Termine in der 21. Woche
Termine vom Montag, 22. Mai 2017 bis Sonntag, 28. Mai 2017
- 2017-05-22T18:00:00+02:00
- 2017-05-22T20:00:00+02:00
- Invalidenstraße 118, Raum 315
- 2017-05-28T10:00:00+02:00
- 2017-05-28T11:00:00+02:00
29. Mai: YOUTH, GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN THE THAI TEEN DRAMA 'Hormones the Series'
Zeit: 10:00
Most research on teenage sexuality focuses on the implications of Thai social ideology with regard to gender roles, Buddhism and the sexual double standard but does not critically question the very concept of adolescence. This work addresses this gap through the analysis of the controversial Thai television series _Hormones the Series (HTS)_. Drawing on scholarship that re-defines both sexuality (Foucault) and adolescence (Lesko) as cultural constructs, this research analyzes representations of adolescent girls in _HTS._ In doing so it discusses: 1) How adolescence is constructed, and how the concept of adolescence is gendered. This discussion is embedded in the existing body of research on Thai social ideologies as well as recent developments in Thai government policy. 2) Can the hegemonic discourse on adolescence be understood as a discourse surrogate for broader social, political and nationalistic concerns? The analysis is then based on the hypothesis, that the valuation of teenage girls' sexual innocence has to be understood as a recent discursive construct that reflects middle-class values. It comes to the conclusion that, on a deeper level, counter-hegemonic depictions of sexually active teenage girls in _HTS_ still favor moralizing messages, tied to a hegemonic, conservative discourse on femininity and sex. However, despite its conservative bent, Hormones consistently tells its stories from the point of view of the female teenage protagonists. As such, it shifts the perspective on an area that is usually silenced in the discussion around teenage sexuality: the ways in which teenagers negotiate conservative normative requirements.