Abstract
Danmei, the Chinese version of Boys Love, denotes a literature genre featuring male-male romantic/homoerotic relationships produced for and consumed by women. The history of danmei can be traced to imperial China when male homosexuality involving feminine elements was embraced by elite culture. Currently, a prodigious amount of danmei narratives are characterised by femininisation of uke and even seme protagonists, embodied by characters’ epicene appearance, effeminate manners, transvestism and male pregnancy. Femininisation in danmei, however, is discrepant from fangirls’ act of nisu that depicts male idols as girls. The rationale for femininisation in danmei is partially attributed to female writers’ (un)intentional deviation from partner preferences of homosexual males, impinged on by the prevailing aesthetic trend of ‘soft masculinity’ and readers’ taste. More significantly, femininising male characters enables danmei creators to manipulate traditional gender roles and intensify the female gaze. Potentially, femininisation is the result of the increasing attention and readership of danmei. To cite this article (7th APA style): Shahid, S. E. (2021). Distorted Mirror of Advertising in a Muslim Society: A Study of Television Commercials by Global Companies in Pakistan. Journal Communication Spectrum: Capturing New Perspectives in Communication 11(2), 95-106. http://dx.doi.org/10.36782/jcs.v11i2.2023