Privacy, Porn, and Gay Sex Parties: The Carceral Governance of Homosexuality in Indonesia

Abstract

This article examines how the recent Indonesian Pornography Law renders homosexuality and/or homosexual acts intelligible to the Indonesia state and society by institutionalising them as criminal offences. By drawing on insights from queer studies and exploring the cases of gay arrests in the country, I demonstrate that certain same-sex sexual acts are more susceptible to criminalisation, especially when those acts blur the distinction between public and private. The deployment of the Pornography Law against gay people, together with the anti-LGBT media environment in the country, has carried consequences for LGBT individuals, particularly gay people, by making them visible, legible, and thus subject to state surveillance and control.

Sex, crime and entertainment

“…2 As Jakarta-based media literacy non-governmental organisation Remotivi glibly reported in 2020, 'the media is now often regarded as the main culprit for the hostile environment toward marginalized groups in Indonesia' (Thaniago 2020: 1). Although images of LGBT in the news media have varied, one prominent feature has been spectacular police raids on gay men in spas and at parties, which have followed a routine format each time (Pausacker 2020b;Wijaya 2021). 3 Still images and videos of police raids on these events have depicted titillating images of half-naked figures, whose faces and bodies are blurred and in the process of being arrested or herded into waiting police transport vehicles.…”