Girls on Fotolog: Reproduction of gender stereotypes or identity play?

Abstract

In recent years a great deal of contemporary research has centred its attention on teenagers’ online presence and behaviour, thus responding to educators and parents’ increasing concerns regarding privacy and safety on the Internet. This article is the result of an in-depth qualitative study looking at anonymous girls’ picture albums on Fotolog, one of Spain’s most popular social networking sites (SNS). The main goal is to gain insight into these girls’ self-representation strategies, looking at what kind of images they choose to upload and which of the gender displays found in mass media portrayals they incorporate. Coding was done according to Goffmanian categories of gender display and performance (feminine touch, ritualization of subordination, licensed withdrawal), combined with findings from other studies (male gaze, representation as sexual subjects, pleasing ourselves and lesbian pose). Results show that girls are quite skilful in their self-representation techniques – and become more successful in conveying a specific image of themselves over time by using Fotolog affordances, which suggests that these sites allow them to freely experiment with identity and play with conventional codes of gender display. We identified at least three gender display codes girls play with: the supermodel, the languid romantic and the trash chic girl. Further research involving interviews with Fotolog teen users should reveal the extent to which these girls are aware of privacy and safety issues related to their self-representations.

“Girls are addicted to likes so they post semi-naked selfies”: Peer mediation, normativity and the construction of identity online

“…As Ringrose and Eriksson Barajas (2011) showed SNS are highly gendered identity spaces, providing risky opportunities to the process of identity construction. As a consequence, boys and girls tend to eroticize their self-presentation with similar perseverance but underlying different features, as noted by Willem et al (2012) and Tortajada et al (2013).…”

“…There is evidence that boys and girls do not passively reproduce the hyper-ritualised and hyper-sexualised models circulated by advertising and celebrity culture (Bosch, 2011;Ringrose & Eriksson Barajas, 2011;Willem, Araüna, Crescenzi, & Tortajada 2012). Nonetheless, gender imbalances and a "sexual double standard" exist, with boys and girls participating in gendered subcultures, and being subjected to different norms and notions of socially legitimate behaviour (Lyons, Giordano, Manning, & Longmore, 2011).…”

Autenticidad, marca personal y agencia sexual: el posfeminismo lésbico en youtube

“…Las mujeres aparecen como sujetos sexuales que buscan su propio placer, que desean y que quieren ser deseadas pero, esto último, lo hacen asumiendo como propia la mirada masculina, fetichizándose y cosificándose (Gill, 2008(Gill, , 2009Lazar, 2009;McRobbie, 2011), ejerciendo una fuerte autovigilancia y disciplina sobre el propio cuerpo (Tasker y Negra, 2005;Gill, 2007). La feminidad que promueve el posfeminismo está centrada en el cuerpo y en el atractivo y alienta la aparición "heterosexy" de las mujeres (Dobson, 2015), a pesar de que, en numerosas ocasiones, usan el artificio del lesbian lipstick (Gill, 2007) o "pose lésbica" (Willem, 2012). Por otra parte, el empoderamiento aparece conectado y redibujado por el consumismo, y se asimila al estilo de vida o la actitud (Lotz, 2001).…”

“…En esta línea, abordaremos la relación que se establece entre la autenticidad y el posfeminismo en espacios de construcción identitaria como es Youtube y, concretamente, de los diferentes patrones de representación posfeministas, nos centraremos en la (aparente) transgresión respecto a la orientación sexual. Así pues, aunque los conceptos de lesbian lipstick (Gill, 2007) y "pose lésbica" (Willem, 2012) nos remitan a mujeres heterosexuales que fantasean y juegan con la homosexualidad para atraer la mirada masculina, la aproximación a las auto-presentaciones y discursos de lesbianas youtubers nos permitirá añadir nuevas dimensiones a esta manera de presentarse frente a la cámara y contraponer otras formas de representación, de construcción propia, vinculadas al lesbianismo.…”

Performing the Self in the Mainstream

“…Stern (2004) proposes that online spaces enable adolescents to experiment with self-presentation styles more freely than offline spaces, where social constraints are stronger. Some scholars (Kelly et al 2006, Daneback 2006, Willem et al 2012 point to showing more skin, adopting traditionally masculine sexual scripts or playing with conventional codes of gender display as instances of such experimentation. Still, normative femininity requires girls to balance physical attractiveness with respectability (Ambjörnsson 2004).…”