Thrice Invisible in its Visibility: Queerness and user generated ‘Kand’ videos

Abstract

There is a specific kind of visibility of the queer male Indian body, with the emergence of the social web. From gay dating sites and discussion forums and support groups to user generated videos and selfies that document the queer face and body, there have been spaces that have opened up for the queer body to find expression, desire, and longing. This new visibility has been celebrated as illustrative of the opening up of traditional taboos as well as legal sanctions on queer identities and politics in India. In this paper, I argue that while the visibility is to be treasured, we also need to look at how, structurally and digitally, the world of user generated queer videos produces new forms of invisibility which allow for an abundance but not acceptance, for quantity but not visibility of the queer male body in its performance or representation. Specifically looking at 'Kand' videos on user generated content sharing websites like YouTube, I show how, through strategic dismissal of the video's homoerotic value, as well as processes of containment, the visibility of these queer videos does not lend itself either to political mobilisation, or to acceptance and integration of queer lives, bodies, and longing, in the larger landscape of the country.