Gender Expression K.

Adams

Express yourself: An exploration of how

straight men and women express their gender
through profile photos on Tinder
Katie Adams
Department of Communications, Seattle University, Seattle, WA

The present study investigated the relationship between the profiles of

users of Tinder, and gender expression. Drawing on a content analysis
of the profile photos of 125 straight men and 125 straight women, it was
found that women are more likely to express themselves as submissive
and sexual, while men were more likely to express themselves and
dominant and strong. Role theory predicted that men and women
would attempt to present themselves to the audience of Tinder in a way
to control how the audience views them.

Keywords: Gender, Masculinity, Femininity, Dating Apps, Gender Expression,

Online Dating

In 2012, a new dating app called Tinder was created (Escher, Jordan, 2015).

This app changed the online-dating game completely. Online dating sites are

internet tools designed to facilitate connections between users who are seeking

romantic and/or sexual partners (Fullick,2013). On Tinder, the profiles are

designed to be photo-focused and easily swiped through (Clifford, 2017). These

profile photos are the central part of this app, and the way that users decide who
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Gender Expression K. Adams

they want to match with. Based on your sexual preference, you are either looking at

users of a different gender, the same gender, or both. As a result, users of Tinder are

forced to decide, whether on purpose or not, decide how they want to define gender

and what they want gender to look like from a person.

Gender display is defined by society and expressed by individuals as they interact

while shaping evolving societal expectations regarding gender (Rose, Kallis, Shyles,

Barry, Biagini, Hart, Jack, 2012).

A recent study done in 2012 explored the impact of gender on social media

images. It asked the question, “what is the impact of gender on the relative

frequencies of the traits active, attractive, dependent, dominant, independent,

sentimental, sexy and submissive, in self-selected Facebook profile photos” (Rose et.

al, 2012). Like profile photos on Tinder, Facebook profile photos are a reflection of

the person of whom the profile belongs to. The research analyzed different profile

photos on Tinder, and used the above traits to collect information and gather

conclusions (Rose et. al, 2012). The research identified the top five gender

stereotypes for men and women. For men, the top five stereotypes were

adventurous, active, aggressive, autocratic and courageous (Rose et. al, 2012). The

top five stereotypes were women were affectionate, attractive, curious, dependent,

and dreamy (Rose et. al, 2012). Content analysis and a rubric was used for the

Facebook profiles to collect results and determine how gender plays a role. It was

determined by this research that twenty-somethings may be replicating in their

Facebook profile pictures the stereotypical gender traits they experience in media

images and culture (Rose et. al, 2012).

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Gender Expression K. Adams

In 2015, a study linked gender, gender expression, and gender stereotypes

with selfies. This study used 250 selfies of women, and 250 selfies of men taken

from Instagram. A rubric was created for these photos and content analysis was

used to find results. Like Facebook and Instagram, users of control over which

photos they choose to put onto social media. These photos are a reflection of the

user and who the user is or wants to show themselves as. The question asked in this

study was “to what degree do males’ and females’ selfies on Instagram reflect

gender stereotypes based on Goffman and Kang?” (Doring, Poeschl, Reif, 2016). The

research identified the gender stereotypes that were found from looking at the

photos collected, as well as those identified by Goffman and Kang (Doring, Poeschl,

Reif, 2016). The research found that “gender stereotypes observed in mass media

might be adopted by media users and might be imitated or even exaggerated by

young people in their selfies on Instagram and other social media sights” (Doring,

Poeschl, Reif, 2016).

Self-Presentation is the packaging and editing of the self during social

interactions to create a desired impression in the audience (Hancock, Toma, 2010).

This theory can be applied to the profile photos of Tinder, Instagram, Facebook, etc.

There are two different types of self-presentation (Hancock, Toma, 2010). The first

is online self-presentation. This self-presentation is static and involved describing

one’s appearance verbally or using photographs (Hancock, Toma, 2010). The

second type of self-presentation is face-to-face self-presentation which is dynamic

and embodied. Online self-presentation is the best form of self-presentation theory

to use for this research, since the research is focused on online and app dating.

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Gender Expression K. Adams

According to research done in 2010, “Impression construction in a dating

environment should be shaped by (a) users desired impressions... and (b) their

ability to implements their desired impression…” (Hancock, Toma, 2010). It is

important in online dating for both of those points to occur in order for there to be

true self-presentation.

According to the research, the first step in image construction involved

deciding on the impression to convey (Hancock, Toma, 2010). This goes along with

the research done in this study because the men and women have to decide how

they want to convey their gender. This could mean something different from each

person. Maybe someone wants to seem more masculine or more attractive than

they really are, or they might want to seem more feminine and submissive. This all

depends and who that person is and who their audience is. Deciding on how a

person wants to present themselves can be difficult, especially if masculinity and

femininity no longer have clear boundaries.

In one study done in 2013 about gendering the self in online dating, (Fullick,

2013), the study asked the question, “how are internet and social media users taping

into existing social and cultural resources and putting gender norms to work in their

representations of self? (Fullick, 2013). The study found that in their sample of

dating profiles, there were signs that the distinction of what is acceptably masculine

and feminine were blurring (Fullick, 2013). This blurring was heavily influenced in

the lifestyle and cultural references that mediated gender signification (Fullick,

2013). Because gender has changed so much in recent, the idea of masculinity and

feminity has changed drastically. Men and women are no longer expected to full-fill

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Gender Expression K. Adams

the same gender roles and they were expected to 40 years ago. It is harder to

determine gender because it is no longer solid. However, by the use of themes, the

research can use gender stereotypes to determine gender.

Themes

The themes stated above in the rubric used for content analysis were decided

on based on previous research, and inspiration from the previous research. A

research done in 2016 called “How gender-stereotypical are selfies? A content

analysis and comparison with magazine adverts” (Doring, Poeschl, Reif, 2016). This

study focused on Instagram photos and how gender stereotypes were used in said

photos. The themes for this study were taken from and inspired by the themes used

in this study. The themes taken from the Instagram study included, “withdrawing

gaze, body display (clothing), kissing pout, muscle presentation, faceless portrayal,

and posture” (Doring, Poeschl, Reif, 2016). These themes were taken from the study

because they were used in a study that was similar to the Tinder research, and

yielded results that could pertain to gender expression. The themes that were

inspired by those themes were location of photo and other people in the photo. The

theme of type of photo was decided on based on a different study done on selfies

specifically, in 2016. This study found that “selfies presented in a mate-attraction

context are intuitively or perhaps consciously selected to adhere to ideal mate

qualities” (Elias, Flath, Sedgewick, 2016). Based on this conclusion, the theme of

photo type was used in this study.

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Gender Expression K. Adams

Statement of Research Question

When looking at the profile photos of heterosexual cisgendered males and

females on Tinder, how do these photos express gender?

Method

Sample

Subjects were 250 users of Tinder. Subjects were 125 straight, cisgendered,

male users of Tinder and 125 straight, cisgendered, female users of Tinder. Because

of the location the research took place, all subjects, male and female, are from the

Capitol Hill area in Seattle, and are ages 18 through 28. The average age of female

profiles was 20.7, and the average age of male profiles was 24.3. Subjects were

chosen randomly by taking a screen shot of every fifth profile on Tinder and then

swiping left to remove them from view once the data was collected. The male

subjects were using Tinder to connect with women, and the female subjects were

using Tinder to connect men.

Demographic Characteristics of participants

Characteristics Number Percent
Gender
Male 125 50
Female 125 50
Age (male)
18-23 48 38.4
24-28 77 61.6
Age (female)
18-23 110 88
24-28 15 12

As stated in the table above, there was an even number of men and women

used for this study. However, there is extreme age differences between the genders.

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Gender Expression K. Adams

In the male profiles, there were many more profiles ages 24 to 28. Over half of the

profiles fall into this category. In the female profiles, the majority of the profiles

were ages 18 to 23. This gives an insight into who is using Tinder.

Measures

Gender expression on Tinder was measured through content analysis of

photos provided by users of Tinder, from the perspective of a consumer of Tinder.

The rubric used for content analysis contained 10 themes. These themes were

decided for a number of reasons. The first reason was to attempt to answer the

research question, and the second was because they noticeably occurred multiples

times in the content collected. Additionally, the themes were used in other research

studies on similar topics. The rubric was applied to each photo and data was

collected in terms of how many themes applied to each photo.

Procedure

In order to gather the profiles needed for this research, two different false

Facebook profiles were created. One profile was a male, to look at female profiles,

and the other was a female, to look at male photos. In order to participate on

Tinder, your Tinder profile must be linked to a Facebook profile to confirm your

identity. Each fake profile created on Tinder showed no profile photos, and the

profile bio stated that the Tinder profile was being used for research only. By

making those fake profiles, access was given to view the other profiles in the near-

by area. Each subject used for this research was chosen at random. Every fifth

profile that came up on the feed was saved. These profiles were saved by way of

screenshotting. This procedure was done for both the male and female profiles that

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Gender Expression K. Adams

come up on the two different feeds. For every photo, even the ones that were not

used for this research, they were swiped left on, which would indicate disinterest if

the app was being used for its intended purposes. This was done so that there was

no chance of contact between profiles, and so that those other profiles would not

show up on the feed again. After the photos had been collected, each photo was

applied to the rubric created, and the data was collected. The following table shows

the rubric that was used for the content analysis and data collection. To collect the

data from the rubric, the rubric was applied to each photo for males and females. It

was determined if there were any themes in the photo from the rubric, and that data

was put into categories. The same rubric was used for both genders so that there

would be consistency. After the data was collected, the results were analyzed and

conclusions were drawn.

Rubric:

Posture Standing Laying In motion Sitting

(what is the down
posture of the
person
standing

Location gym car outside Inside

(where was
the photo
taken?)
Body display Sparse clothing Full
(how much or clothing
how little
clothing is
being worn)

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Gender Expression K. Adams

Muscle Use of muscle

presentation presentation
(muscle is the
focus of
photo)
Body focus Full body Head shot Chest up Waist up
(how much of
the subject’s
body can we
see)
Other people More than one
(are there person in the
other people photo
in the photo?)
Licensed Withdrawing
withdrawal gaze (not
looking at the
camera)
Faceless Subject’s face
portrayal is hidden
(is the
subject’s face
hidden)
Type of photo Selfie (photo Regular
(what type of taken by self) photo
photo was (photo
used?) taken by
someone
else)

Results

Through these themes stated above, different data was collected for each

photo and for both the male and female photos. This section will focus on the data

collected from the themes that were analyzed.

The data collected for posture for men showed that 32 male profiles

portrayed men sitting down in their profile pictures. Four profiles showed men

lying down and five profiles showed men in motion. The posture with the most

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Gender Expression K. Adams

profile photo example was standing, with 84 profiles. The data collected for women

showed slightly different results. The data collected for posture for women showed

an equal number of profile photos depicting the subject sitting and standing, at 58

profiles each. There were seven photos showing lying down, and only two profiles

of women in motion.

The data collected for location of photo for men was also split into four

categories. The first was in the gym, with seven profiles. The second category was

in the car, with eight profiles. The third category was inside with 49 profiles

showing photos taken either inside a house or a restaurant. The last category was

photos taken outside, with sixty-one profile photos matching this theme. The

numbers were slightly different for women. For photos taken in the gym, there

were zero female photos showing this. There were 15 profile photos showing

photos in a car, and 37 photos taken outside. Photos taken inside had the most

representation, with 73 profiles.

Body display was the third theme analyzed. From the male profiles, the data

showed that 108 profiles showed the subjects in full clothing. The remaining 17

profiles showed men in sparse clothing. For the female profiles, the data collected

was a little different. For females, 93 of the profiles showed the subjects in full

clothing. Therefore, the remaining 32 profiles showed women in sparse clothing.

Another theme that was analyzed was muscle presentation. In the male

profile photos, there were five profiles that showed examples of muscle

presentation. The remaining 120 profile photos did not. For the female profiles,

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Gender Expression K. Adams

there was only one profile that showed an example of muscle presentation. The

remaining 124 profiles did not show this theme.

An additional theme that was analyzed was the amount of profiles photos

that included more than one person was analyzed. In the men’s profile photos, 18

profiles included photos of the main subject with at least one other person in the

photo. The remaining 107 profiles showed a singular subject. The female profile

photos showed only 12 profiles that included a second person in the photo with the

main subject. The remaining 113 profiles showed a singular person in the profile

photo.

The following theme to be analyzed was body focus. This theme was broken

down into four categories. These categories were full body, chest up, waist up, and

head shot. The male photos showed 53 profile photos depicting the body from the

chest up. The photos then showed 40 profile photos that showed the full body, 22

profile photos that showed the body from the waist up, and 16 profile photos that

showed just the head of the subject. In the female profiles, 38 of the profile photos

showed the body from the chest up. 32 of the profiles showed the subject’s full

body, 31 profiles showed just the subject’s head, and 15 profiles showed the

subject’s body from the waist up.

The data collected for licensed withdrawal, withdrawing gaze specifically,

showed there were 24 male profiles that gave examples of this. The remaining 101

profiles showed the person either looking at the camera, or was a faceless

presentation. The female profiles showed 17 that gave examples of withdrawing

gaze. The remaining 108 profiles did not show examples of this.

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Gender Expression K. Adams

The following theme that was analyzed was the kissing pout facial

expression. The data for the male photos showed only one person using this

expression in their photo, so there was only one example of kissing pout in the male

photos collected. The data collected for the female photos showed 24 profiles that

had examples of this facial expression. The remaining 101 female profiles did not

use the kissing pout in their photo.

In the same way, the theme of faceless presentation was analyzed. From the

data collected from the male profiles, only five profiles showed example of faceless

presentation. In the reaming 120 profile photos, the subject’s face was clear in the

photo. In the data collected from the female profile photos, only four profiles

showed example of faceless presentation. In the remaining 121 profiles, the

subject’s face was clear and easy to see.

The final theme that was analyzed was the type of photo used as the profile

photo. This theme was broken down into two parts. The first type of photo that was

analyzed was the use of a selfie, and the second was the use of a regular photo that

was taken by someone else. The data collected from the male profiles showed 78

profile photos taken by a different party. The remaining 47 profile photos were

selfies, taken by the subject of the photo. The data collected from female profiles for

this theme showed 80 profiles using a selfie as their profile photo. The remaining

45 profiles used a regular photo, taken by a different party.

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Gender Expression K. Adams

Results (Male photos)

Theme Number Percentage
Posture
Standing 32 25.6
Sitting 84 67.2
Lying down 4 3.2
In motion 5 4
Location of photo
Outside 61 48.8
Inside 49 39.2
Gym 7 5.6
car 6 4.8
Body Display
Full clothing 108 86.4
Sparse clothing 17 13.6
Muscle Presentation
In photo 5 4
Not in photo 120 96
Body Focus
Full body 40 32
Chest up 53 42.4
Waist up 22 17.6
Head only 16 12.8
Other people in photo
Another person 18 14.4
Alone 107 85.6
Licensed withdrawal
Withdrawing gaze 24 19.2
Facial expression
Kissing pout 1 0.8
Faceless presentation
Can’t see face 5 4
Type of photo
Selfie 47 37.6
Regular 78 62.4

Results (Female photos)

Theme Number Percentage
Posture
Standing 58 46.4
Sitting 58 46.4
Lying down 7 5.6
In motion 2 1.6
Location of photo
Outside 37 29.6
Gym 0 0
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Gender Expression K. Adams

Car 15 12
Inside 73 58.4
Body display
Full clothing 32 25.6
Sparse clothing 93 74.4
Muscle presentation
In photo 1 0.8
Not in photo 124 99.2
Body focus
Full body 32 25.6
Chest up 38 30.4
Waist up 15 12
Head only 31 24.8
Other people in photo
Another person 12 9.6
Alone 113 90.4
Licensed withdrawal
Withdrawing gaze 17 13.6
Facial expression
Kissing pout 24 19.2
Faceless presentation
Can’t see face 4 3.2
Type of photo
Selfie 80 64
Regular photo 45 36

For most of the themes, there were substantial differences between genders.

There were two results that have rather big differences between the two genders.

One difference was between the kissing pout facial expression where women

showed 19.2% of profiles with this facial expression and men showed .8% of

profiles with this facial expression. The second biggest difference was the data

collected for posture. For men, 67.2% of the profiles showed the subjects standing,

and for women the profile photos showed both standing and sitting in 46.4% of the

profiles. The most surprising result to me, was the muscle presentation data. Only

4% of male profile photos showed examples of muscle presentation. The data from

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Gender Expression K. Adams

the female profiles is not surprising, since having muscle and being strong is not

something we usually associate with women in this society. However, it is

something we associate and encourage with the men in our society, so it was

surprised that this was not more common of a theme. A second set of data that

surprised me was the data collected for withdrawing gaze. In women, 13.6% of

profiles showed withdrawing gaze, but 19.2% of male profile photos showed

withdrawing gaze. It was surprising that there were more examples of withdrawing

gaze in male photos than in female photos. In the study that this theme was taken

from, “How gender-stereotypical are selfies?”, they found the opposite results, and it

was expected the same result would happen in the data collected in this study.

Discussion

The primary purpose of this study was to determine how straight men and

women use their profile photos on Tinder to express their gender. Overall, several

of our findings were consistent with previous research. First, it was found was

women were more likely to use selfies in Tinder-like settings. This finding was

consistent with research from the study done on selfies (Elias, Flath, Sedgewick,

2016). Second, it was also found that women were more likely to have photos

showing them in sparse clothing. This finding was consistent with from “How

gender-stereotypical are selfies? A content analysis and comparison with magazine

adverts” (Doring, Poeschl, Reif, 2016). The conclusions with be broken up into two

separate categories, male photos and female photos.

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Gender Expression K. Adams

Male photos

It can be concluded that men on Tinder express their gender as someone who

is dominant, adventurous, strong and social. They do this in part by using pictures

showing them standing up, as to show height and express dominance. On Tinder,

many people include their height in their bio, and using a photo of a person standing

up can give a good idea of how tall that person is. Another conclusion gathered from

the results is that men use photos of themselves outside to show that they are active

and can be adventurous/spontaneous. A third conclusion gathered is that since men

are more likely to use muscle presentation in their profile photos, men find strength

and important aspect of masculinity. A fourth conclusion is that revealing clothing

is not a part of masculinity. Men are less likely than women to wear a sparse

amount of clothing in their profile photos, suggesting that clothing, or the lack of, is

not part of masculinity. A fifth conclusion is men use their profile photos as a way to

show off their best assets, and hide those that are “undesirable”. A sixth conclusion

is that men use photos taken by someone else, and that are full body, because of the

focus of the photo is often where the photo was taken, not the subject.

Female photos

Based on the data collected, it can be concluded that women express their

gender as someone who is submissive, sexualized, and seductive. They do this in

part by having profile photos showing them wearing revealing clothing. The

revealing clothing implies sexualization and that it is an important part of female

gender expression. A second conclusion is that women use a kissing pout facial

expression in photos to show seduction and sexualization. A third conclusion is that

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Gender Expression K. Adams

women sit down or lie down in their profile photos to show submission, and to

express this as part of their gender identity. A fourth conclusions is that women use

head only photos to hide parts of their body that could be “undesirable”. Similarly,

and fifth conclusion is that women use selfies so that they have more control over

how a photo makes them look. A sixth conclusion is that women are more likely to

use selfies because the intended focus of the photo is the women, instead of her

surroundings.

Directions for Future Research

As stated above, Tinder is a new app and the world of online and app dating

continues to change every day. Similarly, gender is no longer explicitly defined and

it is becoming more fluid. Because of these two changing factors, very little research

has been done on the two topics combined. The results of this study suggest a

number of future directions for research aimed at understanding the relation

between gender expression and Tinder, or app dating. In particular, future research

should study what gender traits users of Tinder are looking for from potential

mates, instead of traits they express. This research should aim to determine if there

are specific gender traits that are more desirable from potential males. Another

avenue that future research could take is looking at different genders and different

sexualities and how they express gender. Specially look at the trans community on

Tinder could yield interesting results about gender expression, or even gender

expectations, in the trans Tinder community. In summary, there are many ways

that future research could go, and many ways that future research could yield

interesting information about gender, sexual identity, and online dating.

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Gender Expression K. Adams

Limitations

There were three limitations identified in this research study. The first was

the inability to generalize the results and conclusions. Because the collection was

randomized, generalization to all male or female participants on Tinder should be

made with extreme caution. There was no control of age, ethnicity, and a limitation

to a single location so therefore the sample size is not representative of the

population of Tinder. The second limitation was the fact that there was only one

coder used to analyze the research. Because there was only one coder, there were

many chances for mistakes or bias. There was no one to give a second opinion or

talk through the themes with, so there could be more themes or conclusions that

could have been found if there was more than one coder. A third limitation was that

there was limited research done on this subject. Because Tinder and online dating

in general are new platforms, so there has not be a lot of research done on this topic

specifically. Because of this, there was little that this research could be based off of,

or other research to use for guidance.

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Gender Expression K. Adams

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