“This Time, We’re the Ones Who’ll Be Treated Like Royalty” Masculinist Discourses in Online Sexual Transformation Media Richard Pilbeam Bachelor of Film & Television Hons. (Swinburne University of Technology, 2011) Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Health, Arts & Design Swinburne University of Technology John St., Hawthorn Melbourne, Victoria 3122 Australia September 2018 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the guidance and support of my primary supervisor, Dr. Lucy Nicholas, and secondary supervisor, Dr. Liam Burke. I would also like to acknowledge the support of my previous supervisory team of Prof. Darren Tofts, Dr. Troy Innocent and Dr. Ramon Lobato, whose help was essential in the early stages of project. The feedback provided by Dr. Hannah McCann was also greatly appreciated and helped shape the project into something more robust. ABSTRACT The purpose of this project is to offer an analysis of the reactionary discourses which underpin a new form of internet media narratives referred to as “TG”, which represent fantastic scenarios in which male characters become female, usually against their will. While the name “TG” is taken from a contraction of “transgender”, existing literature on trans* representation in fiction does not provide an adequate analysis of “TG”, as “TG” engages with its own distinct series of themes. This project’s contribution to knowledge is the isolation and analysis of these themes, which are heavily informed by contemporary postfeminist discourse, in particular the argument that women can now “have it all” while men remain oppressed by the demands of masculinity. This is accomplished through content analysis of over five hundred “TG” media texts, coding for themes identified in a review of literature pertaining to trans* representation, the ontology of gender, postfeminist and antifeminist discourses. This ultimately leads to an understanding of “TG” media as engaging with what this project calls Social Inversion. Social Inversion narratives function by positioning a male character in a social situation in which they suffer, then transforming that character from male to female and subsequently representing that same social situation as now being beneficial. The project identifies three broad forms of Social Inversion – “Rejected to Desired”, “Restrained to Free” and “Ordinary to Supernatural” – and analysed them with reference to key “TG” media texts. This reveals that, rather than a straightforwardly antifeminist polemic, “TG” media is more interested in articulating anxiety over contradictions in postfeminist masculinity. However, while these “TG” media texts demonstrate an acute understanding that masculinity itself is limiting, unnatural and harmful to men’s mental health, the masculinist standpoint of “TG” media prevents it from envisioning a world without male dominance and strict binary gender roles. This masculinist standpoint also influences “TG” media’s representation of femininity, reproducing discourses which elide the oppression of women and present femininity as innately empowering, pleasurable and unproblematic. The project concludes that “TG” media’s portrayal of a damaging and oppressive masculinity contrasted with an innately pleasurable and rewarding femininity makes it a useful heuristic for understanding contemporary masculine anxiety. Richard Pilbeam 10/12/2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 A Note on Pronouns and Terminology .............................................................. 10 The History of “TG” Media, 1997 to 2015 ......................................................... 12 2. THE “TG” GENRE ................................................................................................ 22 ‘I Can Look at Myself Naked!’: Minor and Non-Narrative Sex-Change Transformations in Visual Media ...................................................................... 23 ‘Being a Woman had its Advantages’: Major Sex-Change Transformations in Visual Media ...................................................................................................... 29 ‘Cultural Consensus’: What Would Qualify “TG” As A Distinct Genre? ............ 41 ‘The TG Element Was Very Poor’: Audience Discourse on Metamorphose.org 44 ‘The First Law of Gender-Bending At Work’: TV Tropes Codifies “TG” Tropes . 53 ‘TG Blogger and Webmaster Group, Powered by World of TG and TG Central’: Substantification ................................................................................................ 60 3. REVIEW: THE SOCIAL AND MEDIA CONTEXT OF “TG” ...................................... 63 ‘Liberated Single Girls’: Postfeminist Discourse ................................................ 64 ‘Backlash Blockbusters’: Postfeminist Crises of Masculinity ............................. 70 ‘Phallic Affect’: The Men’s Rights Movement ................................................... 75 ‘A Politically and Ethically More Acceptable Target’: The Use of Trans* Characters as Reactionary Metaphors .............................................................. 81 ‘The Physical Penis Was Not A Social Penis’: Cross-Dressing & Cultural Genitals ........................................................................................................................... 88 ‘They go along, they mime’: Ontologies of Gender .......................................... 93 4. RESEARCH DESIGN .......................................................................................... 105 Content Analysis .............................................................................................. 105 Epistemological Considerations ...................................................................... 106 Selecting a Sample ........................................................................................... 108 Coding the Content ......................................................................................... 113 5. INTERPRETATION OF CONTENT ANALYSIS ...................................................... 117 “TG” Media’s Lack of Sexually Explicit Content............................................... 117 “TG” Media’s Use Of Other Genre Conventions ............................................. 120 “TG” Media’s Lack Of Interest In LGBT Characters ......................................... 123 “TG” Media’s Masculinist Standpoint ............................................................. 126 6. SOCIAL INVERSION: IS “TG” ABOUT SOCIAL, NOT SEXUAL, TRANSFORMATION? ............................................................................................................................. 129 “TG” Media, Postfeminism, Backlash and Men’s Rights ................................. 129 “TG” Media and Trans* Representation ......................................................... 134 “TG” Media, Cross-Dressing and Cultural Genitals ......................................... 138 “TG” Media and Ontologies of Gender ........................................................... 143 “TG” and Social Inversion? .............................................................................. 148 7. SOCIAL INVERSION 1: REJECTED TO DESIRED ................................................. 153 ACCEPTANCE THROUGH MALE REVERENCE FOR FEMALE BEAUTY ................ 157 ‘Back in center stage where I belong’: Gendered Representations of Narcissism .................................................................................................... 158 ‘Women generally have more erotic capital than men’: Female Beauty as Capital .......................................................................................................... 172 ACCEPTANCE THROUGH ACCESS TO ASSUMED FEMALE PRIVILEGES ............ 180 ‘NO GUYS ALLOWED’: Ladies’ Night as Anti-Male Segregation ................... 183 ‘This time we’re the ones who can act like total bitches’: Male Servitude to Women ........................................................................................................ 186 ‘If I wanted shit from a bald baboon I would have brought you a banana’: Escaping Negative Male Stereotypes .......................................................... 196 ACCEPTANCE INTO HIERARCHY THROUGH EMPHASISED FEMININITY ........... 203 ‘Those two thugs are going to be happier as girls than I’ll ever be as a man’: Subordinate Masculinity to Emphasised Femininity ................................... 205 ‘Do the right thing and be a man!’ Love Triangle to Sexual Fantasy ........... 212 ‘You gave me a new life. A better life’: Resolving Conflict Between Masculinities ................................................................................................ 215 ‘Come, my bouncy servant!’: Male vs Female Submission ......................... 225 REJECTED TO DESIRED CONCLUSION .............................................................. 230 8. SOCIAL INVERSION 2: RESTRAINED TO FREE ................................................... 234 ESCAPE FROM RESPONSIBILITY ....................................................................... 246 ‘A taste of what life could have been’: Escaping Adult Male Loneliness for Life as a Young Girl ....................................................................................... 246 ‘Like a huge weight has been taken off my back’: Trading Male Labour for “Easier” Female Labour ..............................................................................