MERRY QUEER: PERFORMANCE OF KOREAN MASCULINITY AND SEXUALITY BY KOREAN GAY COUPLES ON YOUTUBE

Abstract

For years, the video-sharing platform YouTube has enabled lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people understand their sexual orientation and gender identity, while engaging in discussions surrounding their sexual rights. More recently, Korean gay couples have been growing in popularity on the video-sharing platform YouTube, particularly among overseas audiences that do not understand Korean. However, these couples remain marginalised in Korean society. Considering the explosion of interest in Korean culture and the intensifying queer rights movement in South Korea, an examination of how Korean gay couples represent themselves on YouTube is timely. Through an analysis of videos and channels owned by Korean male same-sex couples with the most YouTube subscribers, I argue that Korean gay couples legitimise their position in Korean society by performing globally accepted Korean masculinity, while remaining within the bounds of domestically accepted gayness. I conclude by situating the subversive acts of Korean gay couples within larger contexts of Korean queer representation and global queering.