TY - JOUR AU - Gu, Jingyi PY - 2021/09/15 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - NÜZHUBO AND HER “BROTHERS”: STREAMING LIFE AND MEDIATING INTIMACY AT SCALE JF - AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research JA - SPIR VL - 2021 IS - SE - Papers G DO - 10.5210/spir.v2021i0.11928 UR - https://spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/view/11928 SP - AB - <p>In this paper, I consider live/life streaming as a mediated venue for making social relationships and a mediatized world constituted of diverse livelihoods. Drawing from my digital ethnography on two Chinese live streaming platforms Inke and Huajiao, I document the emergence of narratives, performances, and interactions that are either sexually suggestive or have gendered implications. I identify patterns of emotional expression and self-disclosure that lie within these interactions and analyze their alignment with and distinction from those that have been considered within the existing theorization of intimacy. In doing so, I examine how live/life streaming constructs scalable “mediated intimacy,” in the one-versus-many semi-public setting, through nurturing gendered performances and building subtle sexual tension between its participants.</p> ER -