What’s radical about reality TV? An unexpected tale from Shanghai of a Chinese lesbian antihero

Abstract

This article advances a Marxist approach to the contradictory relationship of minority sexuality to capitalist political economy. I use the work of Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci and critical theorist Nancy Fraser to tell a story of an extraordinary momentary opening for a distinct lesbian subculture in Shanghai. This moment was born from a Chinese reality TV show called Super Girl. A radical space for lesbian self-development is shown to have emerged through a relative uncoupling of the social relations of capitalism from political authority. This article warns against an Althusserian tendency within gay political economy and intersectionality analyses which slips into a notion of hegemonic market containment. Instead, a Marxism that is alert to subversive outlets by and for human agency is applied.