Reverberating Daydreams: The New and The Queer of Youtube ASMR

ASMR is a new a growing genre. At first finding a large audience during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study explores how the genre has changed post-lockdown. Through a qualititave content analysis, this study explore gender presentation in ASMR video and parasocial interactions in ASMR comment sections on YouTube. This study extends ASMR research into the unexplored category of queer ASMR to further develop an understanding of how gender and intimacy manifest in new digital mediums.