Televising Asexuality: Representations, Resonances, and Community Viewership.

电视无性恋：表现、共鸣和社区收视率。

• 批准号: 2875724
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Birmingham
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2875724
• 关键词: Televising; Asexuality; Representations; Resonances; Community

Asexuality - referring to people who experience little-to-no sexual attraction - is an invisible sexuality in Britain. Asexuality is not protected by the Equality Act 2010, nor is it recognised in the plans to ban conversion therapy (Truss, 2021), and asexuals, of all queer identities, are typically the most likely to live unsatisfying and fearful lives (GEO, 2018). Research is beginning to combat this (Stonewall, 2022), but in the meantime, asexuality is unfamiliar to 72% of Britons (Ipsos, 2020).Historically, television has played a vital role in improving societal awareness and attitudes towards other queer identities (Buckle, 2015), and television's influence on understandings of asexuality must be explored. However, research within asexual screen studies has focused on American media (Cerankowski, 2014; Sinwell, 2014), or reading characters as asexual (Przybylo and Cooper, 2014; Botts, 2016; Osterwald, 2017; Lamerichs, 2018). My Master's research, therefore, turned to British TV, theoretically uncovering British television's role in the invisibility and misrepresentation of asexuality in society through retracing a forgotten history of asexuality on British TV. However, during this research, I noticed that asexuals' voices regarding how our lives have been (mis)represented on screen had not been studied. As such, studying this gap is the next step in my research, bringing asexual screen studies in line with other LGBT+ groups (e.g., Lipton, 2008; Cavalcante, 2018). Therefore, I propose the first empirical study of asexual audience perspectives regarding asexual representations through exploratory mixed methods research (a survey and semi-structured interviews). I will answer questions surrounding:- How do asexuals respond to asexual representations on British TV?- To what extent do asexuals feel represented by TV representations?- How do these representations impact asexual communities?My research will comprise of two parts. 'Part One: Representations' will include three chapters, each using an asexual representation as a case study to explore how asexuality has been represented within: fictional television; non-fictional television; and non-traditional broadcast services (e.g., Emmerdale, 2016; 'I Don't Want Sex', 2018; Sex Education, 2019). These chapters will offer an overview of representations of asexuality on screen alongside integrated asexual voices discussing the impacts these representations have had on British asexual communities'Part Two: Alternative Representations' will then have a further three chapters to explore:- 1) asexual community reactions to asexual representations on international screens- 2) how non-confirmed but asexually resonant characters offer meaningful representations (e.g., Good Omens, 2019)- 3) what alternative modes of asexual representation exist (e.g., podcasts, asexual creators on YouTube and fanfiction).These chapters have flexibility based on community responses, as I intend to prioritise voices within asexual communities and not just my own asexual opinion.This research will be the first to explore how asexual representations impact asexuals, and I hope to use this research to create a 'best practice' guide for representing asexuality, alongside my thesis. I hope to not only improve future representations of asexuality but believe this project will positively impact asexual communities by increasing asexual visibility, thereby offering opportunities for greater awareness and acceptance of asexuality in society.

无性恋——指的是几乎没有性吸引力的人——在英国是一种看不见的性行为。无性恋不受 2010 年《平等法案》的保护，也没有在禁止转化治疗的计划中得到承认（Truss，2021），而在所有酷儿身份中，无性恋者通常最有可能过着不满意和恐惧的生活（GEO，2018）。研究正在开始解决这一问题（Stonewall，2022），但与此同时，72％的英国人对无性恋感到陌生（Ipsos，2020）。从历史上看，电视在提高社会意识和对其他酷儿身份的态度方面发挥了至关重要的作用（Buckle，2015），必须探索电视对无性恋理解的影响。然而，无性筛选研究中的研究主要集中在美国媒体（Cerankowski，2014；Sinwell，2014），或将角色解读为无性（Przybylo 和 Cooper，2014；Botts，2016；Osterwald，2017；Lamerichs，2018）。因此，我硕士的研究转向了英国电视，通过追溯英国电视上一段被遗忘的无性恋历史，从理论上揭示了英国电视在无性恋在社会中的隐形和歪曲中所扮演的角色。然而，在这项研究中，我注意到无性恋者关于我们的生活如何在屏幕上被（错误）呈现的声音尚未被研究。因此，研究这一差距是我研究的下一步，使无性筛查研究与其他 LGBT+ 群体保持一致（例如，Lipton，2008 年；Cavalcante，2018 年）。因此，我提出通过探索性混合方法研究（调查和半结构化访谈）对无性恋观众对无性恋表征的看法进行首次实证研究。我将回答以下问题： - 无性恋者对英国电视上的无性恋表现有何反应？ - 无性恋者在多大程度上感到电视表现的代表？ - 这些表现如何影响无性恋社区？我的研究将包括两部分。 “第一部分：表征”将包括三章，每一章都使用无性恋表征作为案例研究，探讨无性恋是如何在以下方面被表征的：虚构的电视；非虚构电视节目；和非传统广播服务（例如，Emmerdale，2016 年；“我不想要性”，2018 年；性教育，2019 年）。这些章节将概述银幕上的无性恋表征，同时综合无性恋声音，讨论这些表征对英国无性恋社区的影响。“第二部分：另类表征”将有另外三章来探讨：- 1）无性恋社区对国际屏幕上无性恋表征的反应- 2）未经证实但无性恋共鸣的角色如何提供有意义的表征（例如，好兆头， 2019)- 3) 存在哪些无性恋表征的替代模式（例如，播客、YouTube 上的无性恋创作者和同人小说）。这些章节具有基于社区反应的灵活性，因为我打算优先考虑无性恋社区内的声音，而不仅仅是我自己的无性恋观点。这项研究将是第一个探索无性恋表征如何影响无性恋者的研究，我希望利用这项研究来创建“最佳实践” 代表无性恋的指南，以及我的论文。我希望不仅能够改善未来对无性恋的表现，而且相信这个项目将通过提高无性恋的知名度来对无性恋社区产生积极影响，从而为社会提高对无性恋的认识和接受提供机会。