Twitter) alter account is part of alter culture, where a person uses a different name and a different profile picture to protect their public identity.

3 The dominant view in Indonesia Muslim society that gay people are the contemporary projection of Sodom and Gomorrah.

 

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Endah Triastuti

Endah Triastuti is a researcher in the Department of Communication, Universitas Indonesia, Depok Indonesia.