Queering gender in Indonesian Instagram

Abstract

The popularity of Mimi Peri as a queer micro-celebrity on Instagram shows a paradox in the Indonesian digital society, widely known for being very heteronormative towards gender and sexual identities. Despite the controversy over their queer performance and identity, Mimi Peri’s positive image as a “kind-hearted” and funny micro-celebrity managed to attract the attention of 1.9 million followers on Instagram. By using a virtual ethnographic paradigm within the framework of queer studies, this research examines how queer performativity in the @mimi.peri Instagram account during the periode between 2017 and 2018 presented and related to the Camp strategy. Switching their virtual identity, playing a role as a “female fairy”, parodying, and representing it as a comic figure have been identified as Mimi Peri’s practice and strategy to effectively gain the attention and acceptance of their followers. While there are established assumptions of queer subjects as fun and funny, we also argue that the strategy to commodify their comical performance can be seen as a form of negotiation to the predominant gender norms on Instagram.