A tale of many newspapers: perversion, criminality, and scopophilia in the Edison Chen scandal

Abstract

This chapter examines the reportage on the Edison Chen sex photo scandal in Hong Kong. Chen, a popular actor and singer, took pictures of himself and his various sexual partners, and the pictures were leaked onto the internet in late 2007 and early 2008. The incident received widespread coverage in the local media. This article examines the construction of Chen’s identities as sexual deviant and criminal in the journalistic discourse of this period. It also argues that this discourse tapped into local readers’ scopophilia and epistemophilia in its presentation of the event. It concludes by using the Chen case to highlight the need for cultural-legal scholars to scrutinise media representations of issues relating to sexual identity and behaviour.