“You Never Walk Alone”: Fandom and Community

This short summary describes the contents of the chapters in this section of the book. The summary gives an overview of the topics covered, which includes fan labor, community, and identity.

Written in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in which social distancing and isolation entered public consciousness and altered daily life on a global scale, Sara Murphy contemplates the allure of touch and emotional intimacy. As a woman whose autoimmune disease has meant that physical intimacy is always accompanied by heightened risk, Murphy narrates the complex nexus of the terrible loss she feels (particularly sharp in the midst of the 2020 lockdown in her hometown) and the poignant pleasure she derives from watching the members of BTS engage in moments of affection with one another. Murphy observes how, through skinship, BTS illustrates a tactile life not limited to traditional notions of sex and sexuality, and afforded to her a mediated closeness in the midst of its necessary absence.