Bottomhood is Powerful

Lecture by Hoang Nguyen

The presentation examines the ways that anal erotics and bottom positioning refract the meanings of race, gender, sexuality, and nationality in Asian/American visual culture. I argue that "bottomhood" simultaneously enables and constrains Asian American men in moving-image media. Conceived as a sexual position, a social alliance, and an aesthetic form, bottomhood affirms a politics that embraces risk, receptivity, and vulnerability. Gay male video pornography and sex cruising websites constitute case studies. The talk will be supplemented by a short video screening.

Hoang Nguyen is an Assistant Professor of English at Bryn Mawr College.