Naked loan selfies: Becoming collateral, becoming pornography

Naked loan selfies are a Chinese Internet phenomenon in which naked selfies taken by young women are used as a form of collateral in peer-to-peer loaning systems. Despite being the subject of sensationalised media coverage in China, naked loan selfies have so far received only very limited academic attention. Drawing on the new materialist ontologies of Karen Barad and Annemarie Mol, this article investigates naked loan selfies as techno-social entities that are enacted through specific online networks and practices. The article uses text-based research and online walkthroughs to trace the way naked loan selfies are constituted first as collateral, and second as pornography. As well as providing insight into an under-researched online phenomenon, this article contributes to the growing body of work on selfies as networked, lively and agentic.