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catboiz: a curious contemplation

in which i talk about catboys in relation to virtuality, queer erotics of play, and the aesthetics of popular capital.

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CATBOYS 

① virtuality

② queer erotics of play, and 

③ aesthetics of popular capital.

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① virtuality

virtual (adj.)

1. being such in essence or effect through not formally recognized or admitted
2. being on or simulated on a computer or computer network, such as:
   a. occurring or existing primarily online
   b. of, relating to, or existing within a virtual reality

virtuality (n.)

1. essence
2. potential existence; POTENTIALITY

— Merriam Webster dictionary definitions of "virtual" and "virtuality".

a catboy is said to be a "boy" version of a more popularly known archetype called the "catgirl," the latter of which is typically charged with sexually suggestive themes and often invokes a moe response. as a bearer of both cat and human features, the catboy/girl is a fantastic avatar character that can be activated via participatory role play and/or projective fanworks. 

to unpack the potentialities of *catboy* fantasies in particular is to understand what it means to be "catboy-like", "cat-like", or even "boy-like". Liz Sommer writes that catboys have often been used in reference to femboys (defined as "a feminine young boy") and furry-adjacent persona with both human and cat features. The Japanese term for "cat" is also used in conjunction with a slang term for the bottom, the one who receives in gay sex, or being "the girl" in the relationship. as such, building off of akiko mizoguchi's notion of virtual lesbians in BL media culture, i consider the catboy to be a gender-ambiguous being, if not genderless - an avatar playdoll whose positionality in anthropocentric cisheteronormative patriarchy is not immediately made clear, waiting to be activated by the participating actor(s). 

the catboy exists in a gray area that affords a lot of potential for experimentation and negotiation re: subversive and normative roleplaying.

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"这个尾巴......是挂件还是插件啊？"

"当然是插件啦(
因为是我插的（"


— Bullet comments on fanmade music video created by RuiChann on Bilibili, 原神MMD】魈猫猫想吃杏仁豆腐【魈】

② queer erotics of play

the activation of bodily senses through playing with / as the 'other.'

in the context of western orientalism, this phenomena occurs notoriously through the fetishisation of "the east", in which the hypersexualised eastern subject becomes a medium/trigger/object for erotic activation through the occidental gaze. the british colonial empire was afraid that their soldiers would be tempted by such sexual forces in their conquest of south and southeast asia, so they introduced homophobia via their penal code that explicitly prosecuted those who engaged in "carnal sex against the order of nature" - and by "nature", they meant white cisheteronormativty. homosexuality was akin to bestiality, which was akin to degeneracy, which was akin to embodying the flaming hypersexual animal that is the asian colonial subject.

if we acknowledge the popular understanding of catboys as infantilised and/or sexualised creatures, we are also reckoning with the racialised undertones of felinisation and how this operates in parallel with denigrations of otaku/anime culture. like many forms of queerness, the catboy is caught under the larger umbrella of pathologisation for its social dysfunctionality and degeneracy. the catboy is bestial, fetishistic, and obscene. yet, the catboy continues to embrace its identity as the social reject, performing its own imaginations of a posthumanist queer character within its animalistic costume/skin/texture. 

i believe the indulgent play of catboys has great political potential in a hyperproductive, overly pretentious, post-capitalist world. however, as a form of praxis - of truly capturing the spirit of catboyhood - an appreciation that remains at a superficial level is just as important to acknowledge, if not even more so. here, my consideration of the word "play" includes its usages in reference to participatory performance (as in roleplay, or playing as an imaginary character), manipulation (as in playing with a toy or being a "player" in the context of games and relational dynamics), and directorial voyeurism/projection (as in playing a scene in a video clip, or inhabiting the role of the spectator behind the fourth wall.) 

through its hybrid positionality along multiple frameworks (human-animal / masculine-feminine / dominant-submissive / real-virtual / divine-degenerate), the catboy affords the embodiment of multiple 'others' by disrupting one's sense of normalcy re: power dynamics and social etiquette. 

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“The catboy flies in the face of widely held and traditional values of sexuality and gender, it erodes the foundation and structure of our normative society,” expands @deleuzian_thembo. But it’s also palatable for mass consumption: “The catboy image embodies a form of ready-made, purely spectacular queerness that can be readily consumed by straight people [...](Catboy memes) exclusively deal with capitalist signifiers – commodified sexuality and identity – but operate with them by highlighting their hollowness,” responds @deleuzian_thembo. Rather, these memes borrow from the capitalist lexicon to express something inherently anti-capitalist: "We don’t have the language to articulate our alienation, we are feeling something disquieting, we are suffering, but we lack the language to articulate this."

— Günseli Yalcinkaya on Dazed, "From 4chan to Theorygram: how catboys became a symbol for the post-left."

③ aesthetics of popular capital 

CATBOY TRANSFIGURATIONS
as a CURIOUS form
of PINK CAPITALIST CURRENCY.

"Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector is a game that appears to be about collecting cats. Only you never really collect the cats — merely your photographs of them, for your Catbook. The cats come, the cats go; maybe you see them, maybe you don’t. The cats do not care. They have other lives, other places to be. What brings you back, again and again, is that these semiwild creatures have decided, temporarily, to share their existence with you. You cannot collect them, merely the memory of them, for existence is fleeting and nothing, save for ourselves, is ever entirely ours."

— Ryan Bradley in The New York Times, "Why Am I Obsessed With a Cellphone Game About Collecting Cats?"

cats have remained consistently viral and iconic in visual media throughout human history, be it as revered gods or as silly little memes (mimirs? meowmeows?). given the cat's simultaneous cuteness and seemingly self-important nonchalance in the anthropomorphic imaginary, accompanying the tendency to deify a cat's image is the temptation to fetishise, tokenise, and hoard it for oneself - a common trait observed in fan cultures where the accumulation of merchandise representing one's favourite celebrity figures and fictional characters manifests as a shrine in the domestic space. 

neko atsume is a perfect example of this fetishistic cult-like phenomena, in which the various cats in-game have taken on the role of virtual personalities whose access is determined by the player's level of devotion and desire. while players are positioned as passive followers who are expected to purchase specific food and furniture as offerings to the virtual cats, players are also simultaneously active in both driving the economy of catpitalism and curating their paraphenalia of cute cat .png files.

whatever distinct traits each cat has is eventually flattened into a fetish object (the photograph; the texture) in a curiosity cabinet (in a photobook; a photo frame), if not melted into another form of in-game currency. 

this fetishistic engagement with cats in popular culture shares some connections with the iconism of catboys in internet fandom and otaku culture. the facial proportions of cutesy humanoid character designs in anime and manga have been found to be more similar to those of cat faces rather than humans, which indicates an underhanded absorption of anthropomorphic imagery into the psyche of popular culture. images of cats performing acts of intimacy have also been popularly distributed as 'meal replacements' for fans of same-sex couple pairings to project their fantasies while bypassing the radar of censorship. the catboy-fication of fictional characters and real-people celebrities has become a common way for fans to reinterpret the personalities and behaviours of their favourite little meowmeows, in which the abscription of animal qualities becomes a mode of stylisation, infantilisation and object-/person-ification (however you wish to view it). 

falling in love ❤️ pic.twitter.com/aOFiRGide9
— place where cat shouldn't be (@catshouldnt) May 2, 2023

🔁: meowmeowfallinlove.glitch.me

what's also worth pointing out is this dialectic tension between the catboy icon(s) and the fanatic consumer, wherein both could be simultaneously understood as the submissive and dominant one in the relationship. as a granter of pleasure, the catboy could be understood as both a daddy/mommy figure who provides and nourishes, as well as a plaything to be toyed with. as a receiver of pleasure, the consumer is both a loyal devotee and a masterful rigger. if we consider the third mastermind behind the curtains, corporations who are aware of this desire-driven tango between the two are consciously feeding and manipulating consumers' demand for parasocial relationships for profit. who is playing who, and who is being played by the other? that the act of catboy transfiguration both elevates the subject matter into an influential, diefied position, yet simultaneously flattens it into a reproducible artefact to be consumed, ultimately reflects a sort of sadomasochistic power play between the devout yet insatiable fanbase, the target of their collective fixation, and the industries that manage this economy of desire.

perhaps riding on the momentum of its feline predecessor's legacies, the catboy is the face on the money of post-internet otaku culture: 

― a popular mascot whose alluring qualities have led to its eventual absorption into capitalistic mechanisms; 

― a mass-produced collectible playdoll/textile to be consumed, worshipped, objectified, or personified. 

though transfiguring something into a catboy can be seen as an act of media fermentation (to borrow the term from akiko mizoguchi's description of fujoshi's reinterpretive appropriation of non-queer media), one could also intepret this act as a superflat incorporation of queer kawaii aesthetics into consumerist brands. 

END OF CATBOIZ.

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create your own catboy!

• Name:
• Breed / Species : 
• Birthday / Horoscope : 
• Likes : 
• Dislikes :

Additional Character Info : 

• dominant <-> submissive
• feral / wild <-> domesticated
• bastard <-> polite
• quiet <-> vocal
• low energy <-> max zoomies
• overprotective <-> easygoing
• loves PDA <-> dislikes PDA

Not sure where to start? Try these for inspiration!

• uquiz.com/quiz/ToXZta/what-type-of-cat-are-you
• picrew.me/ja/image_maker/1908798

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curious questions for curious kittens!!

what does it mean to be cat-like, boy-like, or catboy-like? how do these traits manifest through exteriority and interiority, or in virtual and real spaces?

where does the catboy stand in relation to queer politics? to what extent does catboyification challenge or perpetuate normative notions of race, gender, sexuality, and ethics? 

in what ways can we understand catboyification as a symptom or response to late-stage capitalism? does the catboy represent a rejection of mainstream society, or has its appeal perhaps been embraced by the attention economy at large?

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CITED WORKS / FURTHER REFERENCES

* ace cards & collectibles - BN Figure Q One Piece x LuoXiaoHei Vol.2 [ https://acecards.com/products/bn-figure-q-one-piece-x-luoxiaohei-vol-2?variant=4... ]

* aini (@aini_) on Youtube - Parasocial relationships in East Asia: A look into obsession [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2Iy-WKeZrU]

* akiko mizoguchi - reading and living yaoi: male-male fantasy narratives as women's sexual subculture in japan [ http://hdl.handle.net/1802/6281 ]

* chaoyang trap s02 episode 8: Jokerfied on Literary Pornhub [ https://chaoyang.substack.com/p/jokerfied-fandom ]

* christopher b. patterson - open world empire: race, erotics, and the global rise of video games

* fujoshi.info [ https://www.fujoshi.info/bl-resources ]

* günseli yalcinkaya, dazed - from 4chan to theorygram: how catboys became a symbol for the post-left[ https://www.dazeddigital.com/science-tech/article/54881/1/deleuzian-cat-boys-the... ]

* H.L. Gibby (@Gibb_Arts on Twitter) - ship meme template [ https://twitter.com/gibb_arts/status/1231018186255912961 ]

* japanese with anime - tachi, neko, riba タチ, ネコ, リバ (Gay Slangs) [ https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2018/02/tachi-neko-riba.html#neko-origin ]

* karl0 on picrew -  ☆frend maker☆ !!WIP!! [ https://picrew.me/ja/image_maker/1908798 ]

* liz sommer, stayhipp - what is a catboy? [ https://stayhipp.com/glossary/what-is-a-catboy/ ]

* merriam webster - virtual [ https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/virtual ]

* merriam webster - virtuality [ https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/virtuality ]

* patrick w galbraith - the moe manifesto 

* quote tweets of place where cat shouldn't be (@catshouldnt) - falling in love <3 (May 1, 2023) [ https://twitter.com/catshouldnt/status/1653267167373324289/retweets/with_comment... ]

* RuiChann on Bilibili - 【原神MMD】魈猫猫想吃杏仁豆腐【魈】 [ https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV16K4y1H76J/?spm_id_from=333.788.recommend_more_... ]

* ryan bradley, ny times - "Why Am I Obsessed With a Cellphone Game AboutCollecting Cats?" [ https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/18/magazine/why-am-i-obsessed-with-a-cellphone-g... ]

* starredforlife on uquiz - what type of cat are you? [ https://uquiz.com/quiz/ToXZta/what-type-of-cat-are-you ]

thank you eddo, jenna, danny, sam, michael, beie, katie, evan, and rosal for supporting the development of this zine!

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AVATARS • WEEBS • PLAYDOLLS • YAOIS • MAIDBOYS • FEMBOYS • MOD SKINS • FURRIES • MEMES • KINKSUITS • COSTUMES • IDOLS • MASCOTS • MYSTERY BOXES • TSUNDERES • MALEWIVES • BLACK CAT HUSBANDS • BESTIAL FANTASIES • EXPENSIVE ANIME PLASTICS • ANTHROPO/ANIMORPHS • FREAKS • DIVINE SPIRITS • FANATIC PROJECTIONS • POOR LITTLE MEOWMEOWS WHO CAN DO NO WRONG

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README.MD

huazzers (they/he) is a media artist who makes games, zines, and creative archives. 

as of this writing, their main preoccupation is in fujoshi/yaoi studies. they are also making a catboy gacha game. 

more info on this zine can be found on huazzers.itch.io/catboiz

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Print Specifications: 

• B6 size 
• 20 pages (including cover) 
• black and white zine + coloured cover