Critical Arts | 2021
Queer China: Lesbian and Gay literature and Visual Culture under Postsocialism
Abstract
fessional sport; and the framing of events is always located in the matrix of power. The study is a welcome addition to literature on sports media, fandom cultures, governance, military rule, power, identities and violence in African sport. Thebook is critical as it revisits debates ongender,masculinity andpolitical discourse inAfrican football fandom and protest cultures, illuminating how gender equality remains an unsolved question in Egypt. During the Tahrir protests in 2011, female bodies became targets of ridicule, misogyny and exclusion politics which manifested through practices such as forced virginity tests under SCAF rule and the then-head of military intelligence and SCAF member, General alSisi. In addition, the Ultras Port Said sit-in protest camp rules disallowed women from staying until 10 pm. Women are also legitimate Ultras members, but such incidents reflect attempts to exclude them in fandom and public affairs at large. Sports fandom remains a masculine area, resisting shifting gender relations (Gee 2009; Tjønndal 2016; Ncube and Chawana 2018). All in all, this book is not sorely about the Ultras’ fandom cultures but intersects national discourses especially governance in an African military state. Issues of human rights, violence, rule of law, and media performance among others are at the heart of this ethnographic piece of work.