Tugas 2 Isbd

D. Nicole Farris · D’Lane R.
Compton
Andrea P. Herrera Editors
Gender,
Sexuality and
Race in the
Digital Age
Gender, Sexuality and Race in the Digital Age
D. Nicole Farris • D’Lane R. Compton
Andrea P. Herrera
Editors
Gender, Sexuality and Race

in the Digital Age
Editors
D. Nicole Farris D’Lane R. Compton
Texas A&M University-Commerce University of New Orleans
Commerce, TX, USA New Orleans, LA, USA
Andrea P. Herrera
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR, USA
ISBN 978-3-030-29854-8 ISBN 978-3-030-29855-5 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29855-5
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

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Contents
Part I Youth Culture and “Kids These Days”

1 Anxious Publics, Disruptive Bodies: Online Discourse
About Transgender Children�� 3
Kate Henley Averett
2 Cybersexism: How Gender and Sexuality Are
at Play in Cyberspace�� 17
Gabrielle Richard and Sigolène Couchot-Schiex
3 Let’s Talk About Porn: The Perceived Effect
of Online Mainstream Pornography on LGBTQ Youth�� 31
Penny Harvey
Part II Visual Media and Social Control

4 Cautions and Possibilities of Online Collective Identity:
The It Gets Better Project �� 55
Colleen Rost-Banik
5 Back That Sexism Up: An Analysis of the Representation
of Women’s Bodies in Music Videos �� 75
Randa Simpson Hovater and D. Nicole Farris
6 How a Democracy Killed Tamir Rice: White Racial Frame,
Racial Ideology, and Racial Structural Ignorance
in the United States�� 99
Corey J. Miles
Part III Online Disruptions and Nonbinary Genders

7 Sexing the Margins: Homonationalism in Gay Dating Apps �� 115
Emerson L. R. Barrett
v
vi Contents
8 Becoming Non-binary: An Exploration of Gender

Work in Tumblr�� 137
Megan Sharp and Barrie Shannon
9 Prejudice and Social Media: Attitudes Toward
Illegal Immigrants, Refugees, and Transgender People �� 151
Theresa Davidson and Lee Farquhar
Part IV Sexual Cultures and Their Isms

10 The Drama of Predatory Heteromasculinity Online�� 171
Sine Anahita
11 Negotiating Racialized Sexuality Through Online
Stancetaking in Text-Based Communication�� 187
Ping-Hsuan Wang
12 “No Fats, Femmes, or Blacks:” The Role of Body Types,
Gender Roles and Race in Condom Usage Online�� 205
Jesus Gregorio Smith and Sally Brown
Part I
Youth Culture and “Kids These Days”
Chapter 1
Anxious Publics, Disruptive Bodies: Online
Discourse About Transgender Children
Kate Henley Averett
1.1 Introduction
In late October 2011, local and then national press picked up the story of Colorado
seven-year-old Bobby Montoya’s unsuccessful attempt to join a local Girl Scout
troop. Bobby, who is referred to by her mother as a boy but who news reports say
“self-identifies as a girl,” was turned away by the troop leader (Goodin 2011).
Bobby’s mother, Felisha Archuleta, told one news anchor that the troop leader said
“‘It doesn’t matter how he looks, he has boy parts, he can’t be in Girl Scouts. Girl
Scouts don’t allow that [and] I don’t want to be in trouble by parents or my supervi-
sor’” (Bolton 2011). As soon as the local news reported on this event, Girl Scouts of
Colorado and Girl Scouts of the United States of America quickly pointed out that
the troop leader did not, in fact, act in accordance with Girl Scout policy on this
issue, which is that any child who identifies as and presents as a girl is welcome to
join a troop. Even as this happened, media outlets throughout the country and even
abroad continued to report on the story, and as they did, people took to the comment
threads of various news websites to express their thoughts about the story.
Though the piece started out as a local interest story in Colorado news and was
picked up by parenting blogs and websites, it also received much attention from
mainstream network and cable news. Interestingly, this story was framed as being
one of national importance. A report on the Fox News website (2011), titled
“Colorado Girl Scouts Say Boy Welcome To Join,” was filed on the site under “U.S.:
National Interest,” and another story (Chiaramonte 2011), “Transgender Girl Scout
Controversy Sheds Light On Organization’s ‘Inclusive’ Policies,” simply under
“U.S. Home.” WTSP (2011), a local news station in Tampa Bay, Florida, published
the online version of its report, “Boy wanting to join Girl Scouts told ‘no’” under
“Top Stories.” New York Daily News published its story, “Transgender boy’s
K. H. Averett (*)
University at Albany, Albany, NY, USA
e-mail: kaverett@albany.edu
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 3

D. N. Farris et al. (eds.), Gender, Sexuality and Race in the Digital Age,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29855-5_1
4 K. H. Averett
attempt to join Girl Scouts initially rejected because ‘he has boy parts’” under
“News: National” (Jaccarino 2011).
Why would such a story – a local report of a transgender or gender non-
conforming child wishing to be a Girl Scout – be of national interest? And further-
more, why would it elicit such strong, critical reactions from those who interacted
with this story by commenting on online reports? I argue that, though certainly not
representative of the reactions of all news viewers, the comments responding to this
story can help us understand some of the reactions people have to the actual or
imagined presence of a transgender or gender non-conforming child in public and
private spaces.
It is important to note that, in nearly all of these pieces, what is emphasized is
Montoya’s status as “male-bodied.”1 Most do this by referring to Montoya as a boy
and using male pronouns to refer to her2, and many also place some focus on the
troop leader’s reported comment about Montoya having “boy parts.” In most cases,
the stories are accompanied by pictures or videos that show Montoya, with shoulder-
length brown hair, bangs, and a little braid on one side, wearing a very stylish girls’
outfit, posed with or playing with various dolls: in other words, they show her pre-
senting as female. In short, these articles frame the child as a “boy dressed up as a
girl.” The juxtaposition of the visual of a little girl with words describing a boy
seems intent on producing a certain amount of cognitive dissonance in the reader. It
is sensational.
These articles are examples of a particular style of news reporting, which seeks
to involve the audience through crafting specific emotional responses. Referring to
the tone of more “belief-driven” cable news that has become the norm in the United
States, Chris Peters writes that “such tones are not accidental – they are crafted with
a certain experience in mind that is designed for a specific audience” (2011:306). In
fact, Peters notes, much of American news reporting today focuses very carefully on
the emotive experience of the audience, seeking to form what he terms “an experi-
ence of involvement” in the audience, in which the audience feels a sense of partici-
pation in the news story through emotional engagement (2011:307). In the case of
1
The term ‘male-bodied,’ while often intended to be a term that respects gender diversity by
acknowledging that gender identity and bodily sex do not always align, is a highly problematic
term in that it affirms a binary notion of sex – that there are only two sexes, male and female – and
locates the deciding factor of sex in external genitalia rather than hormones, chromosomal status,
secondary sex characteristics, or any number of other factors that could be interpreted as ‘bodily’
markers of sex. I use the term here to point to the trend in these comments to use the penis as signi-
fier of male embodiment, but place it in scare quotes to acknowledge its problematic status.
2
Because none of the news reports I have encountered, nor interviews with the family that I have
watched, report having actually asked Bobby what her preferred pronouns are, or in fact whether
she identifies as a girl or as a boy who likes girls’ things, the question of whether to refer to Bobby
as male or female is not entirely clear-cut. The Associated Press style guide states that transgender
individuals should be referred to using the pronouns of their affirmed gender, but most news
reports have followed the lead of Bobby’s mother in using male pronouns. However, because in the
interviews I have seen, Bobby presents as female, I will err on the side of assuming that Bobby’s
gender presentation is indicative of a female gender identity and will refer to her using female
pronouns throughout this chapter.
1 Anxious Publics, Disruptive Bodies: Online Discourse About Transgender Children 5
these news stories, then, it would not be a stretch to argue that the cognitive disso-
nance felt by the reader at seeing a girl but reading about a “boy” is precisely the
emotional reaction intended by the news outlets reporting these stories.
Beyond inviting audience interaction through emotional involvement, however,
many news outlets now also invite audience interaction through online participation
in the news. Television newscasts regularly invite viewers to go to their website for
more information about a story and to express their own opinions about the stories
in the news. Though they are certainly not representative of the reactions of all
viewers, the comments on news websites can nonetheless help us to understand
some of the range of emotional reactions experienced by news viewers.
In order to understand the emotional response that “a boy in Girl Scouts” trig-
gered, I examine the online comments responding to one article about this story:
“Bobby Montoya, 7-Year-Old Transgender Child, Turned Away From Girl Scouts,
Later Accepted,”3 which was published on October 26, 2011 on the Huffington Post
(Praetorius 2011). I focus on this particular event for several reasons. First, the
Huffington Post has a reputation for being a more liberal news source, so its com-
ments represent a wider range of viewpoints than those on other, more mainstream
or conservative news sources. Second, at the time of the article’s publication, the
Huffington Post placed great emphasis on interaction with news stories; readers
were encouraged to respond to pieces, and many articles on its front page at any
given time had their number of comments highlighted as an important piece of
information about the story. And finally, and perhaps most importantly, is the
Huffington Post’s commenting policy, which, unlike many other news websites,
does not allow for anonymous posting. At the time the article was published, in
order to comment on a story, a reader had to create an account with the website, and
comments showed the commenter’s username, a link to their user profile, and vari-
ous statistics about the quality of their commenting, as judged by other site users.
Because of this policy, it is easy to determine whether a comment comes from an
account that was created specifically to comment on that particular article – evi-
dence, it could be argued, of “trolling” by individuals or groups intent on creating
inflammatory conversation on web forums – or by someone who regularly interacts
with the news on this site.
This article received 4671 user comments, most within 24 h of the story being
posted.4 The comments ranged from very supportive of Montoya, her mother, and
3
This may not be the original title of the article. The Huffington Post article notes that it was pub-
lished on October 26, 2011 and ‘last updated’ on October 31, 2011, though the content of article
updates is not noted. However, user comments indicate that the original version of the story
referred to Bobby Montoya as a boy and used male pronouns, but that at some point, due to user
feedback about this perceived misstep, the article was edited to refer to Bobby as transgender and
to use female pronouns.
4
All comment counts are as of December 2, 2011. This is a higher-than-average number for the
site. For comparison, the “related content” articles that the site suggests the reader look at after
finishing this article, all with content related to transgender and/or gender non-conforming chil-
dren or adults, had an average of 35.75 comments each, (n = 4, min = 8, max. = 68) and the “Most
Popular” articles on the front page of the Huffington Post on the evening of December 2, 2011 had
an average of 4288.5 comments each. (n = 6, min. = 1012, max. = 11,822)
6 K. H. Averett
the Girl Scouts of Colorado’s quick response welcoming Montoya to join a troop, to
highly critical of the child, her family, and the Girl Scouts, and supportive of the
troop leader’s initial reaction. My analysis focused specifically on the critical com-
ments, as I was interested in exploring the substance of people’s anxieties about
transgender children. Thus, the analysis I present in this chapter is not an exhaustive
analysis of all perspectives that internet users – or even the users who responded to
this article – have about transgender children. First, I coded each comment as sup-
portive, critical, or neutral/other, and then used an open coding process to identify
themes among the critical comments. In what follows, I will discuss three themes
that emerged in my analysis of anxious publics: (1) The insistence on binary gender
that is consistent with bodily sex, especially genitalia, (2) The use of age as a way
of delegitimizing the child’s claim to being transgender, but the simultaneous use of
age and race to insist on the child’s sexual precocity, (3) That the events described
in the story are evidence of the deterioration of country/society. In the following
sections, I discuss how these responses together constitute an “anxious public
response” of the type discussed below – a response characterized by anxiety over
the disruption of binaries that constitute the identity of those responding, and a
response that reveals contradictions inherent in the construction of the good
American citizen.
1.2 What Are “Anxious Publics?”
In this section, I use a critical intersectional approach to the study of bodies and
space to argue that public spaces, and “the public” in general, are constituted such
that an anxious response is demanded of citizens when those perceived as not
belonging enter a space. This response is the outcome of several overlapping pro-
cesses that lead to both the construction of normative bodies within spaces, and to
the surveillance of bodies that deviate from this norm. Embodied responses of anxi-
ety should not be understood as individual or idiosyncratic, but rather, that these
emotional and embodied reactions, in the words of Mick Smith and Joyce Davidson,
“both replicate and express…something of the underlying cultural logic of contem-
porary society” (2012:46, see also Bordo 1993).
The construction of normativity is a process based upon inclusion and exclusion,
in which oppositional binaries are used to define what is normative and thus, what
is not, in a particular space or place (Fellows and Razack 1998). Along the various
axes of these binaries, certain behaviors come to be defined as proper or respectable,
and the bodies associated with those behaviors are given position of privilege within
spaces. The somatic norm – the “anonymous” or “generic” body that is assumed to
occupy various spaces, that is itself raced and gendered – plays a central role in this
process. Spaces constructed around a somatic norm – including the general space of
“the public” – thus become more open to certain bodies than to others, marking
some bodies as belonging and others as trespassing (Puwar 2004).
The normativity of certain bodies is further reinforced when spaces then also
shape the bodies that inhabit them. Samira Kawash (1998) notes that the policies
and practices that define both public and private spaces shape specific experiences
of embodiment, or “modes of corporeality,” in those who are differentially posi-
tioned in those spaces, effectively inscribing these differences in and on the body.
These embodied differences then act as cues through which others can read the
body to assess its level of belonging in certain spaces. Surveilling the bodies of oth-
ers is an act that is encouraged, even demanded, of those who fully “belong” in the
space. As Sara Ahmed (2000) argues, if the space itself is constituted by the oppo-
sitional relationship between the one who belongs (the citizen) and the one who
does not (the stranger), both parties must, paradoxically, be “present” in order for
the delineation of the space to make sense. In other words, there must exist a
stranger – an outsider – that is contrasted with the citizen in order for the category
of the citizen to exist. The stranger must then be expected, but not belonging, within
the space in order for these categories to hold.
This constant expectation of intrusion creates a particular posture toward the
other. This posture of surveillance is built upon the expectation of intrusion in pub-
lic space, an expectation that causes the public body to rely on its own physical and
emotional responses – anxious responses – as the indicator of the presence of an
unbelonging body. The “good citizen,” then, has a body that is alert, focused out-
wards, and prepared to scrutinize others for cues that raise suspicion. Exactly which
bodily cues are to be seen as suspicious is left for the citizen to decide, relying on
“common sense” notions of difference that use the somatic norm of the community,
and its unacknowledged racial, gendered, and behavioral characteristics, as the
measure against which bodies in the space are compared. This posture of surveil-
lance may be especially salient in the United States, with its particular history of
settler colonialism (Smith 2010). The insistence on the belonging of the citizen
must be emphasized when the citizen body first entered the scene as the unbelong-
ing outsider, as evidenced by the particular violence with which these binaries were
imposed on Native peoples.
Ahmed notes that spaces (or societies) are constructed as places where some
bodies belong and others do not, as evidenced by the need for good citizens to be on
alert for signs of intrusion (2000). This expectation of intrusion, though, implies
that such spaces are more fluid and permeable than by definition they would like to
be. People will enter the boundaries of spaces where they do not belong; if they did
not, there would be no need to articulate a sense of who does belong in the first
place. But the anxiety felt over the presence of an unbelonging body is not just anxi-
ety over the exposure of the permeability – or instability – of the constructed space,
it is also an ontological anxiety, in which the subject’s own identity and its relation
to the place or space is called into question. Because the individual and the space are
mutually constituting, the threat posed by the appearance of what Puwar (2004)
refers to as a “space invader” is not just a threat to the structure or the space, but to
the individual who occupies that space as well. And because the good citizen is one
who is always ready to spot a threat in the form of a stranger, the good citizen is also
one who is constantly confronting this terrorizing threat of the destabilization of his
8 K. H. Averett
or her identity. What is created, then, is a public filled with anxious individuals – a
public constantly awaiting the intrusion of a threat to its own stability.
These anxious responses are not limited to the spaces physically inhabited in the
moment by those who respond. Rather, these responses also extend to both imag-
ined physical spaces, which the responder does not currently inhabit but perceives
as a space in which s/he “belongs,” as well as to the public space of the internet.
Researchers are increasingly paying attention to the way in which the internet can
be, and is, used to develop communities and spaces of belonging – and thus, of un-
belonging – in which “people craft and execute individual and communal body
projects” (Boero and Pascoe 2012). Thus, this analysis brings to light not only the
ways in which embodied responses, such as the response of an anxious public theo-
rized above, occur online, but that the internet is used in a such a way that transmits
and amplifies these responses beyond their localized settings.
The elements of this anxious response of an anxious public are evident in the
themes found in the responses by Huffington Post community members to the report
of Bobby Montoya’s unsuccessful attempt to join her local Girl Scout troop and the
aftermath of that attempt. It is to these themes that I now turn.
1.3 “A Boy Is a Boy”: Reinforcement of Binary Gender
No. HE is a boy who likes to play with girl toys and dress as a girl…this does NOT make
him a SHE! (User littlelexie, 10/26/2011)5
wow. this world is seriously messed up. if my daughter was in his girl scout troop i
would pull her out immediately. it’s called GIRL scouts for crying out loud […] IF YOU'RE
BORN WITH A PENIS YOU ARE A BOY. YOU CAN CUT IT OFF AND WEAR A DRESS
BUT YOU ARE NOT A GIRL. SORRY TO BREAK IT TO YOU. (User chess173, 10/26/2011)
Male parts: Male Child. Can’t ‘progress’ beyond biology on this one. (User Abcd474,
10/26/2011)
One of the most consistent and common reactions to Bobby Montoya’s story, illus-
trated in the comments above, was to reaffirm binary gender by asserting that “male-
bodied” status unequivocally made Bobby male, and that nothing – not identifying
otherwise, behaving otherwise, or even having an operation to remove male genita-
lia – could change that “fact.” Such a reaction to the calling into question of the
male/female binary can be understood as an expected response of an anxious public.
As Puwar (2004) notes, the normative “public figure” formed in the context of
the colonial nation-building projects of the West was constituted on both raced and
gendered terms. Women were figured as outside the social contract as a means of
constituting the public/political sphere as the domain of men – specifically white
men. The male/female binary, then, was an essential aspect of the formation of the
5
All usernames cited are pseudonymous in order to protect the identity of the commenters. In all
comments I have retained the posters’ own grammar, spelling, and formatting. I use bracketed
ellipses […] to indicate where I have removed part of the poster’s original comment.
American nation and its (white, male) American citizenry. Central to this process
was the establishment, not just of binary categories, but of normative gendered
behaviors. Andrea Smith (2005) further explains how, in the context of the colonial
United States, colonizers used the racialized and sexualized bodies of Native peo-
ples as a foil against which to construct normative, “proper” white masculinity and
femininity, and to establish white masculinity as dominant over white femininity
and other subordinate, racialized masculinities and femininities.
One such practice that colonizers used to assert the dominance of white mascu-
linity was through disciplinary practices against the bodies of Native children or
adults who would, in today’s (normative/white) parlance, be understood, similarly
to Bobby Montoya, as gender non-conforming or transgender, or as “male-bodied”
individuals with a feminine self-presentation. Scott Luria Morgensen details several
examples of forced conformity to male presentation, ostracization, punishment, and
disappearance of boté/badé individuals. One practice that was especially common
was the use of “colonial education [to prevent] a new generation [of badé] from
being raised, so an entire way of life could appear to have passed” (2010: 115). This
practice specifically targeted the bodies of Native children in order to render gen-
ders outside the male-female binary “impossible” (Morgensen 2010:116).
Given its historical precedent in the context of colonial America, then, reinscrip-
tion of binary gender through the forced masculinization of female-identified,
“male-bodied” children seems an almost obvious first line of defense against those
bodies perceived as calling this binary into question, and thus the frequency of this
type of response is unsurprising.
1.4 Too Young to Know? The (Non-)Agentic/Precocious

Child
He’s a tad young to be making decisions. How about we give him a loaded gun and he can
go explore life downtown, would that be a good idea too? Start with letting him decide what
cartoons to watch, not whether he'll be a man or a woman before he's even knows what kind
of food he likes and has to be told to make sure he finishes his vegetables. (User glass1331,
10/26/2011)
Very sad post..Yes we are all human beings...But letting a child of 7 choose what they
want is ridiculous…Why would his mother even consider putting him in Girl Scouts..I just
don’t get it..Why didn't she guide him to the Cub Scouts….Little kids..Just little kids… This
world get’s stranger every day in the parenting world... (User SCOTT SMITH, 10/26/2011)
A second theme in the responses to this story is that a seven-year-old is too

young to “know” or to “decide” about their gender identity. Such responses tap into
ideas that children are unknowledgeable and non-agentic, in need of protection and
direction, and unaware of, not to mention unable to assert, core aspects of their
sense of self. To these commenters, children’s interests and ideas are but fleeting
phases or imaginative fancies that are not grounded in reality. As in the first com-
ment above, analogies are frequently made that compare a child claiming a gender
10 K. H. Averett
identity with a child “wanting” to do some other strange, cute, or dangerous thing,
such as playing with guns, being a superhero and jumping off buildings, eating ice
cream and candy for breakfast, or pretending to be a puppy.
In her analysis of discourses about childhood evoked in discussions of child
prostitution, Julia O’Connell Davidson (2005) points out that, like the binaries of
male/female and black/white, the adult/child binary is a construct that is crucial for
upholding our current sense of order in modern Western society. In this binary, the
adult is one who has both agency and sexuality, and the child, its opposite, is one
who lacks agency and sexuality. According to Davidson, this binary is important in
modern Western societies for two principle reasons. First, the non-agentic child is
imagined as existing outside of the social contract and allows adults to hold on to
relationships with children as sacred, as the only non-contract, non-instrumental,
non-commercialized relationships remaining in an increasingly contract-driven
society. And second, as with other oppositional binaries, in order for the always-
agentic neoliberal subject (the adult) to exist, its opposite – the never-agentic object
(the child) is needed.
A child who asserts that her gender identity differs from the gender assigned to
her by society is not a non-agentic object. The transgender child, then, not only calls
into question the male/female binary, but the adult/child binary as well, by revealing
herself to be a child with agency. In so doing, the transgender (agentic) child reveals
the weakness of these binary constructs and destabilizes the category of the agentic
adult – a moment that would, following the theoretical argument outlined in this
paper, induce the very ontological anxiety characteristic of the anxious response of
an anxious public.
It is important to note, however, that the adult/child binary that Davidson
describes, in which the adult is sexual and agentic and the child is non-sexual (inno-
cent) and lacks agency, is itself racialized – that is, it is not applied equally to white
children and children of color. Jessica Fields (2005) argues that:
Purity, sexual and otherwise, is routinely linked to whiteness…Since its “invention” at the
turn of the twentieth century, adolescence has been the purview of Euro-Americans and the
upper and middle classes: “a ‘savage’ youth was considered fully sexually mature, sexually
active, at an age when the ‘civilized’ adolescent was just beginning his most strenuous
period of mental and spiritual growth.”
The fact that childhood innocence does not apply to children of color the way it
does to white children explains the otherwise perplexing fact of the appearance,
alongside comments that assert her childhood lack of agency, of comments that
assume a (hetero)sexual motivation for Bobby Montoya – who is presumably read
by these posters as a Latino male – wishing to join Girl Scouts. Consider the follow-
ing comments:
Well if the scout has any ball he will sleep with as many of the girls that are available,i if
not he is to sweet to worry about (User effit369, 10/26/2011)
So, when little Bobby discovers that his "winky" works, and decides to implant it in a
little girl Scout, who sues whom? (User fsorenso7, 10/26/2011)
I agree to an extent, but then I remember Girl Scout Camp. Not sure how I’d feel about
this if my daughter was in the troop with him/her. (User BWJones, 10/26/2011)
REPLY:What do you think will happen? What is your fear? (User mark71917,
10/26/2011)
REPLY: I guess my fear would be that my daughter would be exposed to a penis in the
flesh years before it would be appropriate. How's that for ya? (User BWJones, 10/26/2011)
Here we see, in the same comment thread as many comments that argue that a
7-year-old could not possibly know the first thing about gender, several comments
that frame the same child as a would-be sexual predator, infiltrating the Girl Scout
troop in order to sleep with, rape (“implant” his “winky” in), or flash his genitals to
young, (presumably white) innocent girls. These comments do not explicitly invoke
Montoya’s race, but they do not need to. As Fields argues, race can go unmentioned
in discussions of youth and adolescent sexuality because of the presence of taken-
for-granted assumptions of things that “everybody knows” – that is, racialized and
gendered understandings of sexuality in which race is used to categorize “the world
as composed of girls-who-do and girls-who-don’t, good boys and bad boys, stu-
dents we can save and those who are unsalvageable” (2005: 563). Because the above
comments do not presume childhood innocence on Montoya’s part, they can be
understood as relying on perceptions of Montoya as one of the racialized “bad
boys,” a child who is sexually “unsalvageable.” Such responses work to uphold the
racial subordination of certain children, while allowing, for white children at least,
for the adult/child binary to remain intact.
1.5 The Decline of American Society
This kid can cross dress or look the girl-part all he wants, however, when he drops his Fruit
of the Looms, he is a male! He should be denied entry into the Girl Scouts. Just another
example of our society going down the commode (User catsteig99, 10/26/2011)
And the world becomes more freakish every day. Tragic. (User MR89RM, 10/26/2011)
I disagree. It is a big deal. […] Now the scout leader is put in the position of having to
explain to the troop why this boy child, who thinks he's a girl, is now a Girl Scout, but has
boy parts. It's enough to make my head spin. I can't even imagine how this would all play
out if it involved the NFL, Major League Baseball, etc. Heck as far as I know major league
sports still have their competitions by gender. Next we will be seeing Muslim women wear-
ing their burkas playing professional tennis against a man who thinks he is a Muslim
woman. What a country! (User Susie1948Q, 10/26/2011)
The third theme found in the responses to this story, expressed in the comments
above, is that of a society in decline. These comments are marked by the idea that a
transgender or “male-bodied” child joining Girl Scouts is evidence of “society
going down the commode,” or the decline of American greatness. In order to make
sense of this theme, it is important to understand the relationship – historically and
in the present – between Girl Scouting and American identity. Laureen Tedesco
notes that, “the Girl Scouts developed as a patriotic organization” (2006:354). To
this day, patriotism remains an important part of Girl Scouting, as evidenced by the
endurance of service to country as a fundamental aspect of the Girl Scout Promise,
12 K. H. Averett
which includes a statement that Girl Scouts with “do their duty” to “God and my
country” (Auster 1985:361).
Beyond simply encouraging service to the nation, however, Girl Scouting has
historically focused on the construction of bodies fit for such service. The emphasis
on bodily health and hygiene throughout the history of Girl Scouting reveals the
way in which Scouting aims to shape particular kinds of bodies – bodies that are
active and healthy. This aim is not one that is solely concerned with the health of
individual girls, but rather, that the health of the body is discursively linked to the
health of the nation. On the patriotic significance of personal bodily health, Tedesco
writes that the parts of the Girl Scout Handbook “devoted to the reader’s own health
emphasize the patriotic significance of the material… True citizenship, according to
Scouting for Girls, lies in good health, vigorously pursued… The emphasis on ‘con-
trollable’ factors, on taking personal responsibility for one’s health, typifies the
handbook’s approach” (2006:360–361). This emphasis on individual responsibility
was in part an attempt to encourage independence from the welfare state: as the
1920 handbook states, ‘“if it is a question of being a help to the rest of the world, or
a burden on it, a Girl Scout is always to be found among the helpers.” Girl Scouts
are to do a good turn daily so each can “be a giver and not a taker”’ (Tedesco
2006:357, emphasis in the original). In this context, the health of the body was quite
literally related to the financial health of a nation plagued by worries that immigrant
populations would demand too much of the welfare state. By constructing healthy
and strong bodies, Girl Scouting sought “to offer, every year, larger and larger num-
bers of healthy and efficient young citizens to their country” (Tedesco 2006:353).
Though it is debatable whether this particular aim of early Girl Scouting is still
an explicit goal of the organization, there is evidence that Girl Scouting, perceived
as a quintessentially “American” activity, still works to construct girls’ bodies as
“American” bodies. A 2007 New York Times article about Muslim Girl Scouts
explains how Muslim girls feel that when they wear their Girl Scout uniform they
are perceived as more American – and thus are treated differently – by members of
the public. Girl Scout Asma Haidara, for example,
has discovered that the trademark green sash – with its American flag, troop number (3009)
and colorful merit badges – reduces the number of glowering looks she draws from people
otherwise bothered by her traditional Muslim dress. “When you say you are a girl scout,
they say, ‘Oh, my daughter is a girl scout too,’ and then they don’t think of you as a person
from another planet,” said Asma, a slight, serious girl with a bright smile. “They are more
comfortable about sitting next to me on the train” (MacFarquhar 2007).
When strangers see that Asma is a Girl Scout, they become more comfortable
with her presence because they understand her as being like other girls that they
know – as being American, and thus familiar and un-strange. Girl Scouting, for
these girls, has the effect of de-Otherizing them, providing them with a means of
being read as belonging in American public spaces. Because these girls are read as
belonging, the anxious response of the public, usually quite hasty to label Muslims
as un-belonging outsiders, is lessened.
Perhaps the fear over a “male-bodied” child being allowed in Girl Scouts, being
able to claim the status of “normal American girlhood,” is actually the fear of trans-
gender children being incorporated into this norm. This fear over the decline of
American society, then, can be understood as anxiety in the face of shifting norms,
the redrawing of sacred boundaries that call into question fundamental aspects of
American identity. When a Muslim girl or a transgender Latina child can be under-
stood as fully American, the oppositional binaries of race, gender, and age, among
other binaries central to the American project, are unsettled.
1.6 Conclusion: A Story of “National Interest”
Smith and Davidson argue that emotion plays an important role in boundary main-
tenance, noting that “disgust…mixes with fear to express the danger posed to
boundaries, perhaps especially the boundary between nature and culture, but also
the boundary between embodied self and non-self” (2012:63). I argue that such
emotional responses are also rooted in the construction of the anxious body, one that
is primed to respond to a variety of boundary violations as a condition of belonging
within a society or space. Particularly, I propose that the “good citizen” is con-
structed as one who is constantly alert and ready to respond to the presence of bod-
ies that threaten the binary constructions that form the discursive boundaries of
place and space in American society.
Through analysis of the themes evident in unsupportive responses to the story of
Bobby Montoya, it is clear that such responses, in various ways, serve to reinforce
the binary constructions that are unsettled by Montoya’s imagined presence in a Girl
Scout troop. That is to say, those posters in online forums who respond anxiously to
this story are playing the expected role of the “good citizen” by responding to
Montoya’s boundary violations. In their anxious response, then, is evident fear over
the tenuous and permeable boundaries not only of gender itself, but of American
society. This case reveals the presence of fears over shifting definitions of what it
means to be an American. In this sense, then, perhaps Fox News was correct in filing
its story about Bobby Montoya under “U.S.: National Interest,” as the public
response to this story reveals that, in addition to being a story about a transgender
child who wanted to be a Girl Scout, it is also a story about the state of ideas about
belonging in the United States today.
This work makes clear that the anxious response to boundary violations does not
only take place in the physical spaces where these violations occur, but that it also
happens online. For those who publish written work on the internet, “never read the
comments” is something of a sacred motto. Comments sections on news websites
and blogs are famous for being the stomping grounds of internet “trolls:” mythical
creatures who find pleasure in inflaming the passions of others by making contro-
versial statements. And if you do read the comments, friends will advise you to at
least not “feed” the trolls by responding and giving them what they want. This
14 K. H. Averett
analysis, however, reveals that online forums are not (just) places where trolls go to
feed. They are also spaces in which people express and negotiate their anxieties
about the unsettled nature of our increasingly public lives. Internet spaces are no
less important to study than physical spaces when we seek to understand the ways
that people negotiate these anxieties and police the boundaries of their public worlds.
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Chapter 2
Cybersexism: How Gender and Sexuality
Are at Play in Cyberspace
Gabrielle Richard and Sigolène Couchot-Schiex
2.1 Introduction
“You see that all the time on social networks. When a boy posts a picture of his bare chest,
girls will obviously comment and say: “You look good”. Boys too. But when a girl posts a
picture of herself in a tank top or in a bathing suit, everyone will say: “Look at that slut”.
This 15-year-old French girl we had met during focus groups on cybersexism was adamant:
girls and boys are not treated the same when it comes to showing off their assets online.
While boys and girls are expected to showcase their attractiveness online (whether it be by
exposing parts of their body, showing off their fancy clothes or exciting outings), expecta-
tions are much harder to reach for girls. “A girl must show more self-respect if she doesn’t
want to be considered damaged goods”, explains a younger peer.
These teenagers are not the only ones to underscore the difficulties of navigating
cyberspace and social conventions that can be hostile to girls and women. In its
2015 report Cyberviolence against women and girls, the UN Broadband Commission
for Digital Development suggested that cyberviolence overwhelmingly targets
women and girls because ““physical” VAWG [violence against women and girls]
and “cyber” VAWG feed into each other” (2015: 7). Data gathered recently on
French youth, though not all sex-segregated (Haddon et al. 2012), shows girls to be
both more active Internet users (UNICEF France 2014) and consistently more likely
than boys to report having been victimized online (DEPP 2014). Prior studies show
instances of cyberviolence are massively gendered: not only because they affect
boys and girls in different ways, but also because they are sexist, sexual or porno-
graphic in nature (CHA 2014). Despite these findings, most studies have yet to offer
real and thorough gender insight on these episodes.
G. Richard (*) · S. Couchot-Schiex

Université de Paris-Est Créteil, Paris, France
e-mail: sigolene.couchot-schiex@u-pec.fr

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29855-5_2
18 G. Richard and S. Couchot-Schiex
In France as elsewhere, the law has had difficulty distinguishing between ini-
tial consent (given or not for the taking of the picture or shooting of the video for
private use) and further consent or approbation for its publication. The Loi pour
une République numérique was enacted in October 2016, after a months-long
online consultation. It includes an article of major importance when it comes to
condemning instances of revenge porn. Until then, the non-consensual distribu-
tion of pictures or videos did not qualify as an invasion of privacy, since the law
did not distinguish between taking a picture and distributing it (consenting to
have one’s picture taken would equal consenting to having this picture dissemi-
nated). Article 33 quater introduced the specific offence of disseminating images
of a sexual nature, whether these images were taken by the victim herself and/or
taken in a public place (two conditions that had prevented a conviction for inva-
sion of privacy until then). The law also allows for an aggravation of the sentence
to 2 years of incarceration and up to 60,000 euros fine when images are of a sex-
ual nature.
2.2 Cyberviolence and “Face-to-Face” Violence
The term “cyberviolence” refers to the use of various digital devices – including
mobile phone – in order to insult, harass, humiliate, disseminate rumors, ostracize,
or otherwise coerce an individual that cannot defend himself or herself, or that is
otherwise dominated (Blaya 2013). Instances of cyberviolence present at least three
characteristics: ease of anonymity, strong dissemination power, and difficulty to con-
trol (Blaya 2015). First, cyberbullies benefit from anonymity. Digital devices allow
them to act under the cover of a false identity (pseudonym, identity theft) or anony-
mously (ghost accounts). This has major impacts on both bullies and those being
bullied. Bullies can feel disinhibited due to their perceived impunity and because
they are not directly exposed to the negative effects their actions have on the victims.
The bullies’ anonymity increases the victims’ insecurity (they do not know where
the next attack will come from, or who/how many people are targeting them) and
sense of isolation.
Second, digital devices allow for a strong dissemination power: episodes of
cyberviolence can therefore easily and rapidly reach a large number of people in
various networks. Whereas victims of “traditional” (face-to-face) bullying were
likely to find a safe haven, either at home or with a trusted group of friends, cyber-
bullying allows no respite to its victims. They are theoretically vulnerable to vio-
lence 24 hours a day, with no guaranteed end in sight. In this context, a sole
ill-intentioned message or picture disseminated without consent can generate repet-
itive and excessive harassment (Benbenishty and Nir 2015). Thirdly, cyberviolence
or intimidation is difficult to control or to halt. Disembodied, it escapes control from
all involved, including authorities and repenting bullies who might wish to put an
end to their victims’ torments.
2 Cybersexism: How Gender and Sexuality Are at Play in Cyberspace 19
For the past decade, school climate scholars have underscored the fact that cyber-
violence had to be understood in relation to face-to-face violence,1 suggesting all
these occurrences have to be considered as parts of the same broader dynamics of
violence (Blaya 2015; Patchin and Hinduja 2012; Hinduja and Patchin 2007, 2008).
Indeed, surveys have established strong statistical associations between violence
occurring face-to-face and in cyberspace, implying that one could follow or precede
another (Benbenishty and Nir 2015; Cross et al. 2009; Gradinger et al. 2009; Li
2007; Ybarra et al. 2007). Youth involved in cyberviolence, whether as bullies or
victims, are often the same that are implicated in everyday life episodes of violence
or harassment, with cyberspace allowing for the initial push or relaying incidents
that have occurred in school, for example (Blaya 2015). Being cyberbullied there-
fore increases the risk of being bullied offline as well, as is the opposite (Blaya 2015;
Benbenishty and Nir 2015; Juvonen and Gross 2008). Of course, being victimized
in both spaces increases a victim’s level of distress (Benbenishty and Nir 2015).
All in all, cyberviolence is to be understood as “close vicinity” instances of vio-
lence proceeding back and forth between various spaces where they can further
disseminate or change forms (Vandebosch and Van Cleemput 2008). Cyberspace is
not a separate, isolated and clearly delineated space. Social relationships and epi-
sodes of violence transmit between cyberspace and social “face-to-face” spaces,
suggesting that cyberspace ought to be considered as a magnified version of face-to-
face interactions. In this sense, it is worth reminding that a majority of episodes of
cyberviolence involve peers, not ill-intentioned strangers (stranger danger) (Blaya
2015; Ringrose 2010). Also, cyberspace and face-to-face interactions can occur
simultaneously. Thus, bullies, targets and witnesses are trapped in a thick grid of
unhealthy and invisible communications.
2.3 Youth’s Gender and Heterosexual Socialization
To understand gender interactions between peers in cyberspace, one must consider

the broader state of power relationships among peers, both online and offline.
Indeed, the possibility of stigmatizing girls’ images only makes sense in that it
stands on the transcultural and historical supposition that girls’ bodies are intended
for boys’ and men’s private consumption (Ringrose and Renold 2014). It is there-
fore imperative that we study how dominant norms relating to gender, gender
expression and sexual orientation (heterosexuality) play out for youth – first in face-
to-face interactions between teenagers, then in cyberspace – and also examine how
digital devices can enhance, decrease, or modify the scrutiny under which youth are
expected to conform to these norms.
1
“Face-to-face” violence is often referred to as “in real life” (IRL) violence in the literature. We
will not be using this expression, since youth do not experience online and offline events as occur-
ring separately. Similarly, they do not consider events occurring online as any less “real” than other
types of events.
Thirty years of gender studies have undoubtedly shown gender relations to be

unequal, in part due to the prejudice toward girls and women by the double s tandards
applied to feminine sexuality and female bodies. Despite women’s movements dur-
ing the twentieth century, an essentialist approach to women and men (and to their
bodies and sexualities) continues to dominate among the non-academic population.
This approach fosters an understanding of the sexes as binary and complementary: it
assigns different roles to individuals according to one of two (biological) sexes.
These social roles and expectations are heteronormative, inasmuch as they encourage
a strict correspondence between biological sex, gender identity and expression, and
sexual attraction to individuals from the “other” sex (in a binary system) (Dayer 2014).
Teenagers question and affirm their gender and sexual identities in relation to the
social norms that establish the “normal” behaviors – the behaviors that are expected,
seen as socially adequate or desirable – for girls and boys (Payne and Smith 2015).
Girls are expected to care for their appearance and to want to be seen as attractive
by boys and men (Renold 2000, 2006), but also to be calm, careful and kind. Boys
construct their masculinity through standards of toughness (physical and emotional)
and risk-taking, and also gain from showing they have access to girls’ intimacies –
and bodies (Connell and Messerschmidt 2005; Renold 2000; Connolly 1995).
To different degrees, young people tend to value these gender norms and act to
reinforce them among their peers, going so far as to sanction those who are seen as
deviating from the gendered expectations. These sanctions are gender-based: they
disproportionately target youth who are seen as the most removed from idealized
forms of masculinity or femininity. It is notably the case for youth questioning their
sexual orientation and gender identity, identifying as LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisex-
ual, trans, queer, intersex), or being perceived as such by their peers. They are seen
as not conforming to gender and heterosexual expectations, or conforming to them
ambiguously. It is also the case for girls who show too much interest in boys/men or
in sexuality (they are consequently called “sluts” or “bitches”), or who are seen as
too aggressive. Inversely, boys who are seen as lacking desired toughness are called
“gays” or “faggots” (Pascoe 2011; Payne 2010; Connell and Messerschmidt 2005).
Considered atypical, these youths are often exposed to mean jokes or to disgust, put
aside by their peers, or the targets of violence. All in all, they tend to have limited
access to power and popularity (Payne 2007; Pascoe 2003).
In order to conform to their gender roles, girls and boys must adequately perform
heterosexuality – and this performance plays out differently according to gender.
Beginning in their early teenage years, girls must have an attractive body, be consid-
ered desirable by boys/men, be involved in heterosexual rumors of a relationship or
be in a heterosexual relationship. The aim is to produce and present a female body
that is considered heterosexually desirable. One of the main means of legitimization
of both femininity and heterosexuality is therefore the position of “girlfriend”
(Renold 2000), which is one of the only contexts where girls are allowed to show a
certain interest towards sexuality. It is worth specifying that girls are often sexually
shamed: a girl showing sexual desire or autonomy, or looking for sexual fulfillment
is rapidly put back in place by her peers – boys and girls alike – who will call her a
“slut” or talk badly about her in order to give her a bad reputation (Clair 2005,
2012). Girls are therefore expected to perform a desirable femininity, through which
they have to be desirable but respectable (ie. not be sexually active unless they are
“in love”) (Renold 2000). Those who are incapable of taking charge of male hetero-
sexual desire – or who are unwilling to do so – can be targeted by peer violence and
called lesbians or frigid (Ringrose and Renold 2014).
Adherence to dominant norms regarding gender and sexuality plays out differ-
ently for boys, who have to give proof of their virility. As mentioned before, access
to girls’ intimacies and bodies play a major role, in that boys must show their male
peers they are (hetero)sexually active (or could be if and whenever they chose to). An
entire realm of male behaviors contributes in showcasing their interest for girls and
women: ranking girls’ bodies among peers, showing pictures of so-called conquests,
commenting loudly on girls’ appearance, making unwanted sexual advances such as
touching girls’ bottoms or breasts, etc. In this sense, having a “steady” girlfriend is
not necessarily the ideal situation for some young men, in that it prohibits them from
engaging in aforementioned male bonding and masculinity-proving behaviors.
Expanding on this idea, however, both girls and boys tend to consider it feasible for
a boy to have multiple girlfriends, either at the same time or consecutively.
2.4 yberspace, Digital Devices, Gender and Sexuality

C
Norms
Similar to face-to-face interactions, cyberspace – and social networking sites in par-

ticular – also participate in reinforcing social capital, allowing for someone to be
known and renowned (Lin 1999). Similarly, we can reasonably consider that
instances of cyberviolence between peers often come from a quest of a higher social
status, or contribute to establish the limits of what is socially considered acceptable
or not (Payne and Smith 2013). This is not specific to cyberspace, but various social
medias play a significant role in formalizing signs of support or admiration, or of
depreciation and exclusion (Balleys 2017), and in reaffirming allies (Balleys 2017;
Couchot-Schiex 2017).
Cyberspace is also a vehicle for the transmission of social norms inviting stereo-
typical performances of femininity and masculinity (Bailey 2015). The few studies
that have offered a gendered analysis of cyberviolence have highlighted the exis-
tence of powerful gender and sexual dynamics in the cyber exchanges between teen-
agers. Sexting practices (i.e. sending out sexually explicit text messages or pictures)
have been specifically studied since they are cyber-specific. Sexting reinforces ste-
reotypical manifestations of gender. It simultaneously allows for the stigmatization
of teenage girls that send out sexy pictures of themselves or talk openly about sexu-
ality, while offering teenage boys new possibilities to increase their social capital by
showing off their access to the intimacy (and the bodies) of girls (Ringrose et al.
2013; Ringrose et al. 2012). “Dedipix” offer another example of this. This prac-
tice – thought to have originated from France (Cosgrove 2009) – consists of girls
sending out pictures of a part of their body (with various sexual connotations) on
which they have written a boy’s name. In this case, both boys and girls are looking
to increase their popularity: boys by showing they can accumulate such pictures
(Ringrose et al.2013), girls by sparking positive comments on their bodies on social
networks (showing – to some extent only – desirable femininity). When such pic-
tures are widely disseminated, though, it is only to the advantage of boys (whose
popularity grows along with dissemination), while girls are generally condemned
for having sent these pictures in the first place (even if they were never intended for
wide dissemination) (Couchot-Schiex 2017; Dobson and Ringrose 2015).
Along with the relative impunity that characterizes boys’ involvement in the dis-
semination of intimate pictures of girls without their consent, we should also con-
sider the pressure exerted on girls, whether directly or indirectly, for taking or
sharing these pictures in the first place. The question of consent is two-fold and
concerns first: the taking of pictures/videos intended for private or intimate use; and
second: the dissemination of these pictures/videos. Consent can be given at neither,
either, or both of these moments, with different implications. Recent history has
shown that such intimate pictures or videos can be used for revenge purposes
(revenge porn), as threats, or as material in prevision of eventual attacks by this
person. French teenagers call such material “dossier” (literally, “folder” or revenge
file). These pictures can therefore not be isolated from the gender system previously
described. Actual practices must be analyzed, especially since knowing the possible
risks does not prevent youth from engaging in these types of behaviors.
While digital devices have been shown to amplify existing gender dynamics
(Bailey 2015), there is also evidence to show that they can facilitate interactions
questioning this very social order (DEPP 2014). Cyberspace can allow girls to
experiment with other social positions where they more freely transgress female
codes around femininity and sexuality (Frith 2012; Crowley 2010), find community
and like-minded peers, or engage in sexually-charged interactions (Rice and Watson
2016) – while steering clear of these gender explorations in face-to-face interac-
tions. Similarly, boys can choose to initiate romantic relationships out of the polic-
ing gaze of their peers (Cooper and Sportolari 1997) or get involved against sexism
(Kelly et al. 2006) – actions that would be costlier to undertake in real life. What is
tolerated (and therefore possible) in cyberspace may not necessarily be conceivable
in face-to-face interactions, where adults and peers would perhaps more promptly
condemn such behaviors threatening the gender order.
2.5 Methodology
Data presented stems from the first study on cybersexism in France (2015–2016).
The aim of this study was to forge a better understanding of the episodes of cyber-
violence that are based on gender or on sexuality, or in other words, that are sexual,
sexist or homophobic in nature. This study was conducted in two parts. In the first
part, 1127 students (12 to 16-year-olds) from 12 high schools around the
Î le-de-France region completed a survey questionnaire on episodes of gender vio-

lence they might have taken part in (either as bully or as victim) or witnessed, both
in their school environment and in cyberspace. For the second part of the study, the
research team conducted 34 focus groups with 403 students from the same schools.
The focus groups were organized during a class period. Students from the same
class were split up into two groups of 10–12 students, sometimes along gender
lines, sometimes not. The objective was to create a climate where all students were
more likely to participate. Similarly, 12 students that wanted to discuss a matter
privately with a member of the research team chose to partake in an individual inter-
view. Finally, 48 interviews were conducted with school staff, including teachers,
counsellors, administrators and nurses.
To circumvent existing power dynamics and establish grounds for discussion
that did not directly involve any of the students, we presented them with a scenario.
It read as follows: “Manon takes a picture of herself in order to look seductive. She
sends it to friends she trusts. The picture is then leaked to social networks and sent
out to students’ cell phones. She receives many comments.” We then asked the stu-
dents what they thought about this type of situation. In most focus groups, they were
quick to respond and to condemn Manon for showcasing her body in such a “pro-
vocative” manner. We asked them if their reactions would be similar if this scenario
involved a boy – to which they overwhelmingly answered that it would not. This
then set the stage to discussing gender norms and how they would differently affect
girls and boys.
2.6 Revenge Porn, or the Unfolding of a Cybersexist Event
In order to see how an episode of cybersexism can progressively come to “unfold”,

we will reconstitute a specific episode that happened to 13-year-old girl Livia
(pseudonym), who had requested to meet for an individual interview. Livia pro-
ceeded to tell us about events that happened to her the previous year. She had fallen
in love with a boy her age and they had been dating for 7 months when these events
took place.
–– We were talking on the phone, and I told him I was about to get in the shower.
He said: “Cool. Would you take a picture for me?” Of course, I knew that he
was a boy, and that he wanted to see girls. I’m not stupid. I said: “I don’t really
want to”. He told me: “When I ask for pictures, girls always send them to
me”. And he started to insult me. “You’re a slut”, things like that.
–– INT: And what did you think when he said that to you?
–– I’m not naïve, but I thought: “I trust him. I will send him just one, and it will
make him happy”. I didn’t think there were any risks.
–– INT: You then took a picture?
–– Yes. I had positioned my hand in order to hide my body. And I sent the pic-
ture. When I called him back, he said: “Good. So now, whenever you’re a
bitch to me, I know what I can do with it”.
In a few sentences, Livia recalls two of the three “trigger” elements that consti-
tute an episode of revenge porn. First, she is pressured to send an intimate picture
against her will – or gut feeling. Her boyfriend exerts pressure on her by telling her
she lacked in comparison to other girls and by insulting her. She is forced to send
the picture even though she had verbalised not consenting to it. The second trigger
happens a few minutes after she sends the picture, when her boyfriend tells her he
intends to keep the picture “in case she’s ever a bitch to him”. In other words, what
was initially intended for a private use between them becomes a “dossier” on Livia,
meaning a tool through which he can apply pressure and control her.
The third trigger, leading to the public dissemination of the picture, is an argu-
ment she has with her boyfriend that leads him to put the picture up on Facebook.
The picture consequently moves from private use to public use – initially cyber-
space, but then contaminates the school environment. The impacts are immediate,
massive and violent.
–– That day [a few weeks later], we had a stupid argument, and he posted the
picture on Facebook. Everyone at school saw it. Students threatened to send
it to my parents. (…) Anywhere I walked, people stared at me. People teased
me: “So, Livia, you like taking pictures of yourself?”. I was called a slut.
“Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?”, I was told.
(…)
Girls would call me names, talk behind my back. I really felt uneasy. There was this
girl who was supposed to be my best friend. She took advantage of the situation.
She laughed at me and also sent out the photo. It was the worst year for me.
As mentioned earlier, this study involved conducting focus groups and inter-
views with numerous individuals in the same schools. We were therefore able to
weigh the manner in which what happened to Livia resonated and impacted her
peers. Students from her grade (4th grade in France, the equivalent of 8th grade in the
American school system) and from other grades mentioned her case during the
focus groups.
–– Tracy: It happened here. A girl had sent out a picture of her body. Everyone
sent it around because they felt she shouldn’t have shown herself. Nobody
talked to her after that.
–– Vina: Everyone at school was talking about that picture.
–– Tracy: And called her names. “You’re 12 and you show your body, ugly
bitch?”
(14-year-olds, 4th grade France/8th grade USA)
–– Even kids who haven’t seen her picture have heard about it, that’s for sure.
–– INT: Students from other classes too?
–– Madam, students from other cities heard about it.
(Najet, 15 years-old, 3rd grade France/9th grade USA)
Livia’s victimisation comes to an end when her mother hears about the events
months later. Alongside her daughter, she decides to contact the school’s adminis-
tration and press charges with the police. This resolution is somehow atypical, since
youths often refrain from referring to adults to mitigate episodes of cyberviolence,
suggesting they won’t understand or they might react by prohibiting the use of their
digital devices. This avoidance of adults is especially true for episodes of cybersex-
ism, since they showcase youths’ desires and sexuality which are thought likelier to
be morally policed.
The Livia episode allows us to see what can trigger an episode of cybersexism,
and how it can come to be known throughout an entire school, via expanding cir-
cles. As was the case for the vast majority of the events mentioned in the focus
groups, it occurred in her daily environment, with people she initially trusted (her
boyfriend, her best friend, her classmates, etc.). It is this very proximity between
bullies, targets and witnesses that explains the damage caused by such episodes, that
tarnish girls’ reputations and who are not easily forgotten. During the interview,
more than a year after the events, Livia is often reminded of them by her school-
mates, although “now everybody knows about this picture”.
2.7 Being the Right Gendered Cyber Version of Oneself
The sexuality-based harassment of girls is not exceptional. Every school that took
part in our study reported at least one such event – and often, many more. However,
though brutal, these episodes are not the only way gender norms and expectations
are disseminated in cyberspace. Most of these lessons are learned through what
could be called acts of micro-violence (Debarbieux et al. 2003), referring to minor
acts of civilities or of symbolic violence. These are ways for youths to learn the
rules guiding cyber behaviors, from the type of profile picture that is acceptable to
the nature of the comments you are allowed to leave, etc. These rules are – we shall
see – highly gendered.
What do these students pursue online? The goals are an increase in popularity or
in social capital (Couchot-Schiex 2017), but we were told the means to achieve
these goals vary according to gender. Consider the following excerpts from
focus groups.
–– Some girls will do anything just to have more “likes”. They show off their
shape. They take pictures from behind or from the side to show the size of
their asses, or they show off their cleavage. All that just to have the most
“likes” possible.
Sherazade, 15 years-old, 3rd grade France/9th grade USA).

–– Brenda: [Boys] just want to show: “Look, girls are sending me pictures! Girls
like me!”.
–– Jade: I think it amuses them. They think they have something to gain by doing
that.
–– Juana: They want to show that girls are interested in them.
–– INT: That they are popular, is that it?
–– Jade: Yes, that they can have any girl they want.
–– Sarah: A girl that takes a picture in a bikini deserves to be called out on it.
She’s being vulgar.
–– INT: What makes it vulgar?
–– Miguel: It depends on the bikini.
–– Sarah: It depends on where she is. At the beach, it may be okay. But at home,
it means she showed herself on purpose.
–– Marie-Ève: But she can’t remove her bra strap.
–– Estelle: A boy can’t really be vulgar. He can never show too much of his body.
–– Carla: Yes. Girls have to protect themselves.
(15-year-olds, 3rd grade France/9th grade USA)
In these excerpts, students suggest that a type of behavior – namely, showing a
bit of skin – might be perceived as problematic (“vulgar”) for girls, but not for boys
(who “can never show too much of [their] body”), though they pursue similar objec-
tives (being considered heterosexually attractive by their peers). Girls have to pre-
serve their reputation. They are expected to produce proofs of their femininity (via
bodily attributes, clothes, make-up) in order to be deemed desirable by their male
peers. But they must do so while maintaining their reputation: by preserving an
appearance of purity and innocence. Cyberspace is another place where they can
fail to do so. Here are a few examples, evoked during the focus groups, of ways girls
can acquire a bad cyber-reputation: if they take or send out a picture/video of them-
selves that is deemed “inappropriate”, if they have such a picture/video taken or sent
out by someone else (with or without their consent), if they show too much interest
in boys or in sexuality. A girl can also have her reputation tarnished by association,
for example if she doesn’t explicitly condemn her girlfriend’s taking of such a
picture.
Rules appear to differ for boys. Boys who appear to be the most popular with
their peers are those who are considered “man” enough, or “heterosexual” enough.
This can be done during peer interactions, offline or online. Cyberspace offers addi-
tional ways to provide proof of popularity: having a lot of girls “like” one’s picture,
or comment positively on one’s appearance. Another common example that came
up in the focus groups is the possibility to hold the proof of having been intimate
with a girl, in order to prove it to others. If the fear of being called sluts keeps most
girls in check, boys have to steer clear of not looking or acting “masculine enough”.
This can play out during face-to-face interactions and in cyberspace.
–– Youssef: When boys touch each other’s butts, there are rules. There are things
we can’t do.
–– INT: What are these things?
–– Saïd: He can’t cry.

–– Youssef: You can’t touch private parts, like the penis.
–– Saïd: You have to laugh. When you touch your friend’s butt, it’s supposed to
be funny.
–– Youssef: And you can’t pinch the butt either.
–– INT: Pinching is not allowed?
–– Youssef: No. Otherwise it becomes a faggot thing.
(15-year-olds, 3rd grade France/9th grade USA)
–– Adel: On Facebook or Snapchat, a boy can show his abs and his chest, and not
be called names. But if he acts in a weird way, if he lowers his t-shirt on his
shoulder, he will be told he’s weird.
–– Many students: He’s mentally ill! He’s gay!
Both of these examples show the social rules that boys are expected to comply
with in their daily interactions. In the first example, the physical proximity between
boys is only made possible by everyone’s compliance to the following rules: every-
one has to have a good time, and physical touch cannot be too intimate (i.e. involve
genitals or grabbing that would be considered too intense). In the second example,
students try to spell out the difference between a gender-adequate way a boy can
show his body (i.e. by showing off his musculature), and a way that students seem
to consider inappropriate – or perhaps too feminine (i.e. by lowering his t-shirt). In
both scenarios, students conflate non-masculinity and femininity, or gayness, or
mental illness. With this association, they explicitly condemn the behaviors they
consider to be out of the realm of social acceptability for boys (i.e. wanting to touch
a peer’s penis or to pinch a peer’s butt or wanting to show their cleavage).
For girls and for boys, therefore, the demonstration of one’s heterosexuality
appears central in the quest to prove adequate masculinity and femininity. Girls
have to preserve an equilibrium between presenting themselves as objects of sexual
desire for boys and men (therefore performing expected heterosexuality) and pro-
tecting their reputation from being negatively tainted from these interactions (i.e.
therefore performing adequate femininity). Boys also must navigate between prov-
ing their heterosexual desire (by being loud about their interests towards girls and
women, by showing they are sexually active or can be) and steering clear of what
could be perceived as sexual interest towards other boys. This very strict perfor-
mance conflating heterosexuality and femininity/masculinity renders it difficult, if
not impossible, for youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or queer, who are
trans, intersex or non-binary, or who question their sexual orientation or gender
identity, to enter the equation. These youths are excluded from the very possibility
to play – and to perform – in this social game of identity construction and peer
interactions.
2.8 Gender and Sexualities at Play in Cyberspace
Cyberspace is another place where teenagers have to prove they are the “right” gen-
dered version of themselves. They are expected to conform to feminine and mascu-
line hegemonic standards while performing heterosexuality. This necessitates them
to exert a rigorous control on their online image, a control hardly compatible with
the characteristics of cyberspace. Girls have to be disproportionally vigilant with
their online image, and are pressured to maintain both a heterosexual desire and the
perception of innocence. When they fail at maintaining this precarious equilibrium,
they are doubly blamed: they are slut-shamed for having shown off parts of their
bodies in the first place, and they are condemned for being naïve enough not to think
an intimate picture of them would be shared among their peers.
These social mechanisms where girls (and sometimes boys) are put back in their
gendered place are part of a phenomenon we call cybersexism. It refers to acts that
are directly or indirectly violent towards individuals, that unfold over cyberspace
and face-to-face interactions, and that aim at reiterating gender norms. These epi-
sodes result from internalized expectations regarding gender, gender expression,
and sexual orientation. Cybersexism operates constantly and manifests itself in vari-
ous degrees of severity – from commenting on friends’ profile pictures to showing
photos of sexual conquests (real or desired) to major revenge porn incidents.
Contrary to popular belief, this pressure is not suddenly triggered by an outside
abuser, but arises from the pressure peers constantly exert on each other: to have and
to maintain an online popularity, and to adhere to gender norms of heterosexual
masculinity and femininity. Ultimately, cybersexism can be understood as a new
way of socially controlling each other’s expression of gender and sexuality.
Acknowledgment The authors wish to thank the Centre Hubertine Auclert for funding this proj-
ect, as well as members of the Université de Paris-Est Créteil OUIEP (Observatoire Universitaire
International Éducation et Prévention) research team.
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Chapter 3
Let’s Talk About Porn: The Perceived
Effect of Online Mainstream Pornography
on LGBTQ Youth
Penny Harvey
Technology has brought pornography into a new dimension. Long gone are the days
of secretly reading playboy magazine; today we are in the world of private browsing
and deleting internet search histories. The area of pornography has become a field
in its’ own right. Now that pornography has become more accessible, usage has
become much more mainstream (Attwood 2005). The amount of pornography
watched, and the number of people watching it has increased yearly (Maltz and
Maltz 2010; Paul 2005; Sarracino and Scott 2008; Carroll et al. 2008). As recent
studies show that pornography is no longer solely for male viewing, women are
watching more pornography than previous data suggested (Attwood 2005; Maddox
et al. 2011; Poulsen et al. 2013; Scarcelli 2015). Although the rates are higher for
men, more than 50% of women watch online video pornography. Women’s usage is
likely higher than predicted, as the aforementioned estimates do not account non-
reporting or the use of mediums other than video, such as literature and magazines
(Mattebo et al. 2012). It is no secret that young people have unprecedented access
to pornography. The amount of youth watching pornography is also increasing;
between two-fifths and two-thirds of adolescents between the age of 12 and 18 have
watched pornography on more than one occasion (Arrington-Sanders et al. 2015).
Approaches to studying the effects of pornography have been diverse and inter-
disciplinary. There are studies on the effect of pornography on children, adults, and
relationships. Studies have addressed pornography through the lenses of addiction,
misogyny, sexual exploration, and sexual liberation. Yet, few studies focus on any-
thing but the heteronormative effects of pornography consumption.
Heteronormativity is the way is which heterosexual practices and assumptions are
ingrained in our institutions, structures, culture and norms and are privileged in that
they remain naturalised and unquestioned (Berlant and Warner 1998). The study of
P. Harvey (*)
Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA
e-mail: Pharvey5@gsu.edu

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29855-5_3
32 P. Harvey
pornography has focused on the ways in which its has affected those who are
assumed to fit in to the heteronormative realm (Marques 2014).
Even though viewing pornography has increased, many sexual and gender
minorities are still underrepresented in pornography and the research on it (Taormino
et al. 2013). Though Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans∗ and Queer (LGBTQ) represen-
tation in mainstream pornography exists, videos often fetishise lesbians, and gay
men become the punchline to the jokes of teenage boys (Attwood 2002; Smith
2002). The most accessible and available pornography centers women as the object
of desire and keeps intact the heteronormative discourse (Ciclitira 2004; Marques
2014). Pornography remains primarily heterosexual, it includes diverse people but
in a way that fetishes difference rather than serving it (Williams 1999; Hardy 2001;
Attwood 2014). As Marques (2014:28) states “Living outside of a heterosexual
pairing, having sex differently than what is deemed natural (penisvagina penetrative
sex) has ramifications for identity construction, identity performance and group
identity.” This leads to the question: what happens to the LGBTQ youths that are
exposed to pornography?
This chapter draws on focus groups conducted with LGBTQ young adults (aged
18–25) who reflected back on their youth to explore the impact of mainstream
online video pornography (MOVP) on LGBTQ youth. I define MOVP as pornogra-
phy that is freely and easily available video footage of sexual acts on the internet. In
my definition, I gave examples of popular sites such as youporn and red tube. I
begin by establishing if my participants perceived mainstream pornography as het-
eronormative. I then go on to question if the heteronormative nature and of pornog-
raphy leads to unrealistic expectations of sex. I analyze whether the LGBTQ people
I sampled see pornography as a useful or harmful media. Finally, I conclude with
potential actions that can limit the negative or enhance the positive effect of main-
stream online pornography.
The debate on pornography in Western culture is broadly divided into two camps
(Rubin 1993). The first being a sex-positive perspective which embraces the sexual
revolution and sexual freedom (Dority 1998; Soble 2002; Smith 2007). The second
being the harm perspective, seeing pornography as exploitative, and harmful (to
adults via addiction and children via immorality) (Cole 1989; Dworkin 1981; Paul
2005). The effect of pornography on children is a large theme that social science
literature centres itself around (Attwood 2010; Flood 2009). Many arguments come
from the idea that children are damaged if exposed to sexual content of any kind
(McNair 2014). Scholarship surrounding pornography also focuses on the effect on
relationships. Paul (2009:128) argues that there are several consequences for men
who frequently view porn. They may develop unrealistic expectations of women’s
appearance and behaviour, have difficulty forming and sustaining relationships as
well as feeling sexually satisfied. The effects above on the habits of straight, cis men
could also translate to a heteronormative impact on Queer people who watch a lot
of pornography. I posit, if LGBTQ people, notably youth, are frequently are watch-
ing pornography what effect does it have on them? Moreover, I question if this is
indeed the effect that pornography is having on heterosexual men? Alternatively, is
the media just creating a moral panic perpetuated based upon sensationalist beliefs
3 Let’s Talk About Porn: The Perceived Effect of Online Mainstream Pornography… 33
about pornography (Cohen 1972)? The way in which discourse around sex func-
tions has been widely studied and theoised (Foucault 1990) Much of this has
stemmed from Foucault’s (1990) notion of the repressive hypothesis. Similar to the
way in which sex discourse has been both repressed and liberated, the morality of
pornography has become a contested moral panic. Pornography has been rendered
deviant, therefore with the mass numbers of people engaging with it, coupled with
the ease of access via the internet, regardless of its actual damage the media have
created a moral panic (Adler 1996). Why is this relevant? Much of the discourse
surrounding pornography is now subject to the claim that pornography is inherently
bad. No longer is it just immoral, but it has actually be rendered dangerous, despite
little evidence to support this claim.
3.1 The Feminist Debate
Pornography, its existence, content, and consumption is a feminist issue. The femi-
nist community disagrees about what the feminist position on this issue should be.
Some argue that pornography is damaging to children, women, and other minority
groups (Frable et al. 1997; Taormino et al. 2013; Williams 2004). While others see
pornography as liberating; they argue that when produced in certain ways, pornog-
raphy can have a positive effect on women’s sexual power (Frable et al. 1997;
Taormino et al. 2013; Williams 2004). However, the feminist debate is not confined
to the walls of academia. Political activism surrounding pornography began when
feminists walked into shops, destroyed displays, and shamed customers in the early
1970s (Brown and Halley 2002). The 1970s was when the feminist and academic
interest in and debates around pornography began (Brown and Halley 2002). Many
feminist activists and scholars argued that pornography is the visual sexual subordi-
nation of women and argue that pornography promotes the violation of women’s
sexual freedom and rights (Brown and Halley 2002). Pornography usage can be
seen as inherently damaging and reproduces damaging narratives about women’s
role in sex (Horin 2007:2). Yet, the anti-porn crusade was not supported by all femi-
nist (Brown and Halley 2002). There were (and still are) a range of views about
pornography; many of cannot be classified within the simplified categories of for or
against pornography. Dodson (2013) states that “when it comes to creating or
watching sexual material, women are still debating which is acceptable”. The com-
plexities of sexual representation, fantasy versus reality, and the eclipsing of female
desire overshadowed this debate. Many see potential in the medium of pornography
but are troubled by the patriarchal nature of its displays (Taormino et al. 2013). As
demonstrated in the Feminist Porn Book many feminists creators and activist are
inspired to make ‘good’ pornography for women (Taormino et al. 2013). Many of
the divisions about pornography stem from the sex wars, which occured at their
peak in the 1980’s (Rubin 1984; Dodson 2013). Rubin (1984, 2011) critiqued what
counted as good or moral sex and what was seen as bad, immoral, deviant, or prob-
lematic. The sex wars still influence feminist conceptions of sex and sexual
34 P. Harvey
exploration (Rubin 2011). The effect that pornography has on women remains con-
tested. Feminists have been on both sides of the coin, and of course, it is not as
simple as for it or against it. Feminist scholarship on pornography has covered many
topics; How porn is made, how and what porn is consumed, porn and children, can
porn be feminist? Many of these approaches still ignore diverse sexualities and
genders.
3.2 Constructions of Gender in Pornography
Taking Butler’s (1990) concept that gender is socially constructed and performative,
the question of how this plays out in pornography arises. Pornography itself is per-
formative in nature, yet its rigid presentations of gender roles need to be critiqued.
Mainstream pornography reproduces stereotypical constructions of masculinity and
normalises problematic constructions of gender (Flood 2007). Frable et al. (1997)
argue that exposure to rigid gender roles in pornography trains men to only respond
to images shaped by porn stars. Women learn that being flawless and submissive are
the keys to pleasing men (Frable et al. 1997). In most MOVP, pleasure is centered
around the male orgasm. Though the performance of female pleasure exists, it exists
for the man’s pleasure and perspective (Williams 1999). Porn’s culmination of
pleasure is the ‘money shot’ where mans pleasure is the goal and ends the sexual
encounter. Even in porn featuring only women there is an undeniable presences of
the man and performance for their pleasure (Williams 1999). Consuming pornogra-
phy itself in undoubtedly a masculine endeavour (Levant et al. 2012). The consump-
tion of pornography is tied up with masculine discourses about sex drive and virility.
To be masculine one must desire sex (Levant et al. 2012) Men therefore accomplish
manhood through their pursuit of sexual pleasure and engagement (Lorber 1994).
Men then go on to reproduce the masculinity illustrated in pornography. Limited
gender roles do not only affect relationships of the cis, heterosexual youth, studies
fail to look at how pornography consumption has impacted LGBTQ sexual relation-
ships. The normalisation of heterosexuality and male pleasure renders other sexuali-
ties and pleasures invisible.
3.3 Representations of LGBTQ Persons
Lesbian sexuality has been repressed, rendered invisible, and impotent by society
(Smith 1990). Smith (1990) goes on to argue that the only way lesbian sexuality is
represented in pornography is for the pleasure of the male gaze. Webber (2013)
recounted the lack of ‘true’ lesbian representation in mainstream pornography. The
only way women are seen having sex is for the male imagination (Webber 2013).
Porn often fails to portray women’s pleasure, having represented it as a male con-
struct with satisfaction only possible through penetrative sex (Smith 1990).
Gay sexuality is less a problematic arena of pornography than lesbian sexuality

due to the lack of gender power differentials. In other words, it is created by men for
men (Williams 1999). However, Corneau and Van Der Meulen (2014) assert that the
way in which gay men are represented in pornography often reinforces homophobia
as well as gender and race stereotypes. Moreover, pornographic media displays are
far from the reality of sex, and this leaves many gay men striving for something they
may never reach (Corneau and Van Der Meulen 2014). Also, Mowlabocus et al.
(2014) assert that gay pornography’s display of bareback intercourse or Unprotected
Anal Intercourse (UAI) is distinctly problematic. Gay pornography overtly ignores
the discourse around HIV transmission (Mowlabocus et al. 2014). Of course upro-
tected sex is also present in hetrosexual pornography, many of the ways in which
heterosexual pornography is problematic is replicated in Queer pornography.
Therefore, though representation is perhaps better in pornography centering MSM,
gay pornography is still not free from many of the problems of pornography.
Accurate trans∗ representation in mainstream pornography is mostly non-
existent (Ziv 2014). Ziv (2014) found trans∗ and Queer individuals are more fre-
quently represented in erotic fiction. Nonetheless, that trans∗ individuals are not
being represented in mainstream video pornography is part of the larger problem. In
MOVP acts including cis-gendered opposite sex individuals remain the norm
(Williams 2004, 2008). It is distinctly problematic for any trans∗ individuals want-
ing to access pornography that they can relate to. Though alternative and niche porn
markets are growing they are often problematic or hard to locate. Media and tech-
nology are essential to trans∗ and non-binary individuals not only as places of rep-
resentation but outlets of expression (Fink and Miller 2014). Access to Queer porn
comes at a cost, and trans∗ individuals suffer from the highest poverty rates in the
LGBTQ community, there is a double edge sword at play (Quintana 2009; Conron
et al. 2012). Porn that includes people who are outside of heteronormativity reflect
the norms of violence against those who do not conform to dominant notions of
gender and sexuality (Ferber et al. 2009). Not only does violence exist in their daily
lives but it is also played out against them in rape porn. Physical violence is not the
only type of violence that exists against the trans∗ community in MOVP, the lan-
guage used to categorize porn featuring gender-variant individuals continues to
fetishize and other those existing outside the norm.
3.4 he Effects of Watching Pornography on (Heterosexual)

T
Children
In the media as well as academic literature, it is evident that one of the primary
concerns about pornography is young people consuming it. Widespread access to
online pornography has barely been around long enough to catalogue its effects;
however, it has not stopped people’s opinions on it. Many young people are exposed
to and are consuming pornography. The figures estimate that between two-fifths and
36 P. Harvey
two-thirds of youth between the age of 12 and 18 have watched online video por-
nography (Arrington-Sanders et al. 2015). The question is no longer, are children
watching porn? But rather what effect will it have on them and society?
Flood (2009) concludes that minors should only have access to age-appropriate
sexual material, yet does not define what age appropriate material is. Moreover,
Flood (2009) asserts that if porn acts as the educator, then the effects can only be
negative (Flood 2009). Solebello and Elliott’s (2011) study was one of the few stud-
ies that discussed the heteronormativity in the development of sexuality and porn.
They identify that a father encouraged his son to watch heterosexual pornography
because he believed this demonstrated his son’s heterosexuality (Solebello and
Elliott 2011). The common belief, you must be straight to watch straight porn, is
often reaffirmed. Moreover, as the previous statement indicates that the engagement
with pornography is ok as long as it is the right kind of pornography and does not
involve sexually deviant or taboo acts such as homosexuality (Solebello and Elliott
2011). Solebello and Elliot (2011) go on to question whether the encouragement to
watch heterosexual pornography reaffirms the gender and sexuality hierarchy.
Smith (1990) argues that young girls are more troubled than boys because of the
patriarchal nature of porn and the heteronormative male gaze, that it is often pro-
duced for. But if the girls were troubled due to the patriarchal nature of the porn they
viewed, so could the boys due to the compulsory masculinity they observed (Garlick
2010). Although this is difficult to research at a young age, the study fails to
acknowledge the effect on those who may not have enjoyed heteronormative por-
nography. However, if the patriarchal or sexist nature of pornography and the ease
of exposure to it are the problems, then this is also going to cause significant prob-
lems for LGTBQ youth because of the additional intersection of heteronormativity.
In addition, much of society is concerned with protecting children from sexual pro-
miscuity (Levine 2002). The discourse of protection is often saturated with christian
ideals of saving oneself for marriage and sexual purity (Levine 2002). It is unsur-
prising that studies focus on heterosexual youth, however, this makes it hard to
conclude from existing literature on that consequences of the exposure to pornogra-
phy for LGBTQ youth.
3.5 The Effects on Relationships
Research on pornography is frequently concerned with the effect it has on the indi-
vidual consuming it. However, one major limitation of the scholarship on the effects
on relationships is that it mostly comes from psychology and counselling studies
and therefore comes from selective samples of couples who are experiencing prob-
lems. One of the main conclusions from this work is fears of inadequacy; many
studies found that women worried about living up to the porn stars and that when
their partner watched pornography, they felt they were not good enough and would
not be able to fulfil their expectations. Watching pornography while in a relationship
could question your partner’s sexual ability and worth, or be a selfish way to achieve
sexual satisfaction without having to have intimate connections and reciprocation

(Paul 2003, 2005; Horin 2007; Maddox et al. 2011). Many lawyers state that a pri-
mary reason for divorce is the use of pornography in the relationship (Horin 2007).
The National Council for Sex Addiction and Compulsivity estimates that between
3% and 8% of U.S adults have some level of pornography addiction (Keen 2011).
Horin (2007) goes on to question whether the advancement and ease of access to
technology have created an addiction or compulsion. Internet pornography is a rela-
tively new medium that those with compulsive personalities can subscribe to (Horin
2007). Pornography is often blamed for the breakdown of marriages, particularly
internet pornography. Weeks et al. (2001) argued that the ways in which people have
sex affect their self-understanding and personal and social identities. Moreover,
non-heterosexual understandings of sex are influenced by the cultural meanings
heterosexuals attach to sexuality (Weeks et al. 2001). As such it is likely that por-
nography affects the way non-heterosexuals understand and enact sex.
Porn addiction is commonly discussed in pornography scholarship. Many stud-
ies find that more and more people are becoming addicted to pornography. They
often attribute this to the increased ease of access. Maltz and Maltz (2010) describes
pornography as the newest and most challenging addiction. They argued that not
just the amount of people accessing pornography was drastically increasing but time
people were spending watching it (Maltz and Maltz 2010). Bhatia (2008:306)
defined sexual addiction as “having a sick or pathological (out of balance) relation-
ship with sex that is harmful to one’s self or others”, and pornography or what she
terms as cybersex is causing increasing numbers of people to be diagnosed. Another
problem stemming from pornography addiction is people suffering from a false
perception of reality. Addiction links back to the fears of unrealistic expectations
where people are unable to distinguish between sex in pornography and sex in real
life (Bhatia 2008; Ford et al. 2012).
The third theme in this body of work was the experience of decreased sexual
satisfaction. A study conducted by Zillmann and Bryant (2006) was most notable
which found that after regular consumption of pornography people were less satis-
fied with their partners compared to the ones that had abstained from watching
pornography. Also, the participants had placed an increased importance on sex
without emotional involvement (Zillmann and Bryant 2006). However, there have
also been counter studies that argued that joint pornography use can lead to increased
satisfaction (Maddox et al. 2011; Træen et al. 2004). Some studies such as one con-
ducted by Hald and Malamuth (2008) looked at the relationship between the num-
ber of partners and amount of pornography an individual watches; they found the
more pornography a person watches, the higher the number of partners they were
likely to have. All of these studies use heterosexual participants but the effect por-
nography consumption has on LGBTQ relationships is relatively undocumented.
Much of the literature as I have highlighted above draws from psychology and
feminist theory. So what can a sociological approach to the study of MOVP add to
this conversation? I argue that firstly, we need to begin by studying people outside
of the heterosexual binary. LGBTQ deserve to be represented, not only in pornog-
raphy but the research addressing pornography’s content and effect on all arenas of
38 P. Harvey
sexual and social life. Secondly, as scholars and activists, we have to begin to move
away from conceptualising pornopgraphy as a moral panic, children and adoles-
cents will find a way to feed their curious minds with or without pornography.
Rather than censor pornography we have to educate people about it, so people can
make informed decisions about their use of the medium and what access their chil-
dren will have. With that in mind studies should be devised to address how the
effects of pornography are manifesting. Pornography is not inherently problematic,
but the way in which it reifies problematic and oppressive social norms about gen-
der, sexuality and sex, is. As sociologists we need to harness what is useful and
beneficial and what needs to be reduced or eradicated. I hope to touch on these goals
with my study and extend the work of those who have already begun this process.
3.6 Method
The sample was created by contacting various university LGBTQ organisations

around the north of England. University groups were utilised as their members fit
the age requirements in the sample. My sample consisted of three focus groups from
universities in northern England. The sample of people used for the focus groups
was not intended to be representative of the entire population; the selection of peo-
ple I used provided information highlighting the issues concerning pornography and
LGBTQ persons. I had a total of 23 participants across the three focus groups of
which 7 identified as Gay, 4 Lesbian, 4 Bisexual, 3 Pansexual, 2 Straight, 2 homo-
sexual, 1 Queer and 1 heterosexual. Of my 23 participants – 13 were women, 9 were
men, and one was Genderqueer. (See appendix for table with participants and
pseudonyms). As gender was self disclosed on the demographics questionnaire
handed out before the focus group, I assumed that since there was no question ask-
ing if participants were trans∗ or cis just gender my trans∗ participants did not feel
the need to disclose in the demographics. When discussions surrounding trans∗
issues surfaced in the focus group discussions, this was the place where participants
chose to disclose a trans∗ identity. I can therefore conclude that those who identify
as straight were trans∗ as they identified as belonging to the overall category of
LGBTQ in sampling.
I conducted a case study oriented design; looking at 18–25-year-old LGBTQ
people’s perception of the effect that watching online pornography has on Queer
sexuality. It uses focus groups formed from people at the centre of these communi-
ties, as well as an emphasis on the internet generation (18–25) as a particular age
group (Gasser and Palfrey 2008). The results from a case study can still provide
relevant insights into the social world (Lincoln and Guba 1985). The nature of look-
ing at the effects of the exposure to pornography in minors is also complicated and
can be ethically problematic; the methodology for the majority of research done is
frequently questioned (Flood 2009). I chose to utilise a comparative element to
bridge the gap between the heteronormative studies previously conducted and my
non-heteronormative lens. Focus groups are particularly useful because they allow
the creation of interactional stories that are formed through debate about our social
world (Silverman 2005). Focus groups enable individuals to be open or silent in
discussions, without feeling the one-on-one pressure from the interviewer (Madriz
2003). The conversational format, though I did use prompts and questions, allowed
people to enter into dialogue and negotiate their feelings about previously unthought-
of topics (Bryman 2015). I decided to conduct a thematic analysis of focus group
data. Initially, I looked for themes that presented in secondary sources; I subse-
quently went on to look for new themes that had emerged, providing fresh and pre-
viously unexamined areas. Therefore, the themes reflect how pornography was or
was not perceived to impact Queer sexualities.
3.7 Analysis
The need for better sex education emerged from all themes in the data; every focus
group highlighted it as a necessary part of the growing up experience. Participants
stated that pornography use could be a beneficial (or at least not harmful) during
sexual development as long as education about sex accompanied its’ use. However,
there was some debate about pornography giving unrealistic expectations to LGBTQ
youths. Moreover, I will go on to look at how pornography is devaluing sex and how
heterosexual norms are affecting LGBTQ consumers.
3.8 Sex Education
When highlighting problems within social science research, it is also essential to

highlight solutions to these issues. The need for sex education was a key resulting
theme that emerged from the data; every focus group highlighted it as a necessary
part of the growing up experience. Participants stated that pornography could be a
good thing in sexual development as long as ‘real’ or ‘proper’ education about sex
accompanied it. Pornography can be a positive way for people to explore sexual
avenues and discover their sexual pleasures and desires, improving the couple’s sex
life. Also, many people commented that there are plenty of mainstream self-help or
idea guides for heterosexual couples, from men’s magazines to Cosmopolitan maga-
zine to tv shows on sex education. There was not much or anything readily available
for non-hetero couples; thus pornography filled this void in their culture. However, a
comprehensive sex education program in schools was also prescribed. Many thought
that the effects of porn would not be so damaging if heterosexual sex were not the
only narrative given in sexual education. Perri a 21-year-old gay man addressed why
porn can become damaging when there is no context and sex education.
Perri: “I feel like people tend to pick up some kinds of scenarios and then try it out in their
life and see if it works. So it becomes like their self-guided tutorial.”
40 P. Harvey
Many other participants echoed this sentiment. People watch pornography and as
this is their only exposure to how sex is performed. Therefore, as Perri stated it
becomes a tutorial, rather than a catalyst for fantasy pleasure exploration: this is
where porn becomes inherently problematic.
The other side of porn as an educational tool that people discussed is, adults can
consume that porn as a way of exploring ideas for sex. When used in relationships,
pornography has a direct impact on relationships and how sex is performed. All
participants in all groups seemed to agree that on at least one occasion, they have
used pornography to get ideas for sex. The only way this usage could be problematic
is seeing something (such as violence) in pornography that was not acceptable to
both people in the relationship and one person enacting (or trying to) without con-
sent. However, that removed, it is a positive way for people to explore sexual ave-
nues and discover their sexual pleasures and desires, improving the couple’s sex life.
Eliot: “I think it enables you to like all different things that you wouldn’t normally watch
and be like oh I enjoy that. I’ve found certain aspects of my own sexuality through porn and
I understand myself I better and I wouldn’t in reality go and do those particular things. I
watch something and I’m like actually that gets me off that arouses me and now I under-
stand myself better. Which I think personally for me is only a good thing”.
Charlie: “sometimes as well though I think watching like stuff and not necessarily speaking
from personal experience but watching things that are more hard-core can kinda of allow
them to experience those kind of things that maybe they don’t want to personally experi-
ence but they can do it via that media as well so different aspects of sex or different aspects
of role playing or S and M and kinda things like that you can experience those things with-
out actually having to put themselves in that sort of environment.”
The participants talked about pornography as a medium for self-discovery. This

demonstrated that watching pornography (as an adult at least) can have some ben-
efits. For example, when Jordan first watched pornography it prompted him to con-
front his same-sex attraction.
Jordan: “I was like uh what is this porn thing about and it was like oh ok… I was actually
attracted to guys”
With good context and information about sex, gender and sexulaity pornography
can become a safe medium for adolescents and adults to explore sex. As MOVP is
becoming much more user-generated it is hard to see how content will be con-
trolled, but perhaps if people have better sex education, problematic norms will
begin to fade.
3.9 Unrealistic Expectations
Unsurprisingly unrealistic expectations of sex were one of the most common themes
that emerged from the discussions. Yet, many participants argued that unrealistic
expectations of sex only occur when people were unable to distinguish pornography
as distinct real-life enactments of sex. One participant, Taylor a 19-year-old lesbian,
discussed pornography being a complicated issue, and it only being problematic

when you see it as a realistic depiction of sex and sexuality. Marley, a 25-year-old
gay man who had worked in the pornography industry during their time at univer-
sity addressed how unrealistic pornography was.
Marley: “It actually takes twelve hours to make a twenty-minute scene. To make it that
standard where, it’s like that perfect, takes like twelve hours to make.”
Marley’s explanation of how much work goes into the production of the polished
scene demonstrates how different pornography is from real life sex. The need for
there to be a distinction between the real and Hollywood depictions of sex was
expressed across all focus groups. Though my participants talked about pornogra-
phy as something that was not real or different from ‘real sex’, it is also important
to address how MOVP includes user-generated, real-core, ameture, and reality porn.
Does porn depict real sex? Real sex (depending on your definition) is filmed, often
edited and then posted for people to watch. The question becomes, how realistic is
what viewers are watching? Most of my participants talked as though porn did not
depict realistic sex, yet issues with porn come from people seeing this kind of sex as
realistic. As MOVP can include user-generated content and ‘home-videos’, why did
my participants not consider this as real? It appears there is a dual discourse that has
emerged about the realness of sex in pornography; pornography being the tool for
which young people use to learn about sex and emulate (or try to) it’s problematic
and unrealistic displayed and pornography not being real and so is only a tool for
sexual fantasy and should not be considered real. Perri detailed the effects of por-
nography on a person’s sexual awareness. They argued that you can ‘tell’ when
someone confused pornography and sex. Through their eyes and experiences my
participants did not feel as if pornography accurately depicted how they had sex. I
argue that beyond critiquing that pornography is unrealistic and staged it also dem-
onstrate that this population do not feel that their experiences and practices are
reflected in pornography. Though pornography might sometimes include diverse
individuals, it is not created for them. Alex affirmed this, arguing that pornography
is not a viable way to educate yourself due to its flawed nature. Frankie, a 18-year-
old homosexual man echoed Alex’s sentiment:
Frankie: “It’s not like [in porn] Whoo stick it in and lets go, like no, it’s just over simplified
and not an accurate image of what it’s like if it goes right and what can happen if it goes
wrong you never see the bad side [of anal intercourse]”
I thought this comment, in particular, gave an excellent insight into how watch-
ing pornography at a young age can affect LGBTQ or same-sex relationships. The
participants explained people take pornography literally and try to replicate it;
because it does not give accurate or representative depictions of sex or sexuality,
this can be damaging to the consumer, and the sexual interaction they have with
their sexual partners.
Unrealistic expectations as a stand-alone effect of MOVP is not a unique to the
experiences of LGBTQ youth: as the focus groups got deeper into discussion, my
participants argued that it oversimplifies gay and lesbian sex. Mainstream
42 P. Harvey
p ornography fetishises the Gay and Lesbian experience, and the tropes they portray
do not go unnoticed by the members of the community. What these comments show
is pornography is not inherently problematic. Paradoxically it can be simultane-
ously useful and damaging. On the one hand it is a form of self-expression and
provides a platform for many to explore their sexual fantasies. However, when
someone cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality, it becomes deeply prob-
lematic. For LGBTQ youth this problem is exasserbated as Queer sex is not well
represented, therefore meaning that unrealistic sex becomes even more unrealistic if
it even exists at all.
Yet, participants also asserted that the consumer may not want an accurate depic-
tion of sex because they like the fantasy, ideal world of sex. Sex appears to be so
ingrained into our desires that advertisers and companies use sex to sell a non-sex
related product, as the adage goes: sex sells. The commodification of sex is an area
that needs further research; if unrealistic sex is so problematic, then why do we want
it so much? Quinn and Blake questioned this point. It is an interesting statement. If
the way in which pornography is displayed is so problematic why do we continue to
consume it? I argue that there are two reasons for this. Firstly, there is little else on
offer for the LGBTQ community to consume. Secondly, pornography plays into our
fantasies; therefore, there is utility in the acknowledgement that pornography is not
realistic. The problems arises when people are unable to distinguish between reality
and pornography.
Another problem my participants highlighted in relation to unrealistic expecta-
tions was not just the mechanics of having sex but the appearances of people they
saw in pornography. All three focus groups talked about other standards the porn
industry set. For many of the women in the group, this often came down to body hair.
Dylan: “Well how many young girls are like ‘Body hair is disgusting’ and then how many
actually cognitively trace that back to the porn industry?”
I questioned how body hair specifically affects relationships and therefore how
people present themselves, in LGBTQ relationships. Lack of body hair on women
in pornography is for the male gaze (Corsianos 2007). Was this expectation still
manifesting in lesbian relationships? The expectations and norm surrounding body
hair appeared to be translating out of the heterosexual context. One of my partici-
pants thus commented on the ‘hairy lesbian stereotypes’ that are present in everyday
culture but absent from MOVP? I argue this is due to the fetishisation of lesbianism
in pornography, yet ostracisation of ‘real’ lesbian couples/women in society
(Smyth 1990). The conversations continued to tease this concept out and Logan, a
non-binary student, was particularly troubled by how pervasive these beauty stan-
dards that stemmed from pornography were especially as many of the participants
were not necessarily consuming pornography that displayed this particular beauty
standard.
Logan: “And that’s like troubling. Like how it’s infused the culture, even if you’re not
watching pornography you’re still being affected by it.”
The discourses surrounding the body hair beauty standards that stem from
MOVP are being inscribed onto the bodies of Queer women. In theory Queer
women are not adhering to beauty standards to attract men, yet many are influenced
by beauty standards policed by straight men. Why does this translate over to Queer
relationships? Perhaps because of how pervasive heteronormative beauty standards
are? Or perhaps, despite more people across genders accessing pornography, it is
still created by men for mens’ consumption. My participants talked about the vari-
ety of different image standards pornography sets and how these filter down into
other discourses. This statement is of particular importance to LGBTQ couples
because even if they search for non-heterosexist LGBTQ porn on the depths of the
internet, the ideals of MOVP are still ingrained in everyday society.
Many LGBTQ indentified youths watch pornography before they have their first
sexual interaction. Though there is no reliable statistic, it is estimated that LGBTQ
identified women have their first sexual experience around the age 19 (higher than
their straight counterparts) and LGTBQ identified men as early as 12 or 13 (earlier
than their straight counterparts) (Carpenter 2005). Depending on when they came
out or realised they were LGBTQ, many had a second first with their first Queer
sexual experience (Carpenter 2005). Watching pornography before having sex in
and of itself is not inherently problematic, but when this is coupled with unrealistic
expectations, it can have negative effects. Alex, a bisexual woman stated,
Alex: “you’re terrified by the time you come to do it.”
As Alex illustrates, many participants expressed that people began to fear sex
because of what they had seen in pornography. Instead of a fear of the unknown
young people are experiencing a fear of inadequacy. They fear that they cannot live
up to the expectations of body image or performance created or exacerbated by
pornography.
3.10 Desensitise/Devalue Sex
Another issue that emerged in regards to youth pornography consumption was the
devaluing of sex and sexual practices. It came up that pornography is not just con-
sumed on the internet, and therefore this increases its effect as it is everywhere in
society, because it is everywhere it is also devalued. Many participants noted that
this was an effect of pornography across their cohort not just in the LGBTQ youth.
Quinn: “Young people and pornography, I think the problem with that it tends to desensitise
them to sex and to the acts within that so especially at a young age it’s one of those things
that I think they need to learn themselves and explore themselves without being shown it in
pornographic material.”
Dylan: “I don’t think we’re even engaged in sexual activity at the time. It was just oh ok let’s
use it like that yea there we go. We don’t really think about what we’re really doing”
44 P. Harvey
The devaluing of sex is not unique to LGBTQ youth, however it is still important
to note that the effect is happening across the age group. Alongside hookup culture
the landscape of sexual interactions are changing (Heldman and Wade 2010; Freitas
2013). Therefore sex education is needed more than ever.
3.11 Heterosexual Norms
The reproduction of heterosexual norms within pornography came up in all focus

groups. Participants commented that although a lot of LGBTQ pornography is het-
erosexist, you can find pornography that is not. Some participants were shocked on
the realisation that not all pornography (though most) is created for the male gaze.
Logan: “like in terms of gay male porn, there is the dominant top oh look so muscley and
oh look twink boy ohh but like, you know what I mean, that’s like one slice of the pie you
know , there’s other stuff as well and then there’s stuff which is a lot more,”
Logan’s comments show how heterosexual gender roles are inscribed on gay
bodies. Moreover, gay men are highly sexualised and fetishised which reaffirms the
assumption than men are inherently sexual and have high sex drives. Therefore, this
is particularly true with two or more men. Across all groups, people repeatedly gave
examples of the ways in which when LGBTQ are represented in MOVP they are
often reproducing heterosexual norms. Sam a lesbian was shocked to hear that les-
bian porn created for and by women even existed.
Sam: “Wait how do I look up lesbian porn for women? That’s like a thing?”
There is so much dominance in the patriarchal gaze and influence that gay
women often don’t know that porn exists for them. It is hard to believe that the male
gaze then does not influence how people react and re-enact porn within their rela-
tionships (Corsianos 2007). Therefore, the patriarchy is still getting into lesbian
bedrooms (Corsianos 2007). The way in which heterosexual assumptions are being
reinscribed into young persons’ selves is deeply troubling.
Noah: “When I was younger I had a female friend, and she had assumed for maybe a year
or so that the reason she wanted to be with a woman was that she wanted to be a guy, took
her a long time to realise that she was actually gay.”
Several of my lesbian identified participants expressed that heteronormativity

runs so deep that instead of questioning their sexualities, they first questioned their
gender because of the assumption that if you like women, you must, therefore, be a
man. However, this is not to say they were wrong to question their gender identity,
however its important to understand how heteronormativity is so ingrained that ini-
tially sexual identity was not even questioned.
Eliot, a 22-year-old Queer woman, talked about being so overexposed to hetero-
normative sexual images, that they could not even conceptualise a non-heterosexual
sexuality for herself.
Eliot: “When I was younger because there is so many images of women who are sexualized
in the media, even if you’re not watching porn, I thought I was attracted to women because
I associated naked women with sex and not because I actually liked naked women”
Women in all focus groups commented on the questioning of their gender before
sexuality. It was not until they got older and realised explored gender and sexuality
could be expressed that they began to accept their sexuality entirely. I think it is
important to note that this effect occurred for only women, not men in my focus
groups. Though further research needs to be done to draw more concrete conclu-
sions, it is apparent that there is a noteworthy effect here. Gender and sexuiltiy are
intangebly interwoven, without gender categories, sexuality categories would not be
defined in their current form. The ways in which pornography affects both gender
conception as well as sexuality conception needs further study, it is also important
to address intersectionality how the two develop together. The effects of pornogra-
phy are affecting how LGBTQ identified persons sexuality develops. Even if they
are not directly consuming pornography the pornography culture is affecting how
they think about sex.
Additionally, I found the heterosexist replication of pornography made growing
up not straight cause an identity crisis or at least concern for many participants.
Oli: “This is where porn is confusing for me as young gay women… I kinda think that most
kinds of straight porn is appealing to me because I’m constantly exposed to heterosexual
sex is every other aspect of life”
Alex also discussed how not fitting in boxes caused issues for their identity. As
porn reproduces certain norms, at a young age many LGBTQ people are not entirely
aware of their sexuality, or do not have the confidence to think about it. Moreover,
sexual feelings and thoughts are developing at this age, since these norms are so
prominent, it may lead to them feeling wrong, dirty or confused. Thus, so many
people in the focus group put such an emphasis on the need for sex education and
what to really expect. The more that we talk about sex, the fewer people’s desires
will be seen as somehow wrong or invalid (Butler 1997; Corsianos 2007). However,
I argue that this does not go far enough. Adolescents need sexuality education as
well as sex education; these issues are currently limited if covered at all. Sex educa-
tion, about contraception, STI’s, consent, pleasure expectations, and choice is
clearly important. Sex education in this form must be not only sex-positive but
queer inclusive. However, in addition to sex education, education about sexuality
and gender identity- what it means to be LGBTQ, coming out, acceptance and how
that relates to the adolescent and young adult experience is also important.
Nonetheless, due to the lack of research and the taboo nature of this subject, despite
the range of imagery on the internet, this type of education ceases to exist. However,
the effects of not having it on individuals and thus their relationships are vast.
Therefore as feminists and activists, it is imperative we push for change.
46 P. Harvey
3.12 Conclusive Responses
When I asked the groups to reflect on what they had discussed, there was always a
for-and-against argument. I think this demonstrates that the divisive effect of por-
nography is too complicated, to sum up in any solidified way. All groups agreed that
there are positive things that come out of pornography consumption, yet the adverse
effects were also not ignored.
Alex: “I honestly think that porn isn’t really like a good thing in a way. I don’t think the way
it’s done is good but I think the freedom to express that you feel sexual things is if it was
done in positive ways … I can see how that would be a good way to get dialogue going
about things but um so yea thinking about it that’s not a bad thing but I think overexpo-
sure… might not be good. Me’ instinct might be like if you watch too much you might have
some weird expectations on what sex is like.”
In my findings there always seemed to be a chicken-and-egg scenario. Was it the

case that pornography influenced the culture or that culture shaped pornography.
Quinn: “I think it does massively but I don’t think it’s fair to pin all the blame it on porn
itself I think it’s just a cultural thing.”
However, others contested this. Therefore, both pornography and culture were
reacting to each other. Pornography is shaping the views and attitudes of the time,
but also external factors are changing what is accessible and acceptable in pornog-
raphy. Is it pornography or the taboos, norms, negative stereotypes, reactions and
attitudes that are attached to it that are problematic? Before the advent of the inter-
net, pornography was undoubtedly seen as a more taboo occurrence, whereas now
it has become a widely accepted part of culture. The issue is incredibly complex,
and there are no correct answers. However, my findings have demonstrated that
more diverse research needs to be conducted for answers to begin to emerge. For
example, we need to start to look at the effect of sexual content on different groups,
how long do these effects last and are they worsened when minority groups are not
well represented? Research on the effect of pornography on youth is just one of the
types research that needs to be done.
3.13 Summary of Main Findings
MOVP, as it is currently produced, creates unrealistic expectations of sex and body

image. If the way in which pornography was made, presented, and framed was
changed, adverse effects could be severely reduced. Especially with better access to
information about sex and non-heterosexist narratives in sex education. If pornogra-
phy is over consumed then people’s attitudes towards sex can be negatively con-
structed. However, this can be overcome with effective education about pornography
and sex. MOVP reproduces, without a doubt, heterosexual norms; however, is this
just simply reflective of wider societal problems. Shifts in pornography production
and greater access to Queer porn could limit this. Again, good sex education about
sexuality could also restrict the damage.
Pornography can provide couples with an avenue to communicate about sex,
wants, and desires. To reduce the negative effects of pornography, communication
in a peer setting and within a relationship is important. If this does not occur, and the
safe or appropriate spaces do not exist, then the harmful elements, particularly relat-
ing to the reproduction of heterosexual binaries will persist. This prevents pornog-
raphy from being a positive influence in said person’s sexual orientation. However,
this argument is complicated by the current patriarchal or the heteronormative
nature of pornography. Porn can be beneficial, but it’s also potentially harmful.
The displays of heterosexual norms were also significant. They manifested in
different ways, and many people took them in a light-hearted manner. Their influ-
ence should not be discredited. Whether people noticed or not, they were still pres-
ent as a dominant influence in sexuality, thus confirming despite the plurality of
pornography, the reinforcement of limiting binaries was always overwhelmingly
present. Moreover, sometimes the effects of pornography are upsetting, leading to
the othering and dis-inclusion as well as removal of the legitimacy of LGBTQ
relationships.
Education about sex and sexuality was probably my most anticipated finding.
Interestingly, young people know that they are not getting the right or enough edu-
cation about sex; this is especially true in the Queer community. The problems with
pornography not only stem from the images displayed but from the lack of knowl-
edge about the subject. Within the world of sociology and Queer theory, theorising
about the limiting and constructed nature of binaries has to be contextualised with
real-world experiences. Until gender, sex, and sexuality education and discussions
are common within society, sexual images of any nature are going to be problem-
atic. Especially in the mass display of certain ideals, through the medium of pornog-
raphy. Participants noted that pornography could have positive effects, but attributed
this to alternative information around the subject of pornography. Once this occurs,
(if it does) then it will be possible to see if it is pornography affecting the sex culture
or if sex culture is affecting pornography. Then this dialectic will be much better
understood if not rejected.
Communication about everything from pornography to sex and sexual orienta-
tion is necessary so that the use of pornography will not affect one’s relationship.
Firstly having a space where it is appropriate to talk about these things with peers,’
means that people are grounded in the actualities of sex. Also, communicating your
desires with your partner was seen as necessary. Moreover, using pornography as an
ideas bank or way to test the waters of sexual experimentation are both positive
functions for pornography.
The pornography debate is more complicated than just positive and negative; the
limited and often heterosexual binaries presented in MOVP can have a variety of
effects on people’s sexual lives. As evident in the findings, LGTBQ young adults see
MOVP as overtly heteronormative; this leads to normalising ‘heterosexual prac-
tices’. I argue that this creates body image issues, unrealistic expectations of sex,
and causes a devaluing of sex. Pornography as a medium is not damaging. Even so,
48 P. Harvey
LGBTQ representations in MOVP, coupled with our reluctance to talk about sex
and sexuality, are. A more open dialogue about sex and sexuality is needed to reduce
the adverse effect of pornography. Moreover, a more comprehensive and explicit
education about non-heterosexual and non-reproductive sex is required in adoles-
cent years, therefore opening up a dialogue about sex. Though MOVP has a consid-
erable number of negative effects, many participants used and engaged with it in
positive ways. It is possible for pornography to be simultaneously positive and
negative. Therefore, as scholars we have to work to eliminate the negative aspects
and allow the positive ones to continue.
Appendix
Focus Group 1
Name Age Sexuality Degree Class Gender Ethnicity Religion

Taylor 19 Lesbian English with education Middle Female White Christian
Joe 21 Gay Art and culture Middle Male Chinese Atheist
Alex 25 Bisexual Sociology N/A Female White Neo-pagan
Perri 21 Gay Sociology Middle Male White Atheist
Andy 25 Straight Sociology and economics Working Male White Christian
Focus Group 2

Quinn 22 Pansexual English Working Female Mixed Atheist
Arab +
white
Oli 18 Gay Chemistry with Working Female White Atheist
education Irish
Robin 20 Gay English language Middle Male White Atheist
British
Charlie 20 Bi Science with Middle Female British None
education
Logan 21 Homosexual Primary education Middle Male White N/A
British
Blake 20 Gay Film and Lower Male White N/A
television British
production

Dylan 19 Pansexual English Working Gender White Atheist
queer British
Ashley 25 Straight Children’s and Middle Female English Agnostic
Young people’s
learning
development
Frankie 18 Homosexual Creative writing Middle Cis White Neopaganism
male British
Lindsey 18 Heterosexual Childhood and Middle Female White Atheist
youth studies British
Sam 19 Lesbian Early years Middle Female White N/A
British
Jordan 18 Gay Creative writing Middle Male White Agnostic
British
Lor 19 Lesbian English with Middle Female White Christian
education
Focus Group 3

Noah 21 Bi/ BA middle Middle Female White Protestant
pansexual eastern studies British
Marley 25 Lesbian English N/A Female White N/A
British
Rian 25 Gay Business and film Working/ Male White Christian
middle British
Eliot 22 Queer Sociology Middle Female White None
woman British
Roey 19 Bi Psychology Working Female White Jehovahs
British witness
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Part II
Visual Media and Social Control
Chapter 4
Cautions and Possibilities of Online
Collective Identity: The It Gets Better
Project
Colleen Rost-Banik
4.1 Introduction
In September 2010 U.S. national attention focused on several young people who
committed suicide after being bullied because of their sexual orientation. In response
and in an effort to support young LGBT people, Dan Savage, an activist and colum-
nist, and his partner Terry Miller, posted a video on YouTube. Targeted towards
middle and high school students experiencing bullying, their message was relatively
simple—both Savage and Miller experienced bullying in high school due to their
sexual orientation, but after high school, life got better (It Gets Better Project). As
they grew older, they met more people who accepted them, regardless of being gay,
and even though their families initially rejected their sexuality, they eventually came
to love and accept Savage and Miller’s partnership. Shortly after this initial YouTube
post, Savage and Miller launched the It Gets Better Project (IGBP) and website,
www.itgetsbetter.org, which invites people to post their own stories about how life
has gotten better for them. Relaying messages to LGBT youth that encounter dis-
paraging words and behaviors about their sexual or gender identity, the project’s
mission is two-fold: to communicate that life does indeed get better, and “to create
and inspire the changes needed to make it better for them” (It Gets Better Project).
The rationale is that the very act of making and / or listening to encouraging mes-
sages helps to create the adjustments in society required to make life more affirma-
tive for LGBT youth.
This cyber campaign has many critiques, including the following: Why should
youth have to wait for life to get better? What if their life does not get better? What
does “better” even mean? Will life only get better if LGBT individuals assimilate to
recognizable and accepted forms of queerness? Aware of these valuable questions,
I analyze IGBP videos attributed to institutions of higher education to gain insight
C. Rost-Banik (*)
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
e-mail: rostb007@umn.edu

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29855-5_4
56 C. Rost-Banik
into the messages that students share with viewers. I ground the research by review-
ing scholarship on coming out narratives and how cyberspace has been used as a
tool for LGBT youth. To frame the data, I reference theories about identity: collec-
tive identity within social movements and identity as a site of injury. In analyzing
the stories, I highlight how participants in the IGBP videos rely on injury within
their coming out stories to maintain relevance to the viewers, but also begin to shape
a cyber-based generation that subtly diverges from experiences of pain. This diver-
gence holds the possibility of countering the collective identity of the LGBT
movement.
4.1.1 Coming Out Narratives
The colloquial phrase “coming out” refers to when people acknowledge that they
are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT), either to themselves or others.
Because being LGBT has been considered the non-dominant sexual orientation in
modern Western history, there is an expectation that people who are LGBT confess
their sexual orientation; they must reveal that they are different than what has been
viewed as normed sexuality—that is, heterosexuality (Foucault 1978). These
moments of coming out have prompted “coming out stories,” where people share
their experiences. They describe what it has been like to come out to close friends
or family members, or what it has been like to be in a same-sex partnership, or in a
body where one’s biological sex does not match one’s gender identity. People may
share their coming out story with others for myriad reasons, including: to aid one-
self and others in better understanding gay identity, to offer support to others who
are exploring their own sexual orientation, or to commiserate with people who have
had similar experiences.
Examining how people relay their sexual stories, Plummer (1995) posits that in
the 1960s and 1970s, coming out stories were characterized by a linear progression
wherein people told of suffering, epiphany, and transformation. First, people
described unhappy childhoods wherein they dealt with the feeling of being differ-
ent. This unhappiness pointed to deep pain, which, mired in guilt and shame, was
often hidden from others. At some point amid the silent struggle over sexual iden-
tity, their consciousness was piqued by a critical moment, typically during adoles-
cence. Plummer marks the stage where they needed to break the silence of suffering
and take some sort of action as epiphany. During the process of epiphany, voice was
given to the pain and they “came out” as LGBT, even though they may have experi-
enced disparagement from family, acquaintances, and religion. Concerns about
being gay began to subside when they met other gay people and felt a sense of
belonging amidst a community. Plummer notes that at some point in life, epiphany
eventually led to transformation, wherein LGBT individuals transcended the agony
and role of victimhood and produced their new sexual identity. In linear fashion,
LGBT people moved from embodying norms that produced pain and confusion to a
different discourse with a more positive perception of their identity.
4 Cautions and Possibilities 57
Since Plummer’s writing in 1995, the LGBT movement in the U.S. has made
significant strides: it is legal to be openly gay in the military; the Supreme Court
ruled same-sex marriage constitutional; more politicians and sports figures have
publicly come out as gay or transgender; and opinion polls show increases in public
support for LGBT rights (Flores 2014). However, despite growing acceptance of
same-sex relations within the U.S., LGBT identity remains contested (Guittar 2014).
As of this writing, it is still legal to be fired for being LGBT in many states; LGBT
youth are at greater risk of depression, suicide and other health risks than their
straight peers (Center for Disease Control); and violence against LGBT people, par-
ticularly trans individuals, is a grave concern among advocacy groups (Human
Rights Campaign). These contestations in societal messages and structural obstacles
have made the route to a positive sense of self for LGBT individuals fraught with
difficulty. Navigating amidst these messages, the invention of the Internet has been
a beneficial resource in helping individuals find and connect with people who have
had similar experiences, thus making the process of coming out more straightforward.
4.1.2 LGBT Cyberspace
The Internet has become a central place for youth to learn about, experiment with,
and gain support in constructing their LGBT identity (Baams et al. 2011). Using the
Internet to find out what it means to be LGBT can be important for any young per-
son but can be especially helpful for youth in rural areas with little access to visible
and vocal gay communities and politics (Cooper and Dzara 2010). Websites offer
different stories and experiences of coming out as well as the consequences that
coming out may have (Alexander and Losh 2010). Craig and McInroy (2014) found
that as young people watched online stories and learned about how other LGBT
youth navigated particular situations, they became more comfortable with their own
identities. Using chat rooms, YouTube, Facebook, and other social networking sites,
youth have the possibility of creating their LGBT identity as authentic or as ficti-
tious as they wish (Alexander and Losh 2010). They are also able to receive feed-
back and support from a fairly anonymous, geographically diverse audience before
implementing particular characteristics in real life (Craig and McInroy 2014;
Drushel 2010; Fraser 2010). The responses to their identity presentation likely
shape how they present themselves in the future and help them clarify their own
identity and values (Cooper and Dzara 2010). Unlike offline spaces, if people
receive negative feedback online, they can simply delete their online profile and
begin with a new one (Craig and McInroy 2014). In short, cyberspace presents an
important “testing ground” for what coming out may be like in real life (Alexander
and Losh 2010, p. 42) as well as a space where youth can gain emotional support in
their experimentation.
Another important and promising aspect about the Internet is that it is decentral-
ized, offering the potential for people to democratically engage with its content and
with one another (Kellner and Kim 2010). So, in addition to LGBT individuals
58 C. Rost-Banik
being able to experiment with their sexual and gender identities, social media
affords the possibility of activism and of disrupting dominant discourses since, the-
oretically, there is very little management in such a decentralized space. Anyone
who has access to a computer and the Internet can post their story and their organiz-
ing interests in a very public way. This dynamic has made the IGBP feasible.
4.2 Theoretical Framework
To examine how coming out stories have been mobilized and adapted within the
LGBT movement during the age of the Internet, I use two major theoretical con-
cepts: identity as injury (Brown 1995; Butler 1995) and collective identity (Polletta
and Jasper 2001; Soon and Kluver 2014). These concepts illustrate how coming out
stories within the IGBP elicit emotions to create a novel environment that simulta-
neously maintains boundaries of sexuality and gender (thereby reinforcing wound-
edness) and subtly subverts the dominant narrative of suffering.
4.2.1 Identity as Injury
Social norms within U.S. society assume that people are heterosexual and cisgender
unless otherwise announced. This declaration of an identity other than heterosexual
or cisgender is not value neutral. Butler (1995) asserts that when people declare a
particular identity, such as “I am gay,” they are performing a statement that carries
with it the history and dominance of heteronormativity. In other words, this
announcement reproduces the hegemonic power and oppressive pain of previous
iterations of the same words in a variety of settings. Brown (1995) takes this idea a
step further, contending that focusing on identities that are considered marginal
produces injured bodies. These bodies are injured because they are excluded from
rights and provisions given to socially dominant bodies—bodies of white, wealthy,
straight men. As Guittar (2014) notes, “coming out is a function of oppression”
(p. 3). Thus, referencing and placing such importance on identity reinforces the
distinction between socially dominant identities and those that are marginal; it cre-
ates castes of injuries, producing wounds of “alienation, commodification, exploita-
tion, displacement, disintegration” (Brown 1995, p. 60). Brown contends that
focusing on the discursive practices of announcing marginal identities simply ren-
ders the injury as normal rather than changes the systems that have constructed
exclusion. She urges that when deploying identities within the politics of challeng-
ing heterosexism, we must be careful not to “re-subjectivize” people (p. 55). Taking
Brown’s cautions and suggestions, it is important to examine where the fault lines
and possibilities exist for LGBT rights groups that rely upon sexual identity as a
mode for organizing.
4.2.2 Collective Identities
Collective identity is a theoretical concept used to explain how and why people join
together and become motivated to take political action within social movements.
Polletta and Jasper (2001) define collective identity as “an individual’s cognitive,
moral, and emotional connection with a broader community, category, practice, or
institution” (p. 285). They further note that this connection is a “perception of a
shared status or relation, which may be imagined rather than experienced directly”
(p. 285). This shared identity can also take place online. Soon and Kluver (2014)
complement Polletta and Jasper’s understanding of collective identity by noting
three dimensions they found in activist bloggers’ experiences: (1) collective con-
sciousness; (2) a common signifier of culture or practice; and (3) a shared adversary.
As participants tell stories that target a common antagonist and show images that
elicit emotions and actions, they thereby strengthen group cohesion, commitment,
and recruitment (Fine 1995; Polletta 1998). In particular, participants share experi-
ences and feelings that the listener can relate to, allowing for trust and a bond with
the narrator to be developed (Goodwin et al. 2004). This bond with one another is
what allows people from disparate backgrounds and regions to come together to
advance a cause.
However, for collective identity to be effective, social movements must regulate
how the group identity is defined—not just any story can be shared. For instance,
there are decisions to be made about how much the collective identity should be
different from the mainstream (Polletta and Jasper 2001). If the movement shows
too much deviance from normative notions, it runs the risk of being considered too
aberrant and will not receive attention or sympathy from the mainstream. But if the
collective identity does not show any uniqueness, then people will not understand
the need for the movement. Fine (1995) suggests a strategy for engendering support:
“horror stories” (e.g. bullying or harassment) offer enough deviance to advance the
movement while also calling upon the compassion of the audience and compelling
them to act. The stigma associated with horror is turned from a “public deficit to a
subcultural advantage” (Fine 1995, p. 135). Horror stories are particularly powerful
if they result in “happy endings,” wherein the narrator has experienced some type of
personal triumph. For example, a narrator’s parents initially disown him due to his
sexual orientation but are now accepting of him. Narratives with happy endings
offer hope and show the possibility of success.
Activists use identity strategically in order to encourage action (Polletta and
Jasper 2001). In fact, those who tell stories of endurance in spite of great challenges
have a better likelihood of eliciting support as opposed to those who only slightly
struggle and then achieve success (Polletta 1998). This dynamic encourages narra-
tors to embellish or focus on the challenges within their stories instead of the posi-
tive moments. However, given Brown’s (1995) caution, does the use of identity in
this way cement LGBT people’s attachment to injury? In other words, is connection
to victimhood simply reified if the only way to acceptance is through oppression?
60 C. Rost-Banik
To better understand how LGBT individuals use identity through their coming out
stories on the Internet, I pose the following research questions.
Research question 1: What are the common elements of the participants’ coming out
stories in the IGBP videos?
Research question 2: How do participants maintain and subvert dominant coming
out narratives within the IGBP?
4.3 Method
I use qualitative content analysis (Schreier 2012) to examine the coming out stories
posted in the IGBP videos associated with colleges and universities. Qualitative
content analysis is an unobtrusive method that allows for data analysis in a more
naturalistic way because the researcher does not interrupt the participants or guide
the stories by her presence.
I acquired the videos from the project’s website at www.itgetsbetter.org. Because
the website is public, anyone can post videos and anyone can view them. Over
50,000 people have uploaded videos to the website. Using the search feature on the
website, I searched for “colleges” and “universities” in the U.S. from January-
February, 2013. There were 89 videos from 88 institutions of higher education (one
institution created two distinct videos) that met the sampling criteria. A Microsoft
Access database was created for coding purposes.
The unit of analysis for this project is the coming out stories of individuals who
appear in the videos. “Coming out” is typically defined as the moment at which a
person professes to be LGBT. Related, but defined differently, a “coming out story”
is a narrative of what happened when a person came out to her family or friends.
This narrative likely includes information about whether she was accepted and sup-
ported, rejected, harassed, disowned, or ignored. Criteria for a coming out story
included: (1) identifying as LGBT, (2) sharing a personal experience of what it was
like to come out or what it has been like to be gay throughout their life; and (3)
including at least two themes from a codebook of 44 codes.
I used an inductive process to create a codebook for themes within individuals’
coming out stories. Examples of themes and the corresponding codes included the
environment where the participant grew up (e.g., small town; religious; difficult
high school), exploring sexual orientation (e.g., questioning or denial of identity),
rejection (e.g., harassment; loss of family/friends), negative emotions (e.g., depres-
sion; suicide), announcing sexual orientation (e.g., “I am gay.” “When I came
out…”), acceptance from family/friends, positive emotions (e.g., became happy;
gained confidence), and messages of encouragement for the viewer (e.g., “It gets
better”). I tracked each of the participants’ stories, piecing their narratives together
to capture all the themes they shared.
There were a total of 318 coming out stories coded from 89 videos. After the sto-
ries were coded, overlapping themes were grouped together in four major categories:
adversity, declaring, affirmation, and encouragement. The themes within the coming
out stories are similar to Plummer’s (1995) pattern of suffering, epiphany, and trans-
formation, but have slightly different meanings. First, while Plummer uses suffering
to describe the turmoil that LGBT people feel before they come out, participants in
the IGBP videos referred to suffering both before and after coming out due to signifi-
cant rejection and harassment they experienced. I labeled this experience as adver-
sity. Second, Plummer describes epiphany as the action of coming out. I switched
this category to declaring because in addition to talking about coming out, partici-
pants made declarative statements such as, “I am gay” in order to explicitly reveal
their sexual orientation to the viewer. I changed transformation to affirmation because
despite articulating moments of acceptance, narrators did not necessarily talk about
being transformed. Lastly, I added the category of encouragement due to the nature
of the project and the significant amount of supportive messages to viewers.
4.4 Findings
The founders of the IGBP and subsequent narrators of early videos provided a pro-
totype for how additional participants told their story. More specifically, they pre-
sented a model of discovering and disclosing sexuality, pointed to moments of
rejection, shared that they now experience social acceptance, and encouraged view-
ers that life will get better for them. A prototypical example came from Jackie, a
student from Long Island University. She began by revealing that she is a lesbian
(declaring). During her process of self-discovery, she tried to reveal her sexuality to
her twin, but went back into the closet due to her sister’s negative reaction. Then, in
high school, she was so fearful of being bullied that she suppressed her feelings for
women and tried to be straight (adversity). Now in college, she has been more forth-
coming about her attraction to women, has been able to meet friends through an
on-campus LGBT group, and has gained acceptance from herself and others (affir-
mation). Echoing the slogan of the campaign, Jackie ended her story with the slogan
of the project, “It gets better” (encouragement). A closer look at the specific compo-
nents within the stories provides insight into how collective LGBT identity was
formed and the purpose it served.
4.4.1 Experiencing Adversity
Examining the specific elements of the coming out stories in greater detail, there is
significant emphasis on adversity (80% of stories). Narrators’ articulated their
struggles through a variety of experiences, including harassment and bullying,
rejection from family and friends, depression or loneliness, internalized oppression
(e.g., wanting to escape or deny their same sex attractions for fear of rejection), or
their environment in general. Some participants experienced several of these strug-
62 C. Rost-Banik
gles; others only talked about one or two. Regardless of the severity of the adversity,
these moments all emphasize moments of injury.
Pointing to the environment as the site of harm, many participants indicated that
the small town where they were raised, the religious ideology they were taught, the
politically conservative setting surrounding them, or the difficulty of their middle or
high school experience were aspects of the environment that made it challenging for
them to identify as LGBT. A participant from Olivet College shared that she was
raised in a “very strict, small town where even saying ‘gay’ was bad. People used to
make fun of girls on sports teams if they looked at a girl too long because they were
lesbians and homos. I was scared to be gay.” While this participant focused on the
town and high school where she was raised as a point of adversity, a student from
the University of Illinois, Chicago emphasized additional factors:
I did come from sort of a mentally persuasive and coerced environment. I grew up, you
know, in the South, with like your typical black, southern, very religious parents. And in
that type of environment where being gay meant you’re going to go to hell, that you’re equal
to, you know, Sodom and Gomorrah, like immoral type. That you’ve chosen that lifestyle
that’s just wrong.
Several pieces of this student’s story indicated a heteronormative environment. As

she named characteristics of geographic region, race, and religion, she referenced
the historical injury that these communities have placed upon LGBT people. Each
of these characteristics created an intersectional axis of adversity, thereby making
her struggle against norms of sexuality multiplex.
Even the idea of exploring one’s identity indicated moments of adversity. As
people questioned their sexual and gender identities, they wrestled with societal
norms. A student from Brigham Young University recounted:
I felt really alone. I didn’t tell anyone. / I thought that eventually, maybe it would be better
if I died. / And, I thought that I could still fix it. So, I did what every freshman here at BYU
does. I decided to go on a mission. / It didn’t really resolve the problem that I wanted it to
resolve. I still felt gay.1
This student tried to “fix” himself so that he would not fall outside of the dominant
discourse of heterosexuality. That was not uncommon. Many students struggled
with self-acceptance and even expressed self-hate or depression when trying to rec-
oncile the reality of their sexual attractions. A student Central Pennsylvania
Community College shared:
I always knew that I wasn’t attracted to girls and I always thought that was kind of strange
coming from a very religious family. Um, I didn’t really know the terminology for it yet,
and I didn’t know what I was going through, and I thought maybe it was a phase, that it
would go away. But it didn’t. / I always felt that I had to hide my differences even more. And
that led me to a downward spiral in depression and hating myself for who I was. I tried to
mask it with dating girls but I never, I always knew that it wasn’t what I wanted. And, it got
to a point where I hated myself because of who I loved and that was something I knew I
couldn’t control.
1
The “/” indicates when the video cut to a different narrator.
Heteronormative and gender normative messages can be so strong that they result in
great turmoil for those who identify in alternative ways.
Other participants emphasized rejection from family or friends as the moments
of adversity. Societal and familial expectations not only placed boundaries around
sexual orientation but also restricted notions of gender. This story from a transgen-
der staff member at Simmons College illustrates how his gender expression was
regulated.
Growing up, my mom would constantly say things like, “Why can’t you be more like your
sister? Why can’t you wear dresses? You look like a linebacker. You dress like a linebacker.”
While I was hearing this message, I was hearing the message from my father, “Leave her
alone. She’s fine the way she is.” …And then when he passed away, there was nobody tell-
ing me that anymore. I was pretty lost for a while.
This narrator’s gender identity created tension as his mother compared him to his
sister and other feminine girls. He felt supported by his father, but when his father
passed, he lost the cushion against constantly being measured against a gender norm
that did not fit. His gender identity was associated with the pain of gender norms his
mother projected.
Combining rejection from family and physical violence, a participant from Hood
University, disclosed: “When I was about 15, I actually went and came out to my
parents. Their initial reaction was…uh… my father beat me down with a baseball
bat. So, obviously not a great experience.”
Internalizing the injury that accompanied physical harassment sometimes
resulted in inflicting harm on others. A student from Wheelock College shared:
I grew up in a really Catholic family. / It started in 5th grade. I actually remember the exact
incidents. / A lot of kids from the other schools who didn’t know me that well kinda started
harassing me a lot in school. I was getting pushed into lockers. / When I got into high
school, I actually started actively speaking out against gay rights in like an attempt to cover
it up, I guess, stifle it.
When the participants disclosed these moments of pain and deep struggle, they
not only associated the history of pain with LGBT identities but also attached their
own experience with injury to their identity (Brown 1995; Butler 1995). Thus, they
maintained and reproduced suffering. The action of declaring an alternative to the
dominant frame of heterosexuality did not provide an epiphany, as Plummer sug-
gested; rather, for most people, it maintained and reproduced suffering.
4.4.2 Receiving Affirmation
Even though the vast majority of participants (80%) connected their identity with
times of struggle and shared a “horror story,” half (50%) also shared a “happy end-
ing” of finding acceptance, care, and affirmation. For instance, a student from Lynn
University shared:
64 C. Rost-Banik
I came out at first to my friend Kelsy. And when I came out to her, I was so upset with my
life that I was taking burning hot showers hoping that like, I would be cleansed of being gay
or something. It was crazy. I thought I had like this disease.…Long story short, she didn’t
really believe me at first, but it got serious, and I told her, and she was so supportive of me.
Also noting affirmation—after having shared moments of adversity—a student

from Harvard College expressed, “I found that that people who have actually
accepted me the most are the people that I would find least likely according to ste-
reotypes that we build about them.”
Participants noted, though, that support did not always come so easily. A student
from the University of Michigan Law School explained: “I remember when I came
out to my parents and I remember that they tried really hard to be supportive, but
they would say a lot of things that were really hurtful without meaning to.” After a
difficult interaction at an extended family dinner where the student’s mother denied
her sexuality, the student’s sister talked with her parents and “told them that they
should never treat me like that again. And the next Christmas, my Dad bought my
girlfriend a Power Girl, and then my Mom…made rainbow cupcakes for the [LGBT
group on campus], and it got better.”
Many participants indicated that they experienced acceptance when they moved
away for college. Getting away from the location where they experienced high
school and homophobia was a common relief that many participants expressed. For
instance, a student at Concordia College mentioned, “High school was really hard
for me to keep positive. But then I got to college and literally, it was like the day I
got to college, all of my anxieties and all of my fears just melted away.” At college,
he no longer had to hide his identity; he was free to act on his sexual orientation.
A student from Oxford College at Emory University had a similar experience.
She grew up with explicit heterosexist messages, but when she went to college, the
environment was not so oppressive.
Basically, I grew up in a world where I was taught almost on a daily basis that being homo-
sexual was a sin. And that anybody who is homosexual was going to hell. And I believed in
this, like, thoroughly, and as much as you could believe in something / And today, things
have gotten so much better. In college, I truly got to be myself. And, it’s one of the things I
value most about myself is that I can truly say that I am who I am, truly and honestly. And
now, I have a girlfriend for a year and I love her and things are just amazing. My family
came around. And, I can honestly say, it gets better.
The language and norms within the initial environment taught this student that any
sexuality outside of heterosexuality was sinful. But, by positioning herself in a dif-
ferent environment, she no longer was pressured to hide or constrict her sexual ori-
entation. She could be herself and embrace her identity. With time, she found a
girlfriend and was accepted by her family. Her horror story had a happy ending.
Even the Hood College student who disclosed some of the greatest adversity
when he came out—physical abuse as his father beat him with a baseball bat—
shared how he found acceptance when he was able to change environments.
It was so just freeing. You know, just come to college. You don’t have this awful, oppressive
feeling in college. You can just be who you want to be. And, that’s straight, gay, asexual,
lesbian, whatever it is, that’s what you can be. / By the time I actually did go [to the LGBT
support group on campus], I was so relieved. It was the community I first said this was what
was going on in my life and they immediately just stepped in and started helping me with
things and being supportive.
Away from his home and high school environment, college was a place wherein he
could freely be himself without fear. The space of college offered support as well as
a greater variety of sexuality discourses with which he could connect.
In addition to connection, college also offered friendship. A student from the
University of Akron divulged: “…in high school, I thought I was the only lesbian in
the world. But now that I’m in college, I’m involved in a great LGBT group and I
finally have friends who love accept me for who I am.” Another student found that
coming out created different possibilities for friends. He revealed, “At first, a lot of
my friends stopped talking to me. But then, being gay, literally opened up a whole
new door to some of the most amazing friends I’ve ever met.” He was able to find
acceptance through different people rather than relying on the people with whom he
was previously friends.
These stories illustrate how participants experienced affirmation, but only after
moments of adversity. In other words, they used the “horror story” and “happy end-
ing” strategy that Fine (1995) explains. Even though the messages of acceptance are
meant to conjure hope, they also reference the fact that the endings are only happy
because something wrong already occurred. Thus, the stories circle back to the
injury that Brown (1995) cautioned.
4.4.3 Offering Encouragement
With the It Gets Better Project, Savage and Miller supplement Plummer’s (1995)
storyline by adding a new category to the narrative: encouragement. Encouragement
came in a variety of forms and was one of the ways in which narrators began to
subtly alter the prototypical message to viewers. The primary way that participants
provided encouragement was through confidently reiterating the catch-phrase of the
project: “It gets better.” Nearly two-thirds of participants actually said these words
in their story. And, in most cases the times when these words were iterated, they
followed disclosures of adversity and affirmation. Here is an example from a stu-
dent at the University of Idaho:
One of the things I’ve had to struggle with being gender queer is the constant name calling.
People asking me, calling me things like “it” or asking me if I’m a guy or a girl, and just
trying to put me into a gender binary when I do not fit into that. / I stuck it out. I joined the
GSA [Gay Straight Alliance]. I got involved in my community. / Trust me, it gets better.
For this student, life experiences did get better than those pre-college, in part,
because they found a community of people who cared about similar issues and iden-
tities. This student asked viewers to trust that this could be the case for them as well.
A student from Central Pennsylvania’s Community College who disclosed that
he received verbal threats from classmates when he came out also followed this
pattern:
66 C. Rost-Banik
I found something in my life that makes it all worthwhile. Every bit of hatred I got from
people, I now turn it into something wonderful. I’m a stand up comedian. I take every hor-
rible thing that people have said to me, every ignorant and hateful thing and turn it into a
joke. / Now I’m here. I’m a member of Allies, and I made amazing friends. I wouldn’t trade
anything that I have for the world. / Just hang in there. It gets better.
This student not only transformed all the harassment he received into humor but
also found great friends. He, too, encouraged viewers that life gets better.
Even when students did not say the words, “it gets better,” they found other
words of encouragement and hope. A student from Princeton University offered:
When I was in high school the world seemed really small. The world consisted of about
2500 kids between the ages of 14 and 18 and there wasn’t anything in the world that repre-
sented me. I felt very alone, I felt very weird, I felt very out of place. / When you graduate
high school and you find that there are things outside of the small universe of 2500 kids
between the ages of 14 and 18, you find that there are so many more bigger and better things
out there.
Sharing how and why her life changed for the better was a strategy she used to instill
optimism. In another example, a student from Binghamton University, who also
described moments of adversity and affirmation ended with this message to view-
ers, “There’s so many people out there who will love and support you for who you
really are. / Just reach out to your peers. You’d be surprised how many people are
willing to accept you for who you really are.”
Starting to challenge the dominant discourse of the cyber campaign, some par-
ticipants offered nuanced encouragement. A student from Yale College expressed,
“It will get better when you get to college or when you get out of high school, but it
still sucks in a lot of ways.” Even though this student maintained that life gets better,
rather than paint a completely positive picture of life as an LGBT adult, she acknowl-
edged that there were still struggles.
In another instance, a student from Brigham Young University refused to prom-
ise the encouragement discourse of the IGBP.
I know you expect me to say it gets better, but if I’m going to be authentic, I can’t say that.
I don’t know where you are in your life right now. I don’t know what experiences, what pain
you’ve gone through. And I don’t know for sure if it will get better. But, people that I know
that love me have told me that. And I’m trying to believe them.
Even though the student referred to the possibility of a better space, he disrupted the
linear narrative provided by the cyber campaign by being honest about his experi-
ences and noting that life may not get better for everyone. Somewhat contradicto-
rily, these moments of encouragement point back to the moment of struggle, for
there would be no need for such reassurance if participants and viewers had not
experienced injury associated with their LGBT identity.
And yet, some participants altered the coming out storyline in more noticeable
ways. Examining these instances may provide a window into how identity can be
understood and used individually and collectively to speak to a broader range of
viewers, and even possibly to break the attachment to injury.
4.4.4 Disrupting the Narrative
Despite the importance of collective identity for developing group cohesion, a num-
ber of participants played with the dominant narrative structure of declaring, adver-
sity, affirmation, and encouragement. Examining these alterations can shed insight
into people’s varying experiences as well as illuminate how the construction of dis-
course and cyberspace could serve LGBT social movements differently. Disrupting
the prototypical narrative generally happened in one of two ways: (1) excluding the
theme of affirmation, or (2) excluding the theme of adversity. While it may be that
these themes were eliminated from participants’ stories through the video editing
process, these adjustments remain powerful, in part because viewers may connect
with a particular participant precisely because they shared an atypical coming
out story.
Excluding affirmation means that narrators did not talk about gaining support
from family or friends, nor did they share about self-acceptance, being happy, or
gaining confidence. In other words, LGBT identity was not associated with accep-
tance or positive emotions. It may be that these participants did not receive much
affirmation and thus did not want to offer false reassurance by promising something
to viewers that might not happen. Alternatively, by not sharing moments of affirma-
tion, participants may be refusing the pressure to present the happy ending that all
too often relies upon others—rather than themselves—for acceptance. Of course,
the dilemma with disrupting the prototypical narrative by not including affirmation
is that the coming out story explicitly connects to injury. However, examining these
instances can offer insight into how people think about their experiences rather than
mindlessly guaranteeing a superficial story of progress.
A student at Eastern Michigan University who excluded affirmation disclosed,
I came out when I was 15 years old as a lesbian. / When I came out to my school, you know,
my friends had a really hard time with it, and I got a lot of crap from the school, and it was
hard, and it was difficult. / I went through a lot of hardships with my family, especially, and
my friends, but it’s definitely something worth living for.
This participant commented that she experienced adversity when she came out
and that life was “worth living” (encouragement), but she skipped the routine part
of the coming out narrative that focuses on receiving acceptance from people in her
life. One way to interpret her omission of affirmation is that having a life “worth
living” does not require acceptance from others. An alternative way to understand
her narrative is that she has found value in other parts of her life despite the chal-
lenges she has experienced regarding her sexuality.
An example from a Concord University student, even more poignantly shows
how a story can turn from declaring to adversity to encouragement without reveal-
ing any moments of affirmation.
Hey, my name is Tab Reed. I’m 20 years old, and I’m bisexual. Unfortunately, I come from
a small, hick town where everybody knows everything about everyone, and that’s not ok. I
came out when I was 13 years old. And when I was 15, I came out in my first openly gay
relationship. Community didn’t take that too well. I was threatened of my freedom. I was
68 C. Rost-Banik
threatened of my well-being, and eventually threatened of my life. But, it hit pretty hard.
I’m not gonna lie. School became really difficult for me. I was watching my back. Teachers
were turning on me. I lost a lot of my family and support from a lot of my friends. But, one
day I realized that the more you dwell on it, the worse it gets. Words are words, threats are
threats. And most people just want to bring you down. But, I’m here to say that it gets better
when you want it to. As long as you love you, and you’re ok with who you are, nobody else
should matter. Don’t let anybody bring you down and don’t let anybody tell you what
you’re worth because you’re worth what you know you’re worth. And you can prove it by
going out there and being the best person you can be and just being an outstanding whatever
you want to be. Just show the haters that love will triumph in the end and that you’re not
gonna back down. Hold you head high and never be ashamed of who you are.
This student suggested that acceptance from other people was not what was
important; if the acceptance does not come, the emotional toll can be significant.
Finding self-love was what mattered. Note, however, the participant did not explic-
itly say that she herself experienced self-love even though she recommended it for
the viewer. The linguistic move from first-person to second-person marks the sen-
tences about love and worth as distinct from the first-person account of adversity. In
other words, the talk about self-acceptance seems external to the narrator’s own
experience.
Also not revealing affirmation, a participant from Simmons College described
herself as a survivor as she divulged moments of adversity.
I’m Erica, the head soccer coach here at Simmons College, and I’d like to share my story
with you about my coming out experience, and to let you know that I’m a survivor of being
bullied. / They cut a hole in a tissue box and used the old school web cam and hid the cam-
era in my room and um, trying to see if I was gay and catch me with my girlfriend. / My
girlfriend also went through the same issue, and she um, developed an eating disorder, and
um, I found her one day in her room with an empty bottle of pills, and um, you know, I saw
notes on her desk—one to me and one to her mom and one to her dad. / When I told my
parents, my mom cried and was a little angry and um, she you know said the typical, “How
did this happen?”
This story emphasizes the challenges the participant experienced but breaks the
prototypical narrative because she does not tell moments of acceptance or encour-
agement. The adversity she experienced was painful, as was evident from her voice
cracking and her eyes tearing up as she shared her story. And yet, the difficulties
around sexual orientation were not going to be the only thing that defined her; the
participant noted her perseverance and her professional position as a leader. She
connected her sexual orientation to injury but also took agency and labeled herself
as a survivor.
Altering their coming out stories by featuring moments of adversity and omitting
experiences of affirmation, these particular participants address the important
critique of IGBP: affirmation from loved ones is not guaranteed. But still, life can
be worth living. This type of narrative may be crucial for viewers who may never
find the affirmation they desire. While these changes to the dominant storyline are
important, due to the fact that the stories feature adversity, the connection of LGBT
identity to injury remains stable. Additionally, because the stories are surrounded by
other participants’ stories within the videos, the narrative arc that results in a happy
ending stays relatively intact.
The second method of altering the coming out narrative was by excluding adver-
sity, thereby beginning to disconnect identity with injury. In one instance, a student
from Simmons College focused on acceptance from her mother as opposed to a
moment of injury.
One day she found a can of Axe (men’s hygiene product) in my room and she comes up to
me and she looks so upset, and she goes, “I found this in your room. Are you a lesbian?”
And, I was like, “Yes!” And we both burst into tears and we cried for like a good 20 min,
but she told me she wasn’t upset. She wasn’t angry. She was just worried that my life was
going to be harder.
This participant used her agency to construct a different narrative by which LGBT-
identified people could be understood. Viewers did not necessarily know if she
experienced challenging moments that she did not disclose. What mattered was that
the participant chose to feature affirmation.
A student from Soka University also foregrounded her experience of acceptance
while omitting any personal references to adversity:
The first time I realized that I wasn’t straight, it was during high school, maybe my sopho-
more year, I believe. And, I liked a girl named Sara. / She had a boyfriend and was definitely
straight, but I told her one day. I told her that I was bi, in History class, I remember that.
And, she didn’t mind. / Yeah, I guess this is just to tell you guys that it does get better and
people are more accepting and even if there’s that one person or two people that don’t
accept you for who you are, more people will.
These examples do not deny that hardship may exist in some fashion, but the partici-
pants chose to emphasize their affirming experiences. This rhetorical move begins
to shift the tenor of coming out stories to one that refuses to give credence to
adversity.
Participants acknowledged that heteronormative structures and expectations still
existed, but despite that, they highlighted how there was space for marginal identi-
ties to be viewed in affirmative ways. A student from University of Illinois College
of Medicine shared,
I’ve been pretty open about my sexual orientation throughout my medical training, includ-
ing medical school, undergrad and throughout high school. In fact, some of my best mentor-
ship has come from queer people I’ve known. You know, and I actually really struggle to
think of ways that my training has been negatively affected by being out, especially since I
enjoy being open and comfortable with whom I am.
Within the context of medical school, this participant focused on the supportive
experiences he had and could not even think of a moment of adversity based on his
sexuality.
In another example, a student from SUNY Oneonta introduced humor about het-
eronormative assumptions that did not happen.
So, I came out my senior year of high school, and less than a year later, my family met my
32-year-old boyfriend named Mike. And, nobody punched. They shook hands, and now
they love him. It definitely gets better.
Joking about what could have happened if his story would have followed heterosex-
ist norms, this participant also emphasized affirmation.
70 C. Rost-Banik
Making perhaps even more pronounced modifications to the coming out story-
line, a couple of participants more explicitly shared that they had not experienced
adversity in regards to their sexual orientation. A student from Hood College
expressed:
I’ve never had a problem with my sexuality. I think coming from a family that’s openly gay
and having my aunt be with her partner for 18 years, I’ve never viewed it as something
negative. It was just something different. / My roommate laughed and said, “Wow. I never
realized it, but you’re so right.”
By introducing the idea that same sex relationships are accepted within her family,
this participant resisted the common plot of rejection, and thus the attachment of her
identity to injury.
And, a student from Gustavus Adolphus College, who also excluded adversity,
offered what these particular alternative storylines wished for—greater understand-
ing by more people:
So, growing up, my experience with coming out has never been a hard process. In fact, I’ve
only received positive, positive things. My family was respectful and happy for me and my
friends were there and supportive as well and happy for me too. And, I can’t relate to those
of you who are suffering from this, but I—but, that’s a sign. A sign that the world is getting
better, that the world is understanding us, understanding it, whatever it is, that, it’s getting
better.
4.5 Discussion
The stated purpose of the IGBP videos is to communicate to youth who are experi-
encing bullying or other forms of rejection that their life experiences will get better,
and “to create and inspire the changes needed to make it better for them” (It Gets
Better Project). In this vein, people who posted in this cyber campaign used their
stories to encourage youth that the future can be brighter. Yet, as Brown (1995)
warned, these coming out stories reproduce the injury associated with LGBT iden-
tity. The vast majority of participants shared painful stories of rejection and isola-
tion. Even though many also revealed experiences of affirmation, the reason why
acceptance was so powerful was because of the initial suffering that they endured.
In other words, the “happy ending” referred back to a point of injury. Words of
encouragement to the viewer also implicitly referenced injury as there would be no
specific need for reassurance if people were not suffering.
The IGBP utilizes the power of collective identity through the experience of
common “horror stories” as a way to attract both participants and viewers for a
larger message—people should not be ending their lives because of their sexual
identity. In a slight paradox, the campaign relies on a connection to injury in order
to help prevent even greater injury. However, the campaign is also committed to
“create and inspire the changes needed” to make life better. Can this important goal
be fulfilled if the project reinforces the boundaries of what it means to be LGBT by
cementing the identity to injury?
Even though it is not a complete answer to the above question, examining the
coming out stories of participants in videos associated with institutions of higher
education offers a window into how LGBT youth use cyberspace—both to maintain
the prototypical narrative laid out for them as well as to alter the discourse and begin
to change how LGBT identity can be defined. Modifications to the dominant com-
ing out storyline happened through either excluding affirmation or excluding adver-
sity. These interruptions in the dominant narrative serve the purposes of both
connection and distinction. Since not everyone’s experience is the same, the vast
array of stories has a better chance of reaching a more diverse audience than if all
the stories shared the exact same themes. More specifically, if viewers have not
experienced the prototypical arc of coming out, they could feel even more marginal-
ized. The exclusion of affirmation may serve as a crucial point of connection for
some viewers. At the same time, the modified discourses serve as a place of distinc-
tion. In particular, the stories that refused to disclose moments of adversity avoided
reproducing the injury typically associated with LGBT identity. The narrators of
these stories seemed to be seeking a different way to define and understand what it
means to be LGBT.
While much smaller in number (10%), the participants who talked about moments
of affirmation but excluded adversity illustrate that they have been largely supported
by family and friends, and thus that there is hope for LGBT identity to find a refer-
ence point outside of injury. By attaching LGBT identity to affirmation, narrators
disrupted the dominant narrative of victimhood. Admittedly, there still is a tacit
acknowledgment of “horror stories” when participants share their experiences of
acceptance. After all, why would there be a need for acceptance if people did not
experience injury from dominant norms in the first place? Nonetheless, by not ref-
erencing adversity at all—by only sharing how they have been accepted for who
they are—LGBT youth mold the coming out narrative to fit their own history, and
by doing so, begin to tell a new way of being into reality. They not only speak
against the dominant norms of heteronormativity but also subvert the prototypical
parameters of the narrative arc provided by Savage and Miller, showing that not
everyone has to experience rejection in order to be recognized within LGBT groups.
Until we come to a day when LGBT identity does not require a declaration, having
a variety of storylines accessible to young people is important.
4.6 Conclusion
Within the LGBT movement, this cyber-based project offers a new model, one that
largely relies on a collective identity based on injury but also one that subtly alters
how LGBT people are viewed and treated. One of the new additions to the coming
out storyline is to offer encouragement to those who may be trying to understand their
gender or sexuality outside of dominant categories. Newcomers to the cyber move-
ment use enough elements of the narrative arc to remain recognizable to the commu-
nity as they also shift the narrative to make it more realistic to their own experience.
72 C. Rost-Banik
People’s coming out experiences can be powerful, both for those telling the sto-
ries and for those listening. As can be seen through the IGBP, dominant discursive
practices shape the content and telling of the stories in ways that form a collective
identity for the cyber campaign. But, as people use their own agency, they begin to
modify the discourses. While the IGBP is by no means a perfect way to represent
LGBT identity and coming out stories, nor does it go far enough to dismantle the
restrictive discourses of sexuality and gender norms, it does present a small alterna-
tive to these norms. And, when we look close enough, we can envision how a new
coming out story prototype may evolve both the coming out storyline and the char-
acteristics with which LGBT identity is associated. As IGBP has gone global
through cyberspace, the cautions and possibilities of the movement abound.
Exporting the U.S.-based dominant coming out narrative carries the risk of hege-
monically rendering various cultures’ understanding and practices of sexuality and
gender marginal while propagating a more limited (Western) perspective.
Simultaneously, the project may feel relevant to people in communities all across
the world who can relate to the “horror stories” and/or “happy endings” of other
participants. Continued examination of the coming out narratives will hopefully
show greater alterations that push beyond the restrictions of injury and the limits of
how people can experience gender and sexuality.
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Chapter 5
Back That Sexism Up: An Analysis
of the Representation of Women’s Bodies
in Music Videos
Randa Simpson Hovater and D. Nicole Farris
5.1 Introduction
Prior research has argued that through social learning, individuals receive messages
that shape their relationship ideologies (Bretthauer et al. 2007). One of the ways in
which individuals in general, and young people in particular, may receive and in
turn internalize these messages, is from music media. Dibben (2002) argued that
popular music is particularly important and may be a means through which gen-
dered identities are developed. As such, depending on the predominant themes in
music videos and how women are portrayed and treated in these music videos, there
may be the unfortunate result of distorted views of women’s bodies—both by
women themselves as well as men. Media music and music videos have influenced
the contemporary culture for the past 50 years. The art form of the music video can
provide both spectacle and entertainment, while also potentially influencing behav-
iors and attitudes by and toward individuals in real world situations. Music videos
are typically targeted toward entertaining and engaging teenaged and young adult
audiences, which could pose a problem as young people’s minds are often filtering
and processing information provided from a multitude of media sources. There is
concern regarding media messages impacting young people’s self-esteem and self-
efficacy and there has been a consistent correlation between media consumption
and negative self-evaluations and other psychological health outcomes. Certain
types of music seem to be negatively portraying women in objectifying and sexually
controlling manners. Very often in music videos, as in other forms of visual media,
the “ideal” or “desirable” woman has a body type which features a small waist,
R. S. Hovater
Florence, AL, USA
D. N. Farris (*)
Texas A&M University-Commerce, Commerce, TX, USA
e-mail: Nicole.Farris@tamuc.edu

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29855-5_5
76 R. S. Hovater and D. N. Farris
ample bosom and full buttocks. This is but one of many body types, of course, but
is a body type that may not be commonly held by a majority of women in the
United States.
Feminist theorists have argued that the social constructionist perspective is
important when it comes to understanding the image of a woman’s body and its
relationship to gendered power relations (Linden 2004). Social constructionism, as
argued by a variety of gender scholars (see West and Zimmerman 1987; Butler
1990), is the process through which we create understandings of gender in terms of
the social process. Gender is not something we are; rather it is something we do. By
nature of social constructionism, depicting women and girls as objects to be watched
and evaluated in terms of their physical features, leads to a perpetuation of a power
differential in terms of not only the representation of women but also in their treat-
ment in larger society.
This study seeks to examine the objectification of women’s bodies in music vid-
eos using a longitudinal content analysis of music genres. Themes related to implicit
aggression, explicit aggression, aggression with sexuality, and objectification will
be discussed in further detail throughout this chapter. This research makes an impor-
tant contribution not only because of the content, but also because to our knowl-
edge, there have been no published works analyzing the nature of the representation
of women in music videos across multiple music genres along multiple years.
5.2 Literature Review
Media in general and music videos, in particular, are often criticized for their objec-
tification and sexual exploitation of women. In studies conducted over the past two
decades, music videos have consistently shown women as hyper-sexualized objects
of desire who exist primarily for the pleasure of male spectators (Aubrey et al. 2011;
Media Education Foundation & Jhally 2007; Zhang et al. 2010). Typically, men as
protagonists in music videos outnumber women in lead roles. This leaves women to
be constructed using the “pornographic imagination” (Media Education Foundation
& Jhally 2007) and as such typically appear as dancers, sex objects, or props.
Despite the fact that women are not often the protagonists in music videos, they
are overwhelmingly recipients of sexual or aggressive actions from males within
music videos (Sommers-Flanagan et al. 1993, p. 743). Additionally, researchers
have analyzed situations whereby female artists participate in their own sexualiza-
tion (Frisby and Aubrey 2012). As the research between link between media con-
sumption and mental health has increased, the question is raised as to whether or not
the sex and gender roles portrayed have affected the attitudes of viewers. Within
traditional sex role stereotypes, girls are believed to be receptive and submissive to
males (Sommers-Flanagan et al. 1993, p.751). As discussed previously by Englis
et al. (1994), women in music videos are portrayed as submissive characters-- there-
fore men expect women to be just that in real-life situations. However, men are not
5 Back That Sexism Up: An Analysis of the Representation of Women’s Bodies… 77
the only ones whose attitudes toward real world situations are impacted by skewed
portrayals of women in music videos. Women have shown to be more likely to
engage in implicit (spontaneous) sexual behavior after being exposed to the media,
see themselves embodying the expectations of the “recipient,” and believe that it is
their role to fill. While men and women typically appear in equal in numbers in
music videos, girls are shown as the recipient of sexual, aggressive, and vulgar
actions at a drastically greater rate than men (Shelton 1997). When viewers are
exposed to these actions, they are likely to normalize these gender portrayals. As
Kalof (1999) found in her study regarding the effects of gender and music video
imagery on sexual attitudes, exposure to traditional sexual imagery had a significant
effect on attitudes about adversarial sexual relationships.
Englis et al. (1994) present a theory regarding cultural and the cultural relativity
of beauty. According to the researchers, a cultural gatekeeper is someone who con-
trols what is popular and appealing to society. This means that in music television,
there is a certain definition of beauty that sells the music video to the viewer with
the purpose of keeping his or her attention. According to Englis et al. the gatekeep-
ers are imperative to the success of media because the gatekeepers have the power
to choose the type of beauty that will be depicted in order to serve the intended—
keeping in line with the cultural standards of the time. As the gatekeepers hold the
power to decide what sells, they also decide which individuals are capable of
embodying the character they need. Within music videos, these gatekeepers have
consistently demonstrated that they choose actors who can produce high levels of
eroticism, sex role stereotypes, and visual appeal (Linden 2004 p. 94; Zhang et al.
2010, p. 789).
Within the music industry, girl artists struggle to maintain a positive image as
role models while also selling their music and videos in an appealing way. For
example, Gwen Stefani holds two images in the music industry--she is a strong and
independent woman on stage and on the red carpet, but she recognizes the need to
return to her sexual side in order to sell albums (Dreamworlds 3, 2007). In a world
where men overwhelmingly control media, it is difficult for girl artists to compete
with men who cast the most beautiful and sexually appealing girls in their produc-
tions (Miss Representation, 2011). In this aspect, girl artists struggle with keeping
the focus on themselves and their artistry and not just the way they look. Women’s
bodies are a currency for the stories that a music video tells by fragmenting the
women into body parts, thus removing all personalization and adding objectifica-
tion. Therefore, a girl artist is left with the option of using her own body to tell the
story or using a hired actress to tell the story (Dreamworlds 3, 2007).
Analyzing the extent to which female artists participate in the objectification and
sexualization of their own bodies provides insight into the complex relationship
between the self and society. Frisby and Aubrey (2012) found that not only was
there pervasive sexual objectification in female artists’ music videos, but that there
were differences in sexual objectification by genre- country music videos were least
likely to portray objectification. Interestingly, contrary to a hypothesis put forth by
the researchers, racial differences in sexualization were not present in the analysis.
Music television, much like all types of media, has a target audience. Music
television’s target audience is boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 34 (Englis
et al. 1994). While all ages are impressionable, it can be assumed that the younger
half of this target audience is particularly susceptible to internalizing these m
essages
and the objectification and hypersexualization of women’s bodies in music videos
limits autonomy and agency.
The purpose of the current study is to analyze the depiction of young women and
girls in music videos. Linden has argued that the portrayal of women as objects
whose sole purpose is to be watched/desired suggests that this could lead to an over-
saturation of the portrayal of body types that seem to fit current cultural standards-
which may have deleterious effects on self-esteem and body image (2004). When
girls in particular observe an “ideal body type,” it is common to compare their own
bodies to the ideal. This leads to a phenomenon called Objectified Body Consciousness
(OBC). When a girl or woman compares her body with one presented in the media,
she almost always finds herself desiring an alternate body: the ideal body. Typically,
the failure to meet these expectations of an ideal body type leads women to experi-
ence body dissatisfaction (Linden 2004, p. 92). Additionally, researchers have shown
that the ideals of beauty and attractiveness, when reinforced through societal factors,
can lead to eating disorders among young women and girls (Riva et al. 2015).
The reality is that most women strive to attain a certain idealized beauty standard
that has become popular in today’s culture. A beauty ideal, being an overall look
(physical features and a variety of products and services) can lead to girls taking
desperate measures to achieve a certain look. For example, cosmetic surgery, drastic
haircut and color changes, attitude and occupation changes are but a few of the
changes women might make (Englis et al. 1994). The cultural notion of “ideal
beauty” not only affects women, but also men’s attitudes toward women. It seems as
though men tend to expect the best out of women physically, intellectually and
sexually after being exposed to the media images that inundate them with a particu-
lar “perfect” woman (see Kilbourne, Killing Us Softly; Wolf 1991). It has been
effective in shaping not only America’s, but also the world’s cultural ideals—
Becker’s (2004) analysis of young women and girls in Fiji depicts this shaping of
cultural ideals. Becker’s interviews with Fijian adolescent girls shows that after
being exposed to Western television for 3 years, the girls began to see their bodies
in a more negative way, were preoccupied with their weigh, and even began to dis-
play some disordered eating habits.
Within the media, there are different body ideals. As the age of music progresses,
and music videos’ popularity continues to rise, a new phenomenon has come to the
forefront regarding womens’ bodies. It appears that among white women, the appro-
priation of a fuller figured body has become more prominent. While women are still
expected to be thin, the “thin ideal” and “thick ideal” have come together to make a
hybrid ideal within music television (Zhang et al. 2010). African American culture
typically holds different standards of beauty than white culture. Black cultures
encourage high self-esteem and confidence, which differs from typical white notions
of beauty (Hill-Collins 1990; Zhang et al. 2010). Additionally, Zhang and col-
leagues found that African American culture has been found to idealize a larger
ideal body, with less concern of the fear of being overweight (2009). Studies show
that black women report more satisfaction than white women with their overall
appearance and with individual body parts (Linden 2004, p. 235). Linden (2004)
argues that African American culture tends to believe that men desire more shapely
women. Body part preferences revealed that men felt wide hips and round buttocks
were important factors in determining whether a woman is attractive or not (Linden
2004, p. 237). African American culture seems to create value in uniqueness and
individual style, rather than trying to conform to certain trends, which is popular in
White cultures (Linden 2004, p.239. According to bell hooks, North American soci-
ety makes it a norm for Whites to sexualize their environment by using Black bodies
or Black culture as a means of narration of sexualization (Hooks 1992, p.62).
Perhaps an appropriation of black culture within music videos, while overall poten-
tially problematic, may influence other outlets of media to adopt uniqueness and
individual style while promoting self-confidence and independence among women.
Feminist theorists have discovered that cultural ideals are useful in understand-
ing women’s body experiences while seeing a relationship to relations solely pow-
ered by gender (see: Foucault 1978; Joy and Venkatesh 1994; Linden 2004;
Schiebinger 2000; Shefer 1990). Beauty is a central component of the girls’ role
stereotype. Women’s physical features are much more likely to be regarded in an
evaluative way than males’ features (Linden 2004, p. 187). Especially in media, the
value of girls is based highly on their beauty and body image. Women are expected
to look like Miss USA, have sex like Samantha from “Sex and the City,” and think
like June Cleaver. Women are expected to be all of this, while men are expected to
watch and desire women (Miss Representation, 2011). While girls are being sexu-
ally objectified, they are robbed of their own humanity. Instances in which a girl is
made into a thing for others’ sexual use and desires, rather than being seen as a
person with actual capacity, is a reality to girls across the globe because of depic-
tions through the media (Grabe and Hyde 2009, p. 1).
Objectification theory in the media, focusing on music videos, has argued that
within a culture that is bombarded with sexual representations of girls, adolescent
girls learn to treat and experience themselves as sexual objects. Instances in which
the camera focuses on an isolated body part in music videos can easily be identified
as objectification. Instead of seeing the actors within the video as people, actors are
identified with a specific body part (Mulvey 1975; Bretthauer et al. 2007). With
music television’s target audience being adolescents, this phenomenon is ever pres-
ent and can have negative effects on young people’s self-esteem and self-worth
(Grabe and Hyde 2009, p.2). Women who are exposed to sexually objectifying
media at high levels will likely view themselves as objects to be valued solely based
on their physical features, or, put plainly, self-objectified. Girls and women who are
exposed to sexualized behavior are likely to adopt this perspective and engage in the
objectification of their own bodies at all ages (Grabe and Hyde 2009, p. 3).
Hypotheses
H1: It is hypothesized that the most prevalent themes found within the music videos
will be objectification and aggression with sexuality.
H1a: Explicit aggression is assumed to have very little presence in the observations
due to violence being unappealing to the viewers.
H1b: The three genres that are expected to hold the highest number of observations
are pop, hip-hop, and rap.
5.3 Methodology
In order to compare and contrast the representation of women over a variety of years
and through a multitude of music genres, a longitudinal analysis of the content of
music videos was utilized for this project. Longitudinal analyses are designed to
allow observations of the same phenomenon over extensive time periods.
Longitudinal studies are typically more difficult for quantitative studies, but they
often present the most ideal methods of studying a change over time. (Babbie 2011,
p. 113). This study’s purpose was to examine how women’s bodies were objectified
in music videos from a variety of music genres from the 1980s to 2010s. The spe-
cific genres that were selected for analysis were rap, rock, country, hip hop, and pop,
in order to compare and contrast the representation of women across a variety of
genres and to present unbiased and unique results. Music videos from the different
genres were selected and analyzed through the process described next.
A sampling frame was devised using the aforementioned music genres. Lists
were generated from the top chart hits from each genre in 10-year increments from
1980 to 2015. After the sampling frame was created, systematic sampling was
employed in order to choose the sample and this method was used to ensure there
was no human bias in the selection of songs used for this project. The first step in
ensuring the selection of an unbiased sample was to select the first element at ran-
dom. This was accomplished by using Random.org, and a random sampling tech-
nique was used to determine that the number six would be the element of choice.
Looking at the top 40 songs of the genres, starting at the sixth entry, the songs were
counted down by six until three songs were chosen to analyze in each genre
by decade.
During the content analysis, the researchers looked for visual cues of different
themes. These themes were chosen in an attempt to replicate Sommers-Flanagan
et al.’s (1993) study that used music television to analyze gender roles and themes
which include implicit aggression, explicit aggression, aggression with sexuality,
and objectification within the music videos. Implicit aggression was shown through
scenes that suggest pain or discomfort toward women. Explicit aggression was
shown through physical contact with intentions to harm a woman within a video.
Aggression with sexuality was shown when women in the videos responded to
aggression in a sexual manner and/or a woman is shown to enjoy aggressive sex.

Objectification is the most frequent theme within the music videos studied.
Objectification includes, but is not limited to cameras focusing on single body parts.
Scenes that include body objectification typically do not show who owns the body
part, but instead focus strictly on the body part and its movements.
The coding procedures were extensive and tested twice by the researchers in
order to check for reliability within observations. During the analysis, the music
videos were coded for visual and verbal cues that related to the four major themes:
implicit aggression, explicit aggression, aggression with sexuality, and
objectification.
The coding process involved the following steps: First, identifying the name of
the song, locating the official music video via YouTube or Vevo, and locating the
official song lyrics. Then, the visual cues of these themes were observed in order
from implicit aggression, explicit aggression, aggression with sexuality, and lastly,
objectification. After all visual cues were observed; verbal cues were noted from the
song lyrics.
The next step of the coding process was identifying the information that could be
gathered without audio. This includes determining whether or not a scene in the
music video fell under the category of implicit or explicit aggression, aggression
with sexuality, or objectification. In several instances, scenes included more than
one theme.
5.3.1 Implicit Aggression
When determining whether implicit aggression was shown in a scene, the research-
ers needed to look closely at the environment of the characters in the music video.
The environment of the characters was important in the event that harm or discom-
fort was not directly shown in the scene, but the surrounding visual cues suggested
an individual had been harmed. For example, an individual shown unconscious with
another individual standing over them with a satisfied look on their face would meet
the criteria for implicit aggression.
5.3.2 Explicit Aggression
Explicit aggression was observed when actual acts of harm or inflicted pain were
directly shown on camera. For example, throwing, shoving, kicking, and verbal
assault were counted under this theme. Explicit aggression was also signified when
one individual established dominance over another within a scene.
5.3.3 Aggression with Sexuality
This theme was observed when scenes or confrontations were either sexual or
aggressive in nature, while also having proof of the other component. An example
of this theme would be when an individual responds to aggression or intended dis-
comfort in a sexual manner.
5.3.4 Objectification
The researchers needed to look for very specific scenes in order to determine the
presence of objectification in a music video. These instances were when the camera
focused on an isolated body part of an individual. Any portrayal of a character in a
scene that is represented with only a body part or set of body parts, rather than being
considered a whole, complete human, was considered objectification.
5.3.5 Verbal Cues
After completing visual cues, verbal cues (what information could be gathered
using audio) were identified. Verbal cues were obtained from the lyrics from each
song. Cues observed were foul language to describe another individual, violent
threats, descriptive sexual innuendos, and insults.
5.4 Results
Using four major themes, a frequency analysis was used to examine visual and ver-
bal elements. Results from this analysis are presented in this section based on what
was observed from the study of these music videos and lyrics.
5.4.1 Implicit Aggression
Implicit aggression is defined as the presence of scenes that have suggested pain or
discomfort to women. This theme was not particularly prominent in the majority of
the songs studied. As depicted in Table 5.1, the rap genre had the highest incidence
of implicit aggression cues, totaling 20. The country genre had 19 cues, hip-hop had
15 cues, pop had 16 cues, and rock had a total of 13 cues. A predominant scenario
in the videos showed that the woman in the scene had been hit or injured by a male.
Table 5.1 Implicit Type of aggression Music genre (Alphabetical) Count

aggression by genre
Implicit Country 19
Hip-Hop 15
Pop 16
Rap 20
Rock 13
Total 83
Another scenario showed a woman crying while having a discussion with a male,
suggesting that the male had either betrayed the woman or was depreciating her
worth verbally. These two instances relate to implicit aggression because they do
not specifically show the girls being hurt or uncomfortable. Instead, these scenes
simply suggest aggression, leaving the viewers to piece the story together themselves.
The first genre depicted is rap music. The rap music genre had a total of 20 cues
of implicit aggression. Nine of the songs that were observed had implicit aggression
witnessed in them. In I Wish by Skee-Lo, a young woman is shown giving a man a
displeased look on several occasions because the male persistently attempts to ask
the girl out. The scenes never show what the man says, but they suggest that it is
offensive and causes the girls to be displeased or uncomfortable. The second genre
of music studied was country music. This genre had a total of 19 counts of implicit
aggression. The implicit aggression accounts came from four of the songs that were
observed. Implicit aggression is shown in The Thunder Rolls by Garth Brooks by
showing a scene of a husband who is cheating on his wife, and the wife is aware of
the affair. As she is waiting on her husband to return home from his mistress, the
wife is shown to have a black eye and bruised cheek. This implies that the husband
is not only unfaithful, but also abusive.
The pop genre had a slightly lower frequency of implicit aggression. This genre
totaled 16 counts of implicit aggression. Six of the songs showed this theme in the
lyrics or music video. Implicit aggression is shown in Justin Bieber’s What Do You
Mean video by a scene where a masked man busts into a hotel room and lunges
toward a girls in the room, the next scene shows the frantic girl in another location
that is dark and empty, implying that this masked male abducted this girls against
her will. The hip-hop genre had a total of 15 counts of implicit aggression. In this
genre, only six of the songs showed these cues. In the music video for Back Up by
DeJ Loaf, a scene shows DeJ Loaf on a skating rink, with others skating around her.
In this scene a male rapper skates closely by her, then the scene changes to DeJ Loaf
turned around with a displeased look on her face. The scene suggests that the male
rapper in the video skated into her on the rink.
The rock music genre had the least amount of implicit aggression observed. The
13 total cues were observed in only five of the songs studied. For example, You Get
What You Give by New Radicals shows implicit aggression in their music video from
an instance where a girl is surrounded and then taken down to the ground by teenage
males. The shot only shows the girl’s character falling to the ground and the hands
and faces of the male teens, but not the teens directly touching the girl (Chart 5.1).
Chart 5.1 Implicit aggression frequency the rock, pop, hip-hop, rap, and country genres
Table 5.2 Explicit Type of aggression Music genre (Alphabetical) Count

aggression by genre
Explicit Country 8
Hip-Hop 12
Pop 5
Rap 7
Rock 7
Total 39
5.4.2 Explicit Aggression
The theme of explicit aggression was observed in the selected songs when physical
contact with the intentions to harm or make a woman feel uncomfortable took place.
When explicit aggression was observed, the most prominent situation was depicting
what appeared to be an altercation such as a woman being hit, pushed, or injured
with physical contact, whether shown in the video or described in the song lyrics.
As demonstrated in Table 5.2, the total amount of instances of explicit aggression
tallied to 39. The hip-hop genre had the largest amount of observations with 12.
Country music had a total of 8 counts, while rap and rock held 7 observed instances
each. The pop genre held the least amount, with a total of 5 observed explicit aggres-
sion counts.
As stated, the hip-hop genre had 12 observed counts, which came from 5 of the
songs that were observed. In the music video of Whistle While You Twurk by the
Ying Yang Twins, scenes of male rappers spraying water guns on girls dancing show
Chart 5.2 Explicit aggression frequency for rock, pop, hip-hop, rap, and country genres
explicit aggression. The girls’ faces showed displeasure at the start of this incident.
In the country music genre, there were 8 observations. These observations took
place in only 1 song within the list of observed songs. The song The Thunder Rolls
by Garth Brooks shows a physical fight between husband and wife after the husband
comes home from cheating on his wife. The rock genre tallied a total of 7
observations. In these 7 observations, 3 songs showed explicit aggression. In the
rock genre, the song You’re A God by Vertical Horizon shows explicit aggression by
featuring several fight scenes between many of the characters within the video. For
example, a physical fight breaks out between two girls backstage at a beauty pag-
eant. The pop genre had 5 documented observations, and only 3 songs contributed
to the total number of observations. In Justin Bieber’s What Do You Mean video, a
girl is shown being assaulted by an unidentified man. This video also shows girls
pushing and hitting Justin Bieber. A total of 7 counts occurred in the rap music
genre with 4 songs featuring explicit violence in their lyrics or videos. What You
Gon’ Do by Lil’ Jon shows explicit aggression when a security guard puts his hands
on a girl trying to get into a club-- the guard forcefully pushes a woman and she falls
back (Chart 5.2).
5.4.3 Aggression with Sexuality
Aggression with sexuality was a theme that was observed more prominently in
music videos from the 2000s and 2010s. In this study, aggression with sexuality is
defined as the act of a girl responding to aggression with sexuality or appearing to
Table 5.3 Sexual aggression Type of aggression Music genre (Alphabetical) Count
by genre
Sexual Country 37
Hip-Hop 81
Pop 63
Rap 69
Rock 6
Total 256
enjoy aggressive sexual acts. This theme was shown most often in situations where
a girl or woman would respond to a male touching her aggressively with hyper-
sexualized behavior. As demonstrated in Table 5.3, aggression with sexuality was
observed a total of 256 counts within the studied songs. The hip-hop genre tallied
81 counts with 9 of the observed songs to contribute to the total. In the video for Big
Pimpin’ by Jay-Z, aggression with sexuality was depicted in a scene where a male
was pouring a bottle of alcohol over a woman’s body while she was in a pool. This
woman appeared to be aggressively groping her own body while the man was pour-
ing the liquid over her. The rap music genre had 69 total observations of this theme
across 10 of the songs studied. The pop genre totaled 63 instances of aggression
with sexuality. Eleven of the songs within this genre contributed to the count. Who
Let The Dogs Out by Baha Men depicted aggression with sexuality several times. In
one scene, men and women were performing a choreographed routine that showed
the women whipping the men who were on their hands and knees. While the whip-
ping was only suggested, the facial expressions and other dance moves suggested a
very sexual scenario. A total of 37 instances of aggression with sexuality in the
country music genre were present in the research. These 37 instances were spread
across 8 of the songs that were studied. Antidoteby Travis Scott showed this theme
by filming scenes where Travis Scott was barking orders while pointing his fingers
at a woman in a cage. This woman was following Travis as he continued to walk
around the cage with a lustful look on her face and dancing in a sexual manner. The
rock music genre totaled 6 counts of aggression with sexuality. Three of the rock
genre songs observed made up these counts. The song Nearly Forgot My Broken
Heart by Chris Cornell, showed aggression with sexuality when a girl in the video
begins undressing herself at the sight of a man, while in the process of hanging
another man (Chart 5.3).
5.4.4 Objectification
Objectification was the most frequent theme within the observed song selections,
and is depicted in Table 5.4. The theme of objectification was perceived as but not
limited to cameras focusing on single body parts of girls or women or video shots
of girls or women dancing or acting in a sexual manner. Typically, the latter was
depicted in music videos without the presence of a face or specific identity in the
Chart 5.3 Aggression with sexuality frequency for rock, pop, hip-hop, rap, and country genres
Table 5.4 Objectifying Type of aggression Music genre (Alphabetical) Count

aggression by genre
Objectification Country 100
Hip-Hop 135
Pop 87
Rap 131
Rock 22
Total 475
shot. In the hip-hop genre, 11 out of 12 songs showed counts of objectification. In

this genre, there were a total of 135 observations tallied. In Lil’ Zane’s video for
Callin’ Me, objectification was shown wherein a flight attendant on a private jet was
wearing a very short skirt and low cut shirt. The attendant was shown serving the
men on the plane and while she would serve the men, the camera would zoom in on
her buttocks or breasts. The Rap music genre fell behind Hip-hop with 131 counts
of objectification. Eight of the 12 songs contributed to this total count. In 2 Live
Crew’s video for Me So Horny, the sole purpose of the video and song is women’s
objectification. In the music video, the men decide to go to a club with women danc-
ers specifically to find a sexual partner for the night. The camera zooms in on the
women’s body parts and also pans up and down the bodies of the women dancing.
Interestingly, Crenshaw (1991) writes on this specific rap group in her piece regard-
ing black feminism and 2 Live Crew. Crenshaw notes that her reaction to the mem-
bers’ 1990 arrest and charge under a Florida obscenity statute was two-fold; on one
hand, Crenshaw wanted to “stand together with the brothers against a racist attack”
while simultaneously wanting to stand “against a frightening explosion of violent
imagery directed at women.” This sort of dual consciousness—the intersection of
Chart 5.4 Objectification for rock, pop, hip-hop, rap, and country genres
race and gender and the potential for conflict between identities—is something that
many feminist scholars are called upon to rationalize in their everyday lives.
There were 100 observations found in the Country music genre. Eleven of the 12
songs observed contributed to this total. In James Otto’s video for Just Got Started
Lovin’You the theme of objectification was depicted in scenes where a camera panned
down a woman’s body while she was only wearing undergarments and lying in a bed.
Within the Pop music genre there were a total of 87 observations. All of the songs
within this genre had at least one count of objectification, excluding one song. The
music video for Don’t Cha by the Pussy Cat Dolls shows objectification in almost
every scene. In one particular scene, the singers are dressed in small, tight, and reveal-
ing clothing while the camera zooms in and out of certain body parts (buttocks,
breasts, lips) of the women. In the Rock genre, the total count of objectification
observed was 22. These 22 counts came from eight of the 12 songs selected. In the
song Irresistible by Fall Out Boy, objectification is shown in several scenes that
involve a very attractive woman dressed in a tight dress at an outdoor basketball game.
The girls is shown on several occasions blowing kisses, touching her body in a sexual
manner, and running her hands over the bodies of other men in the video (Chart 5.4).
5.5 Discussion/Conclusion
The purpose of this project was twofold: to firstly analyze various music videos across
a variety of genres for specific thematic cues related to the representation of women
and their bodies in these music videos, and secondly, to further the proposition that
girls and women depicted as objects may provide inaccurate r epresentations of women
that are accepted as truths. When girls and women, specifically, observe the “ideal
body type,” it is possible to compare their own bodies to the ideal, leading to the
Objectified Body Consciousness (OBC) phenomenon. Typically, the failure to meet
these expectations of an ideal body type leads women to experience body dissatisfac-
tion. Not only does girls’ and women’s objectification in music videos warp the audi-
ence’s view of women, but these music videos also serve to create a dream scenario
where men can grope, grab, undress, and harass women freely. This dream scenario
leads may lead men to believe that women will enjoy aforementioned harassment.
After identifying key literature in the field, the themes, which were observed in
the selected videos, could be identified and utilized in this project. The themes of
implicit aggression, explicit aggression, aggression with sexuality, and objectifica-
tion were tallied using visual and verbal cues within the music videos and song
lyrics. It was hypothesized that objectification would be the most prevalent within
the observations, which the findings supported. Implicit and explicit aggressions
were expected to be low in prevalence. When we began observations, we expected
explicit aggression would be nonexistent due to the fact that we thought violence
toward women would not market well; however, the observations proved this
hypothesis wrong. Aggression with sexuality was expected to be quite prevalent in
the observations as a result of the previous sexual aggression that was observed
before the research began. Objectification themed observations were expected to
result in the highest number of sightings. Objectification is highly prevalent in
today’s culture; therefore, this theme was hypothesized to be the most prominent in
the data. Aggression with sexuality and objectification were the two themes that
were hypothesized to hold high numbers of observations.
The content analysis conducted produced an array of results, all of which fol-
lowed the stated hypotheses.
The rationale for this project was to study different genres and different time
periods to compare the levels of sexuality, aggression, and objectification toward
women and determine how it could potentially affect society’s attitudes toward
women. The project sought to analyze how sexual in nature various music genres
and videos were throughout a variety of decades and how this sexualization contin-
ues to exist contemporarily. One finding was that the music videos dated from the
80s and 90s were not as hyper-sexualized as the songs dated in the 2000s and 2010s.
Objectification of women is a well developed trend in entertainment today.
Specifically, in music videos, there is strong focus on women as sexual objects,
props, and individual body parts, rather than women as a whole. This trend is dam-
aging to society in part because entertainment media is creating a stereotype for
both men and women that can result in detrimental social, psychological, and physi-
cal health outcomes. This issue is particularly nefarious due to the media using
sexual content of women, which can cause viewers to believe the ideologies that the
media conglomerates present. Thus, the media is able to shape the culture’s sense of
sex, dating, romance, and even the methods of pursuing of the opposite (or same)
sex. The sexual attitudes of society are shaped by entertainment media, in this case,
music videos, and these videos have the potential to affect various demographic
groups within society. The predicament that this poses in society is that the media
enterprises are allowed to continue and expand because “sex sells” and this objecti-
fication of women is what society has proven to produce buy in among consumers.
A younger audience need also be aware of the issue of objectification of women
in music videos (Fitts 2008). It is not beneficial to feel inadequate or insecure
because of the media’s representation of women, but unfortunately, that is what is
occurring. Girls are feeling physically and sexually inadequate and boys are con-
fused when women do not act in real life like they act in music videos. It is reason-
able to consider the increase in sexual entertainment and its prevalence in society as
a factor in the increase of sexually transmitted diseases, early and unplanned preg-
nancies, and increased sexual violence (Shelton 1997). It is clear that objectification
of women in media has negative impacts on today’s society, but one must ask what
can be done to combat these negative impacts, especially when as a society we are
buying into this.
One suggestion to solve this negative influence in society is to instill better media
literacy in our children and make them more critical consumers of information. If
we allow hyper-sexualized and objectified women in music videos to significantly
affect us, then our daily decisions may need to be reevaluated. In order for the objec-
tification of women to stop affecting society in a negative way, we must realize and
educate others of what is realistic regarding the “real” societal ideal of women.
The limitations of this project are that the research project did not analyze all
genres of music. This project only looked at five of the most popular genres of
music. Another limitation of this project is that more themes could have been
explored-- only four major themes were observed; if more themes were observed
then other results might have come from the analyses. Finally, the years sampled for
the research could pose a limitation. The years studied could have been either
expanded to reach more eras, or the years could have been broken down to 5-year
increments in order to observe more songs. Future research could additionally con-
duct qualitative interviews, focus groups, and quantitative surveys to determine
what effect, if any, these types of portrayals of women in popular media have on
women and girls.
Despite these limitations, the videos and songs observed and the data obtained
spoke volumes. Implicit aggression, explicit aggression, aggression with sexuality,
and objectification emerged out of a majority of the songs and music videos studied
in order to prove the that objectification and unrealistic “sexual ideals” of women is
present in music and music videos and is continuing to occur. The growth of the
objectification and these “ideals” are increasing in number and influencing audi-
ences, which then affects how people develop a sense of self and how they then feel
about one another. As a result of these negative influences, we can then identify a
myriad of negative impacts on society and its current ideals of sex, dating, romance,
and the interactions with and feelings toward another human.
Appendix (Tables 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, and 5.8)
Table 5.5 Implicit aggression frequency the rock, pop, hip-hop, rap, and country genres.
Song Title Genre Decade Frequency
You Get What You Give Rock 90s 4
You’re A God Rock 00s 1
Never Let You Go Rock 00s 4
Uma Thurman Rock 10s 1
Nearly Forgot About my Broken Heart Rock 10s 3
Like A Virgin Pop 80s 2
Baby Got Back Pop 90s 1
Who Let The Dogs Out Pop 00s 1
What Do You Mean Pop 10s 5
Like I’m Gonna Lose You Pop 10s 4
Lay It On Me Pop 10s 3
Big Pimpin’ Hip hop 90s 3
Bag Lady Hip hop 00s 2
Whistle While You Twurk Hip hop 00s 2
Jumpman Hip hop 10s 1
Downtown Hip hop 10s 4
Back Up Hip hop 10s 3
Me So Horny Rap 80s 2
Just A Friend Rap 80s 1
Tootsee Roll Rap 90s 1
Ms. Jackson Rap 00s 5
What You Gon’ Do Rap 00s 3
Get Your Freak On Rap 00s 6
Antidote Rap 10s 1
The Fix Rap 10s 1
After All This Time Country 80s 1
9 to 5 Country 80s 5
The Thunder Rolls Country 90s 9
Stay A Little Longer Country 10s 4
Total: 83
Table 5.6 Explicit aggression frequency for rock, pop, hip-hop, rap, and country genres
Song title Genre Decade Frequency
You Get What You Give Rock 90s 4
Irresistible Rock 2010s 1
Parents Just Don’t Understand Hip-hop 80s 3
Big Pimpin’ Hip-hop 90s 1
Bag Lady Hip-hop 2000s 1
Whistle While You Twurk Hip-hop 2000s 5
Jumpman Hip-hop 2010s 2
Ms. Jackson Rap 2000s 1
Total: 39
Table 5.7 Aggression with sexuality frequency for rock, pop, hip-hop, rap, and country genres
Song Genre Decade Frequency
Flash Dance Rock 80s 1
Nearly Forgot About My Broken Heart Rock 2010s 4
Call Me Pop 80s 1
Bette Davis Eyes Pop 80s 7
Wannabe Pop 90s 9
Jump Pop 90s 2
Bye Bye Bye Pop 2000s 4
Don’t Cha Pop 2000s 9
Parents Just Don’t Understand Hip-hop 80s 5
Push It Hip-hop 80s 6
U Can’t Touch This Hip-hop 90s 1
Callin’ Me Hip-hop 2000s 8
Downtown Hip-hop 2010s 13
(continued)
Table 5.7 (continued)

Back Up Hip-hop 2010s 3
Ruff Ryder’s Anthem Rap 90s 2
I Wish Rap 90s 1
Antidote Rap 2010s 12
The Fix Rap 2010s 8
All Eyes On You Rap 2010s 8
Down On The Farm Country 90s 2
Must Be Doin’ Something Right Country 2000s 2
Just Got Started Loving You Country 2000s 2
Breathe Country 2000s 1
Gonna Country 2010s 3
Strip It Down Country 2010s 9
Total 256
Table 5.8 Objectification for rock, pop, hip-hop, rap, and country genres
Flash Dance Rock 80s 4
(Just Like) Starting Over Rock 80s 1
Enter Sandman Rock 90s 2
Shimmer Rock 90s 2
Never Let You Go Rock 2000s 7
Nearly Forgot About My Broken Heart Rock 2010s 2
Call Me Pop 80s 6
Bette Davis Eyes Pop 80s 4
Wannabe Pop 90s 2
Jump Pop 90s 2
Bye Bye Bye Pop 2000s 4
Don’t Cha Pop 2000s 19
Lay It All On Me Pop 2010s 7
(continued)
Table 5.8 (continued)

Parents Just Don’t Understand Hip-hip 80s 3
Children’s Story Hip-hop 80s 1
Push It Hip-hop 80s 3
U Can’t Touch This Hip-hop 90s 13
Callin’ Me Hip-hop 2000s 15
Bag Lady Hip-hop 2000s 8
Downtown Hip-hop 2010s 7
Back Up Hip-hop 2010s 7
I Wish Rap 90s 2
Antidote Rap 2010s 28
The Fix Rap 2010s 4
All Eyes On You Rap 2010s 19
After All This Time Country 80s 1
9 to 5 Country 80s 3
Down On The Farm Country 90s 3
Must Be Doin’ Something Right Country 2000s 10
Just Got Started Loving You Country 2000s 13
Breathe Country 2000s 14
Gonna Country 2010s 2
Strip It Down Country 2010s 7
Songs Sampled for Analysis
The songs observed from the 80s rock genre were Flashdanceby Irene Cara, (Just
Like) Starting Overby John Lennon, and Billie Jeanby Michael Jackson. Rock genre
songs from the 90s include Enter Sandman by Metallica, Shimmerby Fuel, and You
Get What You Give by New Radicals. Rock songs from the 2000s were With Arms
Wide Open by Creed, You’re A God by Vertical Horizon, and Never Let You Go by
Third Eye Blind. Lastly, the rock songs observed from the 2010s were Uma Thurman
by Fall Out Boy, Irresistable by Fall Out Boy, and Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart
by Chris Cornell.
The songs that were observed from the 80s era of pop music were Like A Virgin
by Madonna, Call Me by Blondie, Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes. The songs from
90s era were Wannabeby Spice Girls, Baby Got Back by Sir Mix A Lot, and Jump
by Kriss Kross. Pop genre socks from the 2000s were Bye Bye Bye by Nsync, Who
Let The Dogs Out by Baha Men, and Don’t Cha by The Pussy Cat Dolls. The final
era of pop genre songs came from 2010s and the songs were What Do You Mean by
Justin Bieber, Like I’m Gonna Lose You by Meghan Trainor, and Lay it All On Me
by Rudimental.
The songs observed from the 80s were Parents Just Don’t Understand by DJ
Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Children’s Story by Slick Rick, and Push It by Salt
n’ Pepa. The observed songs from the 90s era were Big Pimpin’ by Jay Z, U Can’t
Touch This by MC Hammer, and Insane In The Brain by Cypress Hill. The 2000s
era songs were Callin’ Me by Lil’ Zane, Bag Lady by Erykah Badu, and Whistle
While You Twurk by The Ying Yang Twins. Hip-hop songs from the 2010s observed
were Jumpman by Drake and Feature, Downtown by Macklemore, and Back Up by
DeJ Loaf.
The songs from the 80s era were Me So Horny by 2 Live Crew, Self Destruction
by Stop The Violence Movement, and Just A Friend by Biz Markie. From the 90s
era, the songs observed were Ruff Ryder’s Anthem by DMX, Tootsee Roll by 69
Boyz, and I Wish by Skee-lo. The observed songs from the 2000s were Ms. Jackson
by Outkast, What You Gon’ Do by Lil’ Jon, and Get Your Freak On by Missy Elliot.
The final selections of songs from 2010s were Antidote by Travis Scott, The Fix by
Nelly, All Eyes On You by Meek Mill.
The song selections from the 80s were After All This Time by Rodney Crowell, 9
to 5 by Dolly Parton, and(There’s) No Getting Over Meby Ronnie Milsap. The 90s
era song selection included Down on The Farm by Tim McGraw, In This Life by
Collin Raye, and The Thunder Rolls by Garth Brooks. The songs observed from the
2000s included Must Be Doin’ Something Right by Billy Currington, Just Got
Started Lovin’ You by James Otto, and Breatheby Faith Hill. The final era of 2010s
presented Stay A Little Longer by Brothers Osburne, Gonna by Blake Shelton, and
Strip It Down by Luke Bryan to be observed.
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Chapter 6
How a Democracy Killed Tamir Rice:
White Racial Frame, Racial Ideology,
and Racial Structural Ignorance
in the United States
Corey J. Miles
6.1 Introduction
A police officer murdered 12-year-old Tamir Rice on November 22, 2014 while he
was playing with a toy gun in a Cleveland city park. This incident received national
news coverage given it came after several other incidents of unarmed black bodies
being killed by law enforcement and it was captured on camera. The officer did not
face any criminal charges for the murder of Tamir. In a separate investigation by the
Cleveland Department of Public Safety, the officer was found guilty of falsifying
information on his job application and was found to possess an inability to emotion-
ally function, which led to his release from the police force.
As the video was made public the world was able to see a black child’s body
rendered lifeless by two shots from a pursuing officer. However, this video did not
move all Americans to question the structural violence perpetrated against black
bodies in America nor to rethink the general way in which race is situated in the
social fabric of American society. Furthermore, this video did not go thoughtlessly
unnoticed by white Americans. Rather, I argue that white Americans viewed this
video through a racial frame that precluded them from seeing violence against black
bodies as a structural issue and provided them with a rhetorical tool-kit to explain
this situation in absence of any mention of structural racism.
Christina Sharpe in her book In the Wake asks, “What happens when instead of
becoming enraged and shocked every time a Black person is killed in the United
States, we recognize Black death as a predictable and constitutive aspect of this
democracy” (2016:7)? Her question provides a framework to view the historical
dialectic in the United States of struggling to maintain systemic racism and salvag-
ing a moral conscience, while attempting to understand the role video footage of
C. J. Miles (*)
Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD, USA
e-mail: coreymiles@vt.edu

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29855-5_6
100 C. J. Miles
Tamir Rice being killed by law enforcement plays in our contemporary understand-
ing of race in America.
Rather than mentally and socially ignoring video footage of Tamir’s death and
not engaging with contemporary racialized incidents, I argue the video produced a
form of cognitive dissonance (Fanon 2008), referring to the uncomfortable feeling
when presented with evidence that works against your core beliefs, that forced
white Americans to invest more into the dominant racial ideology (Bonilla-Silva
2010) that views black bodies as dangerous and criminals. This is similar to
Raymond Nickerson’s (1998) concept of ‘confirmation bias’ that explains how indi-
viduals interpret evidence in a manner that supports their already held core beliefs
and expectations. Structural violence towards black bodies has always been ratio-
nalized with racial ideological constructs, that are constantly re-made and renegoti-
ated. This is seen by scholars highlighting how anti-blackness developed and
intensified to justify the institution of slavery in a society where all men are created
free and equal (Myrdal 1944; Smedley 2007). In other words, society’s ideological
understanding of race is constantly (re) created to reconcile the inherent contradic-
tion in a society that presents itself as democratic, while racial domination is funda-
mental to its social structure.
Charles Mills argues that by simply going along with these ideological under-
standings of race and not challenging these racial frames, whites show complacency
with white supremacy and are consenting to whiteness (1997). The racialized lens
through which white Americans interpret the world feels race-neutral and color-
blind rhetoric can be used to augment the racial frame. During this process, white
Americans experience an epistemology of ignorance that renders them unable to
understand the social structure which they have created (Mills 1997). In other
words, through the historic process of racial formation (Omi and Winant 1994), or
the way in which racial categories are created, inhibited, and transformed, a white
racial frame has been used to distort, reconfigure, and ignore racial oppression in the
presence of massive amounts of racial inequality. Cornel West (1993) suggests that
the United States democracy when it comes to addressing racial issues is trapped in
narrow framework of liberal and conservative views on race. He argues that liberals’
call for more government programs to fix racial issues and conservatives’ reliance
on a self-help ideology are due to a worn-out vocabulary and racial ideology that
doesn’t grasp why race remains important.
This paper explores the relationship between viewing video footage of black
bodies being murdered by law enforcement, such as Tamir Rice, and contemporary
discourses on race and racism. A qualitative methodology that incorporates in-depth
interviews and discourse analysis was used to examine the way in which digital
footage of police brutality influences conversations on racism. Eduardo Bonilla-
Silva (2010) and Joe Feagin (2006) suggest that white Americans are equipped with
a racial ideology that gives them epistemological power to interpret and explain
racialized incidents in colorblind terms. This study shows that white Americans did
not use colorblind rhetoric to explain the murder of Tamir Rice, given all the partici-
pants contend that race played a factor, but rather explained racism as a product of
individual actors and not a social structure. The term racial structural ignorance is
6 How a Democracy Killed Tamir Rice: White Racial Frame, Racial Ideology… 101
developed to explain white Americans’ ability to admit that Tamir Rice’s race
played a factor in his death, but inability to link racism with the way in which soci-
ety is organized. This suggests that in a colorblind society where whites claim not
to see race, when race is too present to ignore, the dominant racial ideology is mal-
leable enough to see race in a way that doesn’t fundamentally challenge society’s
understanding of a democratic America.
6.2 Background
For W.E.B. Dubois the true test of democracy was its relation to the negro (DuBois
1997) and found in the examination of the structure and orientation of a nation’s
criminal justice system (Marable 2015). From the massive wealth inequality (Oliver
and Shapiro 2006), high concentrations of racial residential segregation (Massey
and Denton 1993), the disproportionate amount of black and brown individuals
incarcerated (Alexander 2012), and inhumane racial health care disparities (Nelson
et al. 2002) it seems America works against democratic ideals where all its citizens
can play an equal role in the organization of society. However, America has found a
means through which to preserve its massive amount of racial inequality and simul-
taneously claim the label of a democracy for all people. Through the process of
formulating meaning around racial categories white Americans developed ideolo-
gies and frames that allowed them to reconcile the inherent contradiction of purport-
ing a democratic society, while simultaneously having a racialized social structure.
In Stamped from the Beginning, Ibram Kendi highlights a conceptual flaw in the
way in which racism is conceptualized in the United States. His central argument is
that love, education, and exceptional black people will not fix the issue of racism in
America because at its root racism is about exploitation. Racist ideas manifested to
rationalize and legitimate systems of exploitation aimed at people of color, more
specifically the development of racism (ideological othering), developed as a justi-
fication for a capitalist system that needed slave labor (Smedley 2007). This allowed
a society whose economic foundation was slavery to simultaneously conceptualize
itself as a country where all men are created free and equal. To have society struc-
tured where only men are created free sets up a foundation where our understanding
of what it means to be a full human also excluded women.
Contemporary structural racism scholars suggest that racial oppression is engi-
neered within all major societal institutions (Bonilla-Silva 2010). Systemic racism
refers to the “foundational, large-scale and inescapable hierarchical system of US
racial oppression devised and maintained by whites and directed at people of color”
(Feagin and Elias 2013, 936). Through this lens the social structure, social pro-
cesses, and the social fabric of what it means to be American is predicated on racial-
ization. Thus, racial marginalization is not a negative aspect to a healthy American
social system, but the social system itself is organized to maintain racial inequality.
The racialized social structure is rationalized using a racialized ideology (Bonilla-
Silva and Forman 2000) that consists of meritocratic colorblind ideals, allowing
102 C. J. Miles
white success to be viewed as a result of hard work and racial inequality explained
away as the inability of people of color to take advantage of American opportuni-
ties. Within this colorblind ideological framework, race-conscious rhetoric, in other
words speaking specifically about race, is suggested to be the reason racism remains
pervasive.
Americans are equipped with a rhetorical tool-kit and framework to explain and
justify oppressive social processes. For Feagin this tool-kit comes in the form of a
white racial frame, a lens to view society that “includes a broad set of racial stereo-
types, prejudices, ideologies, interlinked interpretations and narratives, and visual
images, racialized emotions, and racialized reactions” (2013, xi). In other words,
the racialization process of defining people of color as the alterity historically and
currently serves the purpose of providing an understanding of society that rational-
izes the exploitative social structure that whites inevitability benefit from at the
expense of people of color.
As the video that captured Tamir Rice being killed by law enforcement dissemi-
nated through the internet it left some black Americans believing that our social
structure hasn’t changed since Jim Crow, but only reshaped in appearance with
comparisons being made between Tamir Rice and Emmett Till (Onyemaobim
2015). New debates on police reform began to surface. However, these videos did
not entice all Americans to question structural violence enacted upon black bodies.
In some cases, they produced the opposite effect, where cultural explanations,
colorblind-rhetoric, and hate speech were used to rationalize and justify the killing
of unarmed black citizens. For example, local Cleveland news sites had to disable
the comment sections on articles addressing the Tamir Rice case because the com-
ment section would overflow with racist invective (Quinn 2015). Rather than ignore
the case, these sites had white Americans actively engage in creating rationaliza-
tions about why this black 12-year-old was murdered.
This paper empirically examines the language Americans, particularly white
Americans, use to conceptualize video footage of the death of Tamir Rice through
interview data. This choice of method is because I am examining racial ideologies,
and ideologies are created and reproduced through communicative interaction
(Bonilla-Silva 2010). Discourse analysis is used to analyze the interview data to
examine what Fairclough (2013) calls the ‘imbrications between language and insti-
tutional practice’. Put differently, discourse analysis is incorporated to view the way
language is used to both construct and understand the organization of society.
I do not argue that this is the only explanation, but an attempt to add to the con-
versation on how white Americans can interpret the experiences of black Americans
in non-structural colorblind terms. Nor do I argue that my analysis is fully general-
izable, given this project was specifically sampled from southwest Virginia and does
not delve deeply with the gendered and class ramifications of police brutality. The
same way we can view our current social structure as racialized, it is also gendered
and classed. Race, gender, and class are not negative afflictions to our current social
structure, but the fundamental elements that structure our social system. Primarily
investigating the racial frames that are used by white Americans to view videos of
unarmed black bodies being murdered by law enforcement allows us to c onceptualize
how many white Americans can offer non-structural and color-blind analyses of
these events, which in turn allows America to maintain a massive amount of racial
oppression, while still purporting the idea that America is a democratic society.
6.3 Methodology
To develop and illustrate my theory of racial structural ignorance I employed a

qualitative research design by collecting primary data through in-depth interviews
and drew heavily from structural racism literature. I conducted 20 in-depth inter-
views in southwest Virginia with American college students. The participants were
identified primarily through convenience and snowball sampling techniques where
potential participants responded to a call for participants announcement for a study
on race and the criminal justice system. Participants were from a variety of racial/
ethnic groups including white American, black American, Asian American, and
Puerto Rican American, with 70% of the respondents being white American as this
research has a specific focus on the way in which white Americans understand race
and racism in contemporary U.S. The participants were all millennials with ages
ranging from 19–23 and 75% of participants identifying as a woman.
All interviews were conducted in person, where the participant and interviewer
watched a 1-min clip of the video footage of the death of Tamir Rice. As the inter-
viewer I am cognizant of my positionality as a 27-year-old black male and how my
identities will impact the manner in which participants disclose information.
Previous literature suggests that when the race of the interviewer differs from the
race of the participants, the subject attempt to respond in a manner that does not
offend the interviewer (Finkel et al. 1991; Hatchett and Schuman 1975). The struc-
tural dynamics of gender also influence the direction, content, and flow of inter-
views (Manderson et al. 2006). Throughout the interview process as a researcher I
attempted to be reflexive and understand that the identities of the participants and
mine are all implicated in a larger social process where power is organized around
gender, race, and status.
The duration of each interview was 30 to 90 minutes, depending on how detailed
the participants’ responses were. These interviews were semi-structured with open-
ended questions (e.g. what are your general opinions about the video footage?) and
participants could ask the researcher questions at any point during the interview.
Discourse analysis was used to analyze the interview data to examine the structure
of social interaction within conversation, with the understanding that language
helps structure social meaning (Brown and Yule 1983).
104 C. J. Miles
6.4 ‘ Tamir Would Still be Alive if He Wasn’t Black’:

Structural Ignorance
Videos of police brutality have been circulating the internet, particularly social
media sites, under the assumption that viewing footage of racial oppression would
move Americans to think deeply about the plight of black Americans. There is a
notion that new digital technologies allow us to better understand social interactions
because they provide us with “real life” representations. The findings suggest that
video footage of police brutality towards black bodies is viewed through frames of
understanding and these frames shape individuals’ conceptualizations of the videos.
The videos in and of themselves do not contain meaning, but individuals’ internal-
ized ideologies provide a frame of reference which allows individuals to ascribe
meaning to the videos.
Despite the diversity in the conversations about the Tamir Rice video, all the
participants believed race played a factor in his death. Chris, a white male college
senior, when asked whether he believed race played a factor in the death of Tamir
Rice, stated:
A moral argument takes race into account. Naturally we want to say it wasn’t a factor.
Physical characteristics do shape how we view people. It’s hard to understand and put the
event into perspective, just not sure what role race played.
While Chris felt that race was important to Tamir’s case, he didn’t have a language
to explain it. America’s colorblind ideology has not only equipped Americans with
a cognitive disposition and language to talk about race in non-racial terms (Bonilla-
Silva 2010), it has also precluded individuals from developing the ability to speak
meaningfully about race even when they attempt to. Jess, a black woman college
sophomore, attempted to explain the role race played in Tamir’s death by stating:
There is a negative stereotype in society about black men being violent, so they acted on
this stereotype. It didn’t matter if the gun was fake or not, they assumed it was probably a
real weapon because he was black. Society links being black with being a criminal.
For Jess race takes on meaning in society through the way in which we construct
people of color in America’s societal imaginary with racial stereotypes. Jess, like
scholars of the criminal justice system (e.g. Alexander 2012; Davis 1998), high-
lighted the rhetorical link between blackness and criminality that has been used to
rationalize state-sanctioned violence towards black people. Jess also uses gendered
language to discuss race alluding to the importance of thinking through the ways in
which racial identities are interconnected with other identities such as gender, class,
and sexuality.
Participants did not offer colorblind conceptualizations of the video footage of
Tamir Rice being killed by law enforcement. For example, Tara stated, “If Tamir
Rice was a white man he would have not been shot”. However, despite engaging and
grappling with race, most participants understood this event as an isolated occur-
rence that was the product of bad policing and the behavior of individual actors.
Participants, specifically white participants, conceptualized unjust murder of black
bodies by law enforcement as incidents where the criminal justice system has failed
its citizens, rather than engaging with the possibility that the criminal justice system
is organized around structural oppression.
Chris, who earlier stated that race played a role in the death of Tamir Rice but
was unsure as to the role of that death, later stated:
It’s not the criminal justice system’s fault. It is about the incident itself and the misuse of
training and not focusing on de-escalation tactics. Very bad use of the training. Not really
the criminal justice system though, just isn’t a good job of policing.
Chris, like many of the participants, cited this event as a misuse of training by the
police officers. In suggesting that the officers misused or ignored their training the
participants could preserve a positive conceptualization of the U.S. criminal justice
system by constructing any policing failings as a product of not following the for-
mal protocol of an intrinsically good system. Similarly, Julie, a white woman soph-
omore, suggests that “racial bias was the reason for the death of Tamir and that if the
officers would have followed protocol Tamir would still be alive because police
officers are trained to be unbiased”. In a color-blind society when incidents are bla-
tantly racialized, the dominant racial ideology (Feagin 2006) is malleable enough to
allow for racialized discourse to occur in a manner that doesn’t challenge the foun-
dational structure of society.
Structural ignorance serves as an ideological and rhetorical tool used in situa-
tions where race is unavoidable to talk about systemic racial oppression in non-
structural terms. This ideology upholds systemic racism by not viewing race as
being organized within the social processes of society. Furthermore, it upholds a
colorblind ideology by providing a discursive rhetoric that suggests racial inequality
is created when individual actors deviate from the racial-neutrality of the structure
of society. As implied by Julie, the criminal justice system is structured to produce
unbiased, essentially colorblind officers, and when police officers engage in color-
conscious behavior we get situations such as Tamir’s. Thus, structural ignorance
safeguards systemic racism and the colorblind ideology in situations where race
must be discussed.
This inability to see and understand race as it exists within the structural organi-
zation of society is like Charles W. Mills’s idea of “epistemology of ignorance”. In
a society plagued with racial oppression, ideologies must naturalize a system that
ensures subordination of the racially oppressed (Lewis 2004). Part of this natural-
ization process is to view white Americans as void of race and as actors whose
actions are generally non-racial. White Americans view themselves as non-racial
actors while simultaneously operating under a racialized ideology and viewing the
world from racialized frames of understanding. While uncritically operating from
this ideology white Americans are consenting to whiteness. The significance of this
contract is that it “prescribes for its signatories an inverted epistemology, an episte-
mology of ignorance, a particular pattern of localized and global cognitive dysfunc-
tions, producing the ironic outcome that whites will in general be unable to
understand the world they themselves have made” (Mills 1997, 18). The dominant
understanding of race in America not only rationalizes violence towards people of
106 C. J. Miles
color, but prohibits Americans, particularly white Americans, from understanding

the extent to which race impacts the social, political, material, and economic condi-
tion of people of color.
Some participants did suggest that Tamir’s death was a result of both individual
actors and the criminal justice system. Jeff, an Asian male college senior, contends:
The police officers handled the situation poorly. Regarding the criminal justice system, it
played a role. There is a historical context that reinforces the idea that people of color are
dangerous, which led to this.
In historicizing violence by police officers against black Americans, Jeff frames this
incident in a systemic framework.
Similarly, Sarah, a Puerto Rican woman sophomore, when asked about her feelings
towards the criminal justice system, says, “Cops’ racial prejudice and the criminal
justice system are bad. I know a guy with 6 DUIs but gets off every time. Money
plays a role in criminal justice outcomes”. Here Sarah is situating the conversation
on the criminal justice system into a larger system of neo-liberalism. Here neoliber-
alism is viewed as the way in which the ideological investment into free-market
principles has taken importance over ethics and morality, while being institutional-
ized within all organizational domains, from the criminal justice sector to the edu-
cational system (Whitehead and Crawshaw 2012). The United States has a racialized
criminal justice system that exists within a neoliberal context, where there are fewer
consequences for being guilty and wealthy than poor and innocent.
A recurring theme between all the participants was the idea of justice. Whether
participants saw this case as an issue of individual bad actors or a structural issue, it
was difficult to conceptualize how justice can come from this case. I suggest that
viewing cases of police brutality, any form of oppression, as isolated events shapes
the way in which individuals believe justice can be obtained.
6.5 How Structural Ignorance Influences the Color of Justice
One may assume that digital video footage of a criminal incident may aid the court
in deciding on the outcome of a case. United States citizens have faith that our
criminal justice system disseminates justice in its rulings and video footage may
make this process easier by providing first-hand accounts of the incident in ques-
tion. There is a societal assumption that technological innovation, specifically digi-
tal video footage, can serve as a more accurate form of archival data. In regard to the
criminal justice system, this line of argument would assume that these more accu-
rate forms of data can aid the courts in distributing justice. The results suggest that
video footage did not create a consensus between the participants on how justice
can be served, but rather conceptualizations of justice were influenced by the degree
to which the participants understood the video footage to be reflective of a struc-
tural issue.
There are race-based and class-based double standards at every level of the crim-
inal justice system that serve to marginalize people of color and poor people (Cole
1999). These forms of oppression manifest in over-policing of neighborhoods of
people of color and poor people and lack of access to adequate legal representation.
There is little societal consensus on the way in which justice is created when those
who are part of the criminal justice system are the violators of legal codes and repro-
duce race- and class-based oppression.
In this section justice is conceptualized using Barbara Hudson’s work (1993) to
understand that the penal system cannot fix all the issues organized within society’s
social processes and may not adequately distribute justice, but it should be struc-
tured to do as little harm as possible. If there is not a way in which for the United
States generally, the black community specifically, to receive justice for the death of
Tamir Rice, what becomes the best course of action moving forward to ensure that
the criminal justice system does as little harm as possible?
In discussing how justice can be served after a police officer shot and killed a
12-year old black child the participants did not have an ideological framework in
which to discuss steps of reconciliation as most participants were unsure in their
answers as how to treat the situation. This is reflected in Chris’s statement when
asked if the officer who killed Tamir should have faced some form of structural
punishment:
Yes. There should have been a punishment, once the facts of the case were released. Not
sure what that punishment should have been. It could be firing or prison for
manslaughter?
The ambivalence in Chris’s statement comes from attempting to reconcile the con-
tention that police officers have a stressful job and should protect themselves at all
costs, while viewing a police officer mishandle a situation and kill a 12-year old
child. All participants believed some form of punishment was deserved, but differed
based on their conceptualization of the situation. I group the types of punishments
proposed into two themes: individual and structural. Participants who understood
the death of Tamir resulting from individual bad actors offered punishments aimed
solely at the officers and participants who felt the criminal justice system played a
role offered structural solutions.
Anna, a white woman college student, when asked about what type of punish-
ment the officer should receive, stated, “the officer should lose his job, but the court
should really decide.” In conceptualizing this incident as one constructed by an
individual behavior Anna believed justice would come from punishing the officer as
an individual, i.e., him losing his job. Her ideological investment in the idea that the
criminal justice system adequately addresses societal issues makes the courtroom
the ideal conceptual space in which to determine the outcome of this incident. This
sets up a societal paradox in which the failings and racial injustices produced by the
criminal justice system become left in the hands of that very same system to cor-
rect itself.
108 C. J. Miles
Similarly, Sarah, in discussing how justice can come from this incident, suggests:
There should have been consequences. At least the officer should undergo some form of
training and may lose his job. There should be some type of criminal consequence, maybe
manslaughter.
Sarah, like most other participants, believes the officer who killed Tamir should face
a form of criminal punishment as a way in which to deter this action from officers
in the future. Most will agree that purposeful training and criminalizing officers
who use unjustified violence towards black bodies are integral parts of the anti-
police brutality movement. However, what becomes the future of the relationship
between law enforcement and black citizens if we solely stopped our examination
at the individual level?
Some participants moved the conversation beyond an issue of individual behav-
ior. As Jess contends, “In society black people are seen as criminals, this is an issue
with the criminal justice system, not just people”. In discussing Tamir’s death from
a structural framework some participants were unsure as to how to move towards a
solution. Julie, at the end of the interview, made it a point to tell me that “There is a
flaw in the criminal justice system. It needs to be looked at more, like flaws in sen-
tencing. People in the justice system only see the surface of black people”. Julie was
able to take a broad institution, the criminal justice system, and in speaking about
solutions broke it down to one of its parts, sentencing injustice. Julie was one of the
only participants to engage in this form of discourse and I argue it is because the
normalized ideological frameworks and discourses in everyday society do not
incorporate a structural understanding of racial injustice.
Americans who subscribe to the dominant ideological framework of society lack
the ability to see the full extent of racial oppression and the way in which it is engi-
neered within all societal institutions. Therefore, white Americans are denied the
ability to see and understand the social system in which they inhibit and construct.
Their vision becomes limited to a veil (Du Bois 2008) that deprives them of the
ability to extend humanity to those who are nonwhite because they lack the lan-
guage and cognitive disposition to meaningfully understand nonwhites’ lived expe-
rience. Even operating from the dominant racial ideology and racial frame with
good intentions will produce disparate outcomes because it deprives the individual
of the ability to see that racism is not a negative affliction to America’s social struc-
ture, but is the social structure (Steinberg 2007). This is a shortcoming of well-
intentioned liberals. Where their conservative counterpart may ascribe blame to the
individual, culture, and/or values, the liberal often believes the social structure itself
simply needs to be tinkered with here and there (West 1993). Engaging in structural
ignorance, even with the desire to do well, prohibits white liberals from calling into
question the foundation in which the American democracy rests. It may allow the
user to admit that the social structure is not perfect, but does not allot the user a
language or cognitive disposition to radically challenge the social structure in any
meaningful way.
6.6 Conclusion
The scope of this paper deals with racial oppression, specifically police brutality, in
the United States, arguing that the American social structure itself is racialized.
Racial oppression is not a negative affliction to an otherwise healthy social struc-
ture, but is engineered within the social organization of society (Feagin 2013;
Bonilla-Silva 1997). This research builds on structural race theorists who argue that
a racial ideology and a white racial frame provides white Americans with a discur-
sive tool in which to explain away systemic racism in colorblind non-structural
terms. This project builds the term racial structural ignorance to conceptualize the
way in which in conversations where race is unavoidable, and the dominant ideol-
ogy and discursive practices in the United States allow race to be discussed in a way
that does not challenge the organizational structure of society. Racialized discourse
that occurs within the structural-ignorant framework does not contest society’s col-
orblind principles, but rather situates the significance of race and racism as some-
thing created and perpetuated by individual actors, constructing color-conscious
behavior as the reason for the divisiveness of racism.
This project is less of a case study about the particularities of Tamir Rice’s case,
but should be read as an exploration into understanding the way in which localized
discourse upholds a larger system of racial domination. This paper does not claim
to offer an analysis of the full scope of the impact of digital video footage of recent
killings of unarmed black bodies by law enforcement, but rather contextualize
Tamir’s murder in a systemic understanding of black death in the United States.
Digital technology operates within the structural bounds of America’s racial ideol-
ogy and is viewed and engaged with through racialized frames of understanding.
Americans, particularly white Americans, should not be thought of as either struc-
tural ignorant or structural conscious, but rather we should think of racial structural
ignorance on a spectrum that everyone invests in at varying degrees.
The dismantling of systemic racism is not something that can be accomplished
by isolated actions and policies. Jim Crow was dismantled because of complex ini-
tiatives on multiple fronts, because we understood that it was not some negative
affliction to our social structure, but was fundamental to it (Alexander 2012). We
have seen the agency of black Americans in creating constitutional change from the
black worker being the driving energy in forcing America to sign the Emancipation
Proclamation (DuBois 1997) to the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 primar-
ily due to black Americans utilizing resources from the black community to ignite a
movement (Morris 1986). History shows us that the racially oppressed, along with
white allies, have the tools to create monumental change. A primary initiative should
be to dismantle the white racial frame.
Feagin (2013) contends that the process of dismantling the white racial frame
involves critically analyzing and taking apart the old frame, while purposefully cre-
ating new frames to serve as a replacement. For Feagin this reframing process
involves exposing white Americans to the history and contemporary reality of racial
oppression, moving white Americans past their emotions to be able to listen
110 C. J. Miles
c ritically to the anti-racist voices of Americans of color, and creating a culture where
we all actively disrupt racist language and behaviors. Black, Asian, Latinx, and
Indigenous Americans have historically provided America with counter-frames. We
must increase the epistemological power of these groups to legitimate the frames
they offer society.
The process of creating a new ideological shift must be underpinned by an inter-
sectional understanding of society. If our solutions do not consider the way in which
gendered, racial, class, and sexuality oppression are interconnected to create com-
plex systems of domination, our fight for racial justice will only perpetuate other
forms of marginalization (Crenshaw 1989). In constructing new ideologies and
frames of understanding, we must be cognizant of the connectedness of all systems
of oppression to construct a truly liberating society.
Creating new frames of understanding is one initiative of a larger anti-racist plan
that will need to be taken to end contemporary systemic racism. Every academic
discipline, institution, and person with a desire for social justice must attack sys-
temic racism on all fronts of American society. We must revamp the fundamental
foundation of society and renew the soul of the nation if we have any chance at
making any substantial change.
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Part III
Online Disruptions and Nonbinary
Genders
Chapter 7
Sexing the Margins: Homonationalism
in Gay Dating Apps
Emerson L. R. Barrett
7.1 Heading 1: Introduction
While internet dating is widely discussed throughout American culture (i.e. Christian
Mingle, J Date, Tinder etc.), sexual minority dating apps (i.e. Grindr, Scruff, Her,
FINDHRR etc.) are rarely discussed as expansively as their heteronormative coun-
terparts. Through this intimate space, it becomes easier to see how folks navigate
dating without overt, invasive, observational studies. While in a sense analyzing the
intimate notions of love and sex might seem invasive, the profiles on these apps are
public. This analysis of the private in a public space allows us to see the inner work-
ings of social structures and how they affect desire and the search for potential
partners.
7.2 Heading 2: Literature Review
Numerous studies have looked at the effects of societal structures on dating scenes
especially when it comes to discrimination (Fisman et al. 2008; Ali et al. 2014;
McCarthy and Kelly 2015). However, fewer studies have examined dating discrimi-
nation amongst sexual minority men (Zamboni and Crawford 2007; Ro et al. 2013;
Lundquist and Lin 2015). Many of these studies examine how racism affects partner
selection. This can be theorized through notions of beauty that are often linked to
whiteness, especially in the United States (Duke et al. 2011). Racism in sexual
minority men’s communities follows suit with racism at large. Ro et al. in their
article “Dimensions of Racism and Their Impact on Partner Selection Among Men
of Colour Who Have Sex with Men: Understanding Pathways to Sexual Risk” states
E. L. R. Barrett (*)
Westminster College, New Wilmington, PA, USA

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29855-5_7
116 E. L. R. Barrett
that the racism that sexual minority men face when dealing with partner selection, is
a form of social discrimination (2013). They further emphasize this discrimination
in stating that it contributes to physical and mental health disparities (Ro et al. 2013).
7.2.1 eading 3: Racism in the Sexual Minority Men’s

H
Community
These health disparities are often linked to minority stress which Zamboni and
Crawford studied the effects on sexual minority African-American men (2007).
However, this study pathologizes the effects of racism through sexual problems.
Sexual problems and sexual dysfunctions are often studied in psychology, and they
consistently present certain sexualities as an anomaly. This becomes somewhat
ironic when we examine how homosexuality was categorized as deviant and a sex-
ual dysfunction through similar modes of pathologization (Foucault 1978). While
Zamboni and Crawford’s study on the negative impact of racism on African-
American sexual minority men is pivotal in outlining the negative effects of racism,
it does so through a pathological lens that suggests an aberrant reading of sexuality
(2007). In fact, many of the studies that examine the marginalization of sexual
minority men of color do so in a manner that pathologizes what is not normal. Many
studies in the realm of public health point to the prevalence of HIV in Black and
Latinx communities as an area in need of institutional intervention (Ro et al. 2013;
Han et al. 2015; Callander et al. 2016).1 Han et al. studied risk of HIV infection in
relation to racism and coping in sexual minority men of color (2015). In their find-
ings, they suggest that unprotected sex was a coping mechanism for sexual minority
men of color, along with suggesting that sexual minority men potentially engaged
in more unprotected sex as a means of avoiding sexual racism (Han et al. 2015,
417). However, Han et al.’s findings state that they “found no significant moderating
effects of coping strategies on the association between stress and UAI,” (UAI mean-
ing unprotected anal intercourse) (2015, 416). While this pathologization of sexual-
ity in relation to racism is complex due to individualizing a systematic issue, this
does not excuse the careless suggestions of assumed sexual risk. This study does
draw importance on the negative effects of racism, but it is not worth further stigma-
tizing people who engage in unprotected sex as deviant.
While there are important studies in public health that analyze sexual racism and
its effects, they do so in a way that unequally attributes sexual risk to men of color’s
unprotected sex. Analyzing this pathologizing phenomena is pertinent because this
study aims to fill a sex positive gap in the current research. Marlon M. Bailey speaks
to the negative aspects of pathologizing Black gay sex in the means of HIV preven-
tion (2016). While there is no evidence that Black sexual minority men have more
unprotected or “raw” sex than white men, there is evidence to show that the increased
1
As per the Black Feminist tradition, Black will be used as proper noun.
7 Sexing the Margins: Homonationalism in Gay Dating Apps 117
risk is due to small sociosexual communities (Bailey 2016, 242). Raw sex for Black
sexual minority men is much more stigmatized and pathologized than barebacking
is for white sexual minority men even though they are both acts of unprotected sex.
Bailey states studies “de-emphasize ‘barebacking’ as an intentional practice but
focus instead on black gay men’s engagement in unprotected anal intercourse, sug-
gesting that it is largely influenced by structural vulnerabilities and social drivers”
(2016, 246). This shows that not only does the stigma that is attached to unprotected
sex for Black sexual minority men not carry over to unprotected sex for white sexual
minority men, but also that Black sexual minority men face much more scrutiny on
an individual level due to their marginalization.
7.2.2 Heading 4: Racism Online
Since the emergence of the internet, academics have been studying the mechanics
of social structures in digital spaces. John Edward Campbell in Getting It On
Online: Cyberspace, Gay Male Sexuality, and Embodied Identity speaks to his
disagreement with the “online disembodiment thesis” (2004). The “online disem-
bodiment thesis” was a major contender in early digital humanities studies that
theorizes the internet as a space that escapes the pressures and burdens of society
(i.e. racism and sexism); therefore, these digital spaces could overcome the societal
stigmas of the body (Campbell 2004, 5). Campbell’s study finds that embodiment is
quite prevalent in online spaces. While Campbell does not extensively discuss racial
embodiment online, he does briefly analyze it and finds that racial embodiment
exists online as well. The chatrooms that he studied did not involve pictures or iden-
tifying avatars. Therefore, unless explicitly stated otherwise, chatroom users
assumed that the other users are white (Campbell 2004, 82). In a more recent study,
Senthorun Raj states that Grindr, a dating app oriented towards sexual minority
men, allows for new experiences of pleasure and eroticism through its GPS oriented
digital platform (2011). Raj argues that Grindr provides a space that allows sexual-
ity to become a practice of freedom through the possibility to develop new socio-
sexual relations that “produce multiple and differentiated forms of intimacy” (2011,
4). However, this “new” method of experiencing intimate pleasures, whether sexual
or emotional, fall victim to white supremacy and heteronormativity through a lack
of desire for those who do not pass as white, do not conform to norms of masculin-
ity, and do not fit into stereotypical beauty standards (Raj 2011). Jeffrey Q. McCune
also speaks to racial embodiment in gay online spaces in Sexual Discretion: Black
Masculinity and the Politics of Passing (2014). McCune specifically looked at how
“down low” (DL) men perform masculinity and race in these online spaces2; he
states, “Within no time, it became clear that black male bodies adjudicated them-
2
DL refers to men who are on the “down low,” or rather men who have sex with other men while
also being in a relationship with a woman.
selves in particular ways, while equally being assessed by those who were not black,
but powerfully present online” (2014, 118). This speaks to how the policing of the
self and others for these DL men is combined with the already present judgment
from white peers. These three studies of different amalgamations of queer digital
spaces all point to how societal structures of privilege and discrimination are not
limited to offline communities.
Currently the most popular and widely used forms of online dating for sexual
minority men are apps like Grindr. Their names often depend on which subgroup of
the sexual minority men’s community they are marketing to. For example: Scruff is
marketed towards scruffy men, bearded men, and the men that admire them; Growlr
is marketed towards bears, who are big burly, often hairy, men and their admirers;
Recon is marketed to men who are curious about or interested in BDSM and other
fetishes. Due to Grindr and Scruff being the most popular and most widely used,
they are currently the most studied (Mowlabocus 2010; Raj 2011; Batiste 2013;
Penny 2014; Brubaker et al. 2016). While the name of the app changes, the effect
that white supremacist heteropatriarchy has on social dynamics remains the same.
Denton Callander, Martin Holt and Christy E. Newman’s study of sexual minority
men is one of the few studies that not only analyzes racism on gay dating apps, but
also conducts interviews with some of the men who experience said sexual racism
(2016). Callander et al.’s study finds that not only is race a moderating factor to how
these gay and bisexual men navigate dating online, but also that these men rarely
confront their racist cyberbullies (2016). When they do confront their attackers, the
confrontation is more of an emotional response of racial fatigue than it is a direct
outreach to educate their peers (Callander et al. 2016). However due to the research-
ers’ field of study being epidemiology, the article often points to how these incidents
of prejudice can lead to depression and in turn leads to unprotected sex. Therefore,
their analysis of online sexual racism follows the trend of pathologizing unprotected
sex of sexual minority men of color.
7.2.3 Heading 5: Research Question
This chapter aims to not follow suit in pathologizing the sexual choices of further
marginalized sexual minority men; instead this chapter takes a sex positive approach
that aims to discuss the larger societal structures that lead to the marginalization of
these individuals. While much of the research has focused on race and racism, this
study will explore the role of multiple intersecting identities in these online spaces.
In particular, the following question will be explored: How do people navigate mar-
ginalized identities in gay dating apps? This will be done through the theoretical
framework of homonationalism. The research available has not yet engaged with
the lens of homonationalism in the context of gay dating apps; this will bring a new
perspective to analyzing the marginalization of people across race, effeminacy,
body shape, HIV status, and gender expression.
7.3 Heading 6: Theoretical Framework
Homonationalism is a combination of homonormativity and nationalism as theo-

rized by Jasbir K. Puar (2007). Puar theorizes homonationalism as an assimilated
notion of homosexuality that promotes the American empire. Puar states that “this
brand of homosexuality operates as a regulatory script not only of normative gay-
ness, queerness, or homosexuality, but also of racial and national norms that rein-
force these subjects” (2007, 2). While Puar largely uses this theory to explain the
United States “war on terror,” this chapter will focus on how homonationalism can
be seen as an amalgamation of a wide array of social structures from hegemonic
masculinity to white supremacy in order to promote the image of an ideal citizen, or
rather “reinforce these subjects” (2007, 2). This ideal citizen is then a man, white,
masculine and monogamous while promoting ideas of American patriotism and
nationalism.
By extending this notion of the ideal citizen, we can see how it promotes norma-
tive notions of health and cissexism. Cissexism assumes that all people are comfort-
able with their gender assigned at birth or rather are cisgender. These notions of
health and cissexism contribute to American perceptions of the ideal citizen in that
the iconography of patriotism is not only a man who is white, masculine, has two
kids, a partner, and a white picket fence, but is also cisgender, able bodied, has chis-
eled muscles, and does not have any chronic illnesses. While homonationalism con-
tributes to and is informed by the beauty myth, homonationalism is unique in its
demands outside of appearance and its method of upholding expectations of the
ideal citizen. We can see in the findings how this ideology contributes in the tacit-
to-violent methods of ostracizing marginalized people in the gay community (i.e.
gay men of color, gay transgender men, gay men who are deemed as being over-
weight, and more).
It is useful to theorize these various modes of discrimination (i.e. racism, trans-
phobia, fat-phobia, femmephobia, and HIV stigma) through homonationalism
because it can harken back to a connection of these toxic ideologies. These various
toxic ideologies seem to create similar outcomes of marginalization, and sometimes
objectification, despite their incredibly variant roots. I intend to dig deeper than
white supremacist heteropatriarchy as a means to try to stitch these five modes of
discrimination together. While White supremacist heteropatriarchy can answer
some of our questions surrounding toxic masculinity and racism, it leaves us want-
ing more in terms of cissexism, homonormativity, and fat-phobia. Cissexism differs
from transphobia in that it is not just the disdain or prejudice towards trans and
gender conforming people; it is the assumption that everyone is cisgender, meaning
they identify with their gender assigned at birth. For example, a white transgender
man who easily passes as a cisgender man can exhibit toxic masculinity and assimi-
late to white supremacist heteropatriarchy as long as he is not out. Even a butch
straight-passing gay man can assimilate to benefit from white supremacist heteropa-
triarchy. Homonationalism as I am theorizing it, is a more rigorous societal structure
that does not allow for simply passing or assimilating to the ideal citizen.
7.4 Heading 7: Methods
This study was approved through Westminster College’s Institutional Review Board
(IRB) in February 2017. I conducted ten in-depth qualitative interviews from March
to December 2017. Participants were entered to win one of two $50 gift cards for
queer artists Hey Rooney and Felix D’eon’s gift shops. Participants were recruited
through various social media sites via an advertisement graphic (i.e. Facebook,
Instagram, and Twitter). I posted it throughout my own social media pages, and
from there people shared it to their profiles. I also posted it to the subreddits r/Gay,
r/QueerTheory, r/Transgender, and r/Queer.3 Four of my ten participants, 40%,
heard about the research through Reddit. Two internet personalities, Chase Ross and
Lydia X. Z. Brown, shared the advertisement graphic as well. Due to this study
using interviews, the participants self-identified the aspects in which they are mar-
ginalized. The participants are either actively engaged in or recent retirees from gay
dating apps. An interview guide was followed to create consistency across inter-
views.4 However, if the participant’s response required questions pertaining to fur-
ther elaboration, they were asked additional questions to facilitate in depth analysis.
A document with the interview questions and a precursor statement was sent to the
participants before they signed the consent form.
I interviewed eight participants from various locations across the United States
and two from Canada. While Puar’s theory of homonationalism is oriented around
the United States, these methods of homonormativity and cissexism seem to be
apparent in the Canadian participants’ interactions with dating apps as well. This
may be due to the geographical proximity, the exchange of pop culture, and/or the
similar western national ideologies of white supremacy and heteronormativity. My
participants’ ages ranged from 19 to 39 with half of them in the range of 19 to 21.
The interviews ranged from 11 min to 1 hour and 5 min. As per most academic stud-
ies, my participants were mostly white (60%); the remaining four participants iden-
tified as Hispanic, Latino, African American, and “Eur-Asian” meaning they are
European and Asian. However, half of the participants were gender nonconforming
with identities ranging from trans masculine, trans feminine, trans man, gender-
queer and gender nonconforming with the other five participants identifying as cis-
gender men. My participants either identified as gay, queer or bisexual. All interviews
were transcribed and coded for themes using Dedoose qualitative software for open
coding and selective coding. While the sample size is small, the method of qualita-
tive interviews allowed for rich information that might not be gathered from a large
quantitative study.
3
r/ is the code for the topic pages of Reddit.
4
See Appendix.
7.5 Heading 8: Findings
7.5.1 Heading 9: Transphobia
While, gender nonconforming people are not the main users of these dating apps,
they do occupy space in a strategic way of being ‘closeted’ or being out on their
profiles. On dating apps such as Grindr, users are able to state their transgender
identity as a searchable trait. This means that app users can either exclude people
who outwardly identify as transgender on their profile or search exclusively for
transgender people by altering the search filters. Transphobia and cissexism show
up in a myriad of ways. Jasyn, a white, queer identified, 27-year-old, genderqueer
person, who was assigned female at birth (AFAB), describes their interaction with
these toxic ideologies by stating:
I’ve definitely had like every response you can imagine about being trans. That really runs
the gamut from like really nice things, that I still would consider to be discriminatory even
though they think they’re nice to say things like “I would never know” or “you look great in
the end, the transition is awesome!” like stuff like that […] All the way to like “you don’t
belong here” type comments. Like “what are you doing?” Like “I’m gay” you know “I
don’t want your body parts”
This range goes from seemingly micro-aggressive comments to overt ostraciza-

tion. The comments such as “I would never know” seems to point to not only that
being cisgender is the norm, but also that medically transitioning is not enough to
confirm you as a certain gender. The latter speaks to a complete dismissal of certain
bodies’ access to these gay male oriented spaces. This dismissal stems from the lack
of acknowledgement that trans masculine or AFAB gender nonconforming people
can embody and perform the same masculinity as cisgender men due to a fixation
on genitalia. Julia Serano in Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and
the Scapegoating of Femininity speaks to this cissexist obsession with genitals in
stating:
I am rather disturbed by the fact that so many people— who are neither medical profession-
als nor trans themselves— would want to hear all of the gory details regarding transsexual
physical transformations, or would feel that they have any right to ask us about the state of
our genitals (2016, 32)
Serano here speaks to the media and popular culture’s obsession with discussing the
state of gender reassignment surgery. While in this context of sex and cruising for
sex it does make sense to discuss the specifics of genitals, and it even happens often
for cisgender men (i.e. penis size, cut or uncut, etc.). However, Jasyn encountering
a statement such as “you don’t belong here” and “I don’t want your body parts”
speaks less to questions like penis size and more to dismissing someone because
their genitals do not fit into cissexist demands of a phallus.
This cissexism of reducing someone to the state of their genitalia or the presence/
absence of a surgery is commonplace in national discussions. One instance where
we can see that transphobia is state sanctioned as part of homonationalism is through
Donald Trump’s resurgence of a ban on transgender people in the military. The
ilitary is one of the corner stones of nationalism. Since the dissolution of Don’t
m
Ask, Don’t Tell gay and lesbian members of the military can now serve openly. This
dissolution seemed to accelerate homonationalism that was initiated by marriage
equality. People who were once labeled as queer and other can now assimilate and
have access to perpetuating the imperialist forces of the United States military.
There was a previous ban on transgender people in the military that was lifted in
2016. Under the previous restriction, “transgender people could be involuntarily
separated, discharged, or denied reenlistment or continuation of service just for
being transgender” (Redden and Holpuch 2016). While the new restriction will not
discharge any currently enlisted transgender members of the military, it bans people
who have taken steps to transition from enlisting (i.e. receiving a diagnosis, starting
hormone replacement therapy, or having a transitional surgery) (Block et al. 2018).
The new ban will also discharge any member who comes out as transgender since
the policy has been enacted (Block et al. 2018). The reasoning for the new restric-
tions is having transgender people in the military “could impair unit readiness;
undermine unit cohesion, as well as good order and discipline, by blurring the clear
lines that demarcate male and female standards and policies where they exist; and
lead to disproportionate costs” (Department of Defense 2018, 9). However, a pre-
ceding report, “Assessing the Implications of Allowing Transgender Personnel to
Serve Openly,” finds that an estimated less than 1% of people in the military are
transgender; the cost of healthcare coverage for transgender members of the mili-
tary would be a 0.04–0.13% increase to healthcare expenditures; and allowing
transgender military members to serve openly would have little to no effect on unit
readiness, unit cohesion, or operational effectiveness (Schafer et al. 2016). These
claims of diminished efficacy and “lethality” as stated by the United States
Department of Defense seem to be less rooted in factual basis and more due to trans-
phobia. While I am in no way arguing for the need for transgender people to be able
to enlist, this exclusion of transgender people speaks to a notion of
homonationalism.
This ban is pertinent because the United States military perpetuates nationalism
and contributes to the ideal citizen imagery. Joshua Block mirrors this sentiment
through stating in an American Civil Liberties Union article that “[e]xcluding trans
people from the military sends a powerful message that trans people are not part of
the fabric of American civic life” (2018). While Block in this article is arguing for
the unrestricted enlistment of transgender people in the military, the ideology that
this ban restricts transgender peoples access to a facet of American citizenship is
similar. It is through this state sanctioned ostracization that we can see how homona-
tionalism demands a cisgender ideal citizen.
7.5.2 Heading 10: Fetishization of Trans People
One theme that came up in all of the AFAB participants’ interviews was the fetishiza-
tion of their bodies as trans and genderqueer individuals. One white, bisexual,
37-year-old, trans male participant, Orion, stated that there are:
challenging/discriminatory aspects and then there’s the other piece where there are seem-
ingly positive experiences or people who are dialed and are knowledgeable and or excited,
right. And so, for me there’s that kind of tension between one extreme and the other. On the
one hand, you kind of have ignorant maybe not so nice people and [then there’s] the kind of
people who are really I think to some degree like so focused on being with trans men for
whatever values they consider or interests. That they’re blind to me being a human– or to
other trans guys being human. So, to me that’s kind of like I don’t know. It’s still harmful.
Right even though there’s excitement and or knowledge around it.
Orion here speaks to this wide range of interactions one might face when trans or
gender nonconforming and AFAB on dating apps. There are the responses that
Jasyn pointed towards (i.e. tacit and explicit) but there are also these moments of
objectification and fetishization. One participant Eion a white, queer identified,
19-year-old, trans masculine person reported receiving messages from people that
are 300 miles away from him and saying things like “‘Oh I’ve always wanted to like
have sex with a trans guy.” Grindr does not have a featured section of profiles like
Scruff, Recon, or Growler. These featured sections are not prioritized by geoloca-
tion, whereas in the main section of these apps profiles are ordered by distance away
from you. So, on some of these apps, depending upon the density of profiles in your
area and due to the limited number of profiles you are allowed to view at one time,
it is unlikely to view anyone more than 100 miles away. Therefore, someone would
have to use the search filters to narrow in on trans people from far away. Julia
Serano speaks to this objectifying aspect by stating cisgender people:
become hung up on, disturbed by, or obsessed over supposed discrepancies that exist
between a transsexual’s physical sex and identified gender. Most typically, such attention is
focused on a trans person’s genitals. Because objectification reduces the transsexual to the
status of a “thing,” it enables cissexuals to condemn, demonize, fetishize, ridicule, criticize,
and exploit us without guilt or remorse (2016, 186).
Serano’s description of objectification here speaks to dehumanizing the trans body

to then marginalize it further. Therefore, this seeking out and objectifying trans bod-
ies can be seen as non-consensually fetishizing their trans or gender nonconforming
experience and again reducing a transgender person to their genitals. These quotes
from Jasyn, Orion and Eoin illustrate this interesting range of interactions trans
masculine people and AFAB gender nonconforming people face on dating apps.
The range of violent interactions, from tacit to explicit and dehumanizing, are
unavoidable due to their institutionalized nature which again can been seen as state
sanctioned through the resurgence of a trans ban in the military. Three of the trans
and gender nonconforming participants mentioned facing these acts of cissexism
and transphobia regardless of how they disclosed their trans status on their profile.
Eoin spoke to this issue in saying:
the transphobia just like is kind of rampant in it and it feels like unavoidable unless it’s like
oh I just don’t put trans in [my profile] [...] and like deal with that hoop when we have to
jump through it
Eoin here speaks to navigating the stressors of putting his trans identity in his
profile. He can either put it in his profile and be sought out or not put it in his profile
and risk being let down by someone running off after they find out Eoin is trans. It
is the cissexist notion that everyone is cisgender followed by transphobia that often
leads to this sudden drop of communication.
Eoin is not the only participant who discussed a drop of communication after
coming out as transgender to a potential partner. Orion notes this “quick drop” by
stating:
I was chatting [with someone] and we were texting and just like lots of energy and lots of
excitement on both sides. And then as I told this guy over the phone that I’m trans, the
energy that left with the speed was amazing. […] [It] just kind of really amazed me that you
know from one moment such intense focus energy on me to poof just gone, ghosted.
Orion here is noting how, even when he does not put that he is trans in his profile,
there can be this negative outcome of rejection. While we all face rejection in these
spaces of dating and intimacy, this instance of rejection seems to be purely because
he is trans. This further reiterates how there can be this explicit ostracization of trans
and gender nonconforming people in these areas of homonationalism that stems
from state sanctioned ideologies. This is due to the unrealistic demands of homona-
tionalist masculinity and cissexist embodiment because AFAB people are seen as
not male enough due to their assumed genital configuration; moreover, physically
transitioning does not allow one to overcome this ostracization because the mere
fact that Orion is transgender is what caused the sudden drop. This homonationalist
mode of discrimination through objectification is not limited to white transgender
men; we can also see how this objectification appears for cisgender men of color.
7.5.3 Heading 11: Racism
Congruent with past research and the intracommunitydialogue, racism was apparent
in the participants’ online interactions. Six out of ten participants discussed the rac-
ism they have seen on these various apps. One African American participant, Milo,
a 21-year-old, gay, gender nonconforming person, while discussing the discrimina-
tion he faces stated:
it’s just kind of more of like a novelty thing. I think you know, when they’re just like “oh
like you’re exotic” or “oh you’re like my fantasy” and to me […] that’s just annoying.
Because it’s like I’m not your fantasy. I’m not your like, you know […] rare animal.
Milo here speaks to how those who do not fit into homonationalist demands often
face various methods of ostracization. Those who are racially marginalized face
exotification as a certain method of omission that paints them as sexualized com-
modities or “rare animals”. These acts of exotification are a product of institutional-
ized racism, and stem from a socially constructed narrative created by slave masters
to justify treating Black men, and women, as cattle (Morgan 2004). This fictitious
narrative of African diasporic people being more animal than white people is what
allowed for the enslavement of Black individuals (Morgan 2004). Institutionalized
racism both is informed by and informs homonationalism through white suprema-

cist ideologies and practices. While white supremacy is also state sanctioned we can
see that homonationalism is unique in how it sees the gay other. Puar theorizes
homonationalism through the United States’ vilification of the racial other as being
antigay and therefore heterosexual (2007). In this instance when the racial other is
gay, the only way they can be granted space is through objectification. The racial
other is then only able to exist in these homonationalist spaces as a subject who is
exotified and dehumanized. Whereas white supremacy does not make space for
people of color; regardless of whether or not they are objectified people of color are
not acknowledged.
Milo later stated that he expects these objectifying demands from Grindr; how-
ever, that the modes of exotification are unavoidable:
first things first is like […] “oh hey how big is your dick” you know and it’s like ok really?
like wow. Like alright we’re going there. OK. So, I mean it’s like-it’s things like that, but
then again, I am also […] like “hey” you know [pff] “this is what this app is,” but […] it’s
definitely something that’s always going to follow me, like whether I want to like dip in or
dip out, you know.
Milo speaks to the invasive and inescapable nature of institutionalized racism in

how stereotypes of Black men are sought after in dating apps. Black men face this
exotification through the trope of a large penis and the stereotype of being hyper-
sexual. Darieck Scott speaks to this in his article “Big Black Beauty: Drawing and
Naming the Black Male Figure in Superhero and Gay Porn Comics” (2014). Scott
discusses how Black men in pornographic gay comics are often portrayed as having
“big black dicks” (2014, 195). These tropes of Black men often have “their beauty
[...] bound up with, or at least cannot be extricated from, familiar racist images of
black male hypersexuality” (Scott 2014, 194). Scott here states that these imposed
performances of Black men exist in gay male culture, especially through porno-
graphic imagery. Again, we can see how the “racial other” when gay is only given
space to be exotified and consumed.
Previous studies analyzed sexual racism in partner preference (Ro et al. 2013;
Duke et al. 2011), but these acts of exotification speak to more than just preference.
While racism is a complex social structure and is in no way reduced to simply one
theory, homonationalism can help us understand a segment of racism as it reacts to
a gay people of color. Homonationalism as theorized by Puar includes segments of
white supremacy in order to not only other, but also to foster violence towards
brown people through the racial other; while Puar theorizes homonationalism spe-
cifically toward Arab nations, this violence created by homonationalism can be seen
in the dehumanization in combination with objectification (2007). This differs from
white supremacy in that in white supremacy there is no acknowledgement of people
of color and there is no space for objectification. Moreover, white supremacism
does not allow for a gay subject due to their inability to continue the production of
the white race.
7.5.4 Heading 12: Femmephobia
Femmephobia, as theorized by Karen L. Blair and Rhea Ashley Hoskin, is a method

of oppression used to uphold “proper womanhood” and penalize any queered
notions of femininity (2014). In other words, it is used to discuss the dislike or
prejudice of femmes, effeminate men, and feminine presenting and acting people
who do not perform for a heterosexual gaze (Blair and Hoskin 2014). In this study,
femmephobia will be used to discuss the prejudice and dislike of effeminate men
and feminine acts. In the sexual minority men’s community femmephobia typically
appears as an abhorrence to stereotypical “gay” things such as liking musicals, limp
wrists, sounding effeminate (i.e. a higher pitched voice or a feminine cadence),
dressing in clothing considered to be for women and much more. This disdain for
that which is deemed as feminine continues into these spaces of intimacy. The intra-
community dialogue points to a certain phenomenon in which femmephobic guys
state “masc4masc” in their profiles meaning that they are a masculine guy looking
for other masculine guys. One participant, John a white, 20-year-old, gay, cisgender
man, spoke to the discrimination he faces when encountering femmephobia.
John stated:
for the gay community though it’s definitely like how effeminate you are or not. Like people
like always want to ask like what does your voice sound like–or like do people think you’re
like gay off the start.
This is intriguing because so often the discussion critiquing femmephobia

revolves around the toxic masculinity of the phrase “masc4masc” and does not dis-
cuss the methods of testing effeminacy outside of appearance. In these digital
spaces, potential partners do not have the ability to observe the identifiers of femi-
ninity. Whether digital or offline, this hunt for the most masculine partner is not
new. Peter Hennen in Faeries, Bears, and Leathermen: Men in Community Queering
the Masculine discusses the desirability of masculinity in gay communities. Hennen
discusses the emergence of the “clone” aesthetics of hypermasculinity (i.e. con-
struction worker, military man, and cowboy) in the early 1970s of Greenwich
Village. He states “[m]en who adopted the clone look repudiated femininity” (2008,
12). Whereas in the twenty-firstcentury, “as gay men increasingly seek out other
men who are ‘straight acting and appearing,’ they distance themselves even further
from [a] disruptive gender practice” (2008, 13). Hennen here states not only that
these construction clones desire and pursue the masculine, but also that they loathe
the feminine. These construction clones are currently materializing as masc4masc
clones, and they continue to disdain the feminine. This can be seen in how before
John and a potential partner even meet up, there is an anti-femme screening process.
This femininity screening process can also be seen in John’s interactions with a
certain man from Tinder. John stated:
he was just like so concerned like that like I was going to get seen with him and it was like
bring up questions […] like “oh like how effeminate are you? Like do you do this? Do you
do that? Do you sound like this? Do you sound like that?”. So, I think like it correlates
maybe to like being less secure in your own sexuality in a public sense. So, like how con-
cerned you are on public image too.
John’s quote here not only speaks to this investigation of femininity, but also to
how this plays into fragile masculinity. John pointed to how this screening process
to find a degree of femininity might be an aspect of the investigator being closeted
or immature. While that might contribute to a degree of the obsession with how
feminine a potential partner is, there seems to be a deeper issue. Fragile masculinity
plays into this policing of femininity through the fact that this masc4masc clone
does not want to be seen with someone who is effeminate. This masc4masc clone,
due to their fragile masculinity, does not want to participate in a “disruptive gender
practice” as Hennen says (2008, 13). While fragile masculinity functions as a tool
of homonationalism through its privileging of that which is masculine and male, we
can also theorize homonationalism through a failed masculinity. Puar mentions
throughout Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times how the
United States vilifies Muslim men through notions of femininity and positions them
in opposition to the homonationalist subject (2007). One example of this is juxtapo-
sition is how Mark Bingham’s homosexuality was portrayed as “butch, masculine,
rugby player, white, American, hero, gay patriot, called his mom (i.e., homona-
tional), while negative connotations of homosexuality were used to racialize and
sexualize Osama bin Laden: feminized, stateless, dark, perverse, pedophilic, dis-
owned by family (i.e., fag)” (Puar 2007, 46).5 While outside of the context of bin
Laden the other negative connotations of homosexuality like dark, perverse, pedo-
philic and disowned by family are not applicable femininity still stands as being in
direct opposition to the homonationalist desires of an ideal citizen. This function of
homonationalism manifest on dating apps in forms of lack of desire for that which
performs or embodies a certain level of femininity.
7.5.5 emmephobia or Misogyny? The Disregard

F
of the Feminine
While Jasyn’s previously mentioned quote of “I don’t want your body parts” in a
way speaks to this phenomenon of a disregard of the feminine that we saw in
femmephobia but more complex. Gay men often express vehement disgust and dis-
regard for what society deems as a vagina. BriaAndChrissy is a YouTube channel
produced by a lesbian couple, Bria and Chrissy. In January 2016, they put out a
video titled “Gay Men Touch Vagina For The First Time!” in which gay men touch
a cisgender woman’s vagina for the first time. In the beginning the men are describ-
ing how they feel about vaginas in general by saying things like “Am I going to fall
into it,” “Just hope I don’t lose a finger,” and “[it’s a] black hole ∗sucking in sound∗”
(2016). One man even screams in shock and/or terror, laughs and blocks his eyes
from the woman’s vagina and then describes it as a squid. While all of the above
5
Mark Bingham was one of the passengers killed on September 11, 2001.
horrid and terrible things are being said Stevie Boebi, who was the woman who
volunteered for this video, is laughing and smiling. She later said that she really
enjoyed the interaction and educating these men. After Stevie puts her underwear
back on, one of the men said, “it’s really not as terrifying as I was anticipating”
(2016). The reference of this clip is not meant to categorize AFAB people’s genitals
as a vagina, but rather to show how misogyny arises in the gay men’s community. It
is not just a lack of attraction to that which is deemed as a vagina but a vehement
disregard, or rather misogyny. Now what does this look like when the recipient of
that prejudice is does not identify as a woman? Some people refer to this hatred of
the feminine as femmephobia, but we are going to complicate that.
There is a certain aspect of the gay men’s community in which all that is deemed
as feminine is shunned. Jasyn explained another encounter they had on a dating app:
recently, I had a guy say to me your beard–this is the first message– “Your beard looks like
it was attached with spirit gum. #trans face.” And I said, “you are literal human trash.” And
he said, “now, don’t get all hysterical female on me”.
While this encounter of Jasyn’s does speak to a very violent act of transphobia,
it is also a vehement exclusion of the feminine. If this user had said “now, don’t get
all hysterical female on me” to someone who identifies as a woman, that would be
misogyny, but instead this was said to a genderqueer person. Which raises the ques-
tion, does misogyny, in order to be misogyny, have to be aimed at someone who
identifies as a woman? I think not. Misogyny adheres to a cissexist gender binary
where gender nonconforming AFAB people can be subject to the same disdain for
the feminine.6 A hatred for the feminine can be seen in femmephobia, but femme-
phobia does not tackle this more extreme ostracization; femmephobia seems to be
more of a tacit discrimination while misogyny is much more vehement.
These two instances, the hatred of that which is deemed as a vagina and calling
someone a “hysterical female,” point to a certain type of homonormative toxic mas-
culinity that does not allow for the slightest resemblance of feminine embodiment.
The misogyny that is apparent in these instances of ostracization in homonormative
spaces differs from heteronormativity in that femmes or AFAB people are not given
space in an erotic setting. Whereas in heteronormative spaces, cisgender women or
people who are AFAB and feminine are typically invited into an erotic space only to
be sexualized and objectified. The similarities in heteronormative and homonorma-
tive toxic masculinities lies within their disregard for queered femininities in
erotic spaces.
6
Furthermore, we can see how this comes into play with trans women and the term trans-misog-
yny; since it is the combination of transphobia and misogyny that disdains the trans feminine due
to the cissexist formation of misogyny.
7.5.6 Heading 13: Fat-Phobia
Fat-phobia is the term used to describe a certain disdain or prejudice towards people
who are deemed as overweight. This study does not aim to discuss what qualifies
someone as overweight, but rather how weight and physique play into who is desired
in these digital spaces of dating and hooking up. Kathleen LeBesco and Jana Evens
Braziel’s book Bodies out of Bounds: Fatness and Transgression set up the theory
of societal fat-phobia as a “commodification of thinness” through a sex symbol as
“the pinup beauty marketed in glossy shots, calendar photographs, centerfolds, and
advertisements for virtually all products” (2001, 6). Whereas the fat body is posi-
tioned as grotesque, undesirable and in need of medical or dietary intervention
(LeBesco and Braziel 2001). LeBesco and Braziel’s theory of fat-phobia points to
how certain bodies are portrayed as being attractive.
In the same way that users can state their transgender identity as a searchable
trait, users can quantify their weight as a trait that can either be sought out or filtered
out. This means that the app users can either exclude people who are above 200
pounds or search for only men who are between 150 and 160 pounds by altering the
search filters. One participant, Jim a white 21-year-old gay cisgender man, set his
weight to a hypothetical number to test what that one might face on Grindr if they
were fat. Jim stated:
I’ve definitely found a lot of the […] tags give far more attention than others even in weight
range like certain weight ranges. I was kind of fucking around on Grindr once and I just […]
went ahead and set my weight range to like 210, I think I set it at. […] And nobody mes-
saged me for like a week.
While Jim identifies as slim, in changing his app info to a higher weight to test
the responses of his fellow Grindr users, speaks to the encounters, or rather lack of
encounters, that people who are deemed as fat might face. This lack of engagement
with people of a certain weight elicits fat-phobia. This instance of what is and isn’t
desirable as described by LeBesco and Braziel is re-illustrated by Jim’s quote
(2001). However, this qualification of desire does not simply exclude certain bodies
from finding potential partners.
Fat-phobia can and does create violent outcomes amongst those who are margin-
alized by it. Jim states that his friend has:
some serious body image issues. He’s not fat at all. He’s not really as skinny as me but he’s
definitely not fat. And he, every time somebody will like randomly block him or disappear
without telling him why he’s like so sure that it’s because he’s too fat. […] I think that, that
is absolutely ridiculous because. He’s– He’s not. He is very proportionate actually.
While Jim’s denial of his friend’s interactions of possible fat-phobia, to an extent,

erases his friend’s experience, it also points to certain body monitoring and dissat-
isfaction that is indicative of the internalization of fat-phobia. Marcie C. Wiseman
and Bonnie Moradi, in their study “Body Image and Eating Disorder Symptoms in
Sexual Minority Men: A Test and Extension of Objectification Theory” found that
there are certain connections between seeing these ideal bodies and developing an
eating disorder. Wiseman and Moradi state that the “internalization of cultural
standards of attractiveness mediated the link of sexual objectification experiences
with body surveillance; body surveillance mediated the link of internalization with
body shame; and body shame mediated the link of body surveillance with eating
disorder symptoms” (2010, 162). This means that in this sample of 231 sexual
minority men, the experience of having eating disorder symptoms was linked
through internalizing what popular culture upholds as sexy, but on the path to devel-
oping an eating disorder they can experience body surveillance and body shame.
Therefore the “body image issues” that Jim states his friend has can be seen as a
result of viewing and internalizing the homogeneous images of beauty. Due to
images idealizing a muscular and stereotypically “fit” body in the ideal citizen, this
method of fat-phobia can be seen as a tool of homonationalism. This tool produces
the explicit violence of body shame and eating disorders along with the tacit vio-
lence of a lack of desire for that which is deemed as fat.
The demand for a fit ideal citizen can be seen in Marcia Chamberlain’s chapter
“Oscar Zeta Acosta’s Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo” Chamberlain discusses
the move in the 1950’s to the 1970’s for social control over fatness. Chamberlain
refers to the ideal citizen though the imagery of the American dream in stating, “the
American imperative to reach for the dream of the perfect body, a body increasingly
represented in ideal terms” (2001, 100). Chamberlain goes on to state that in the
1970s common language even referred to America as a nation dived in two: one thin
and one fat (2001, 100). Homonationalism allows us to look into how this national-
ist fat-phobia is imbedded in gay spaces through a lack of desire. These homona-
tionalist demands of a toned muscular body is similar to the demands of a masculine
performance and embodiment, in that, the tacit nature of lack of desire is what is
ostracizing. Aside from bodies deemed fat, people living with HIV are also margin-
alized for their deviance from what is deemed “healthy.”
7.5.7 Heading 14: HIV Stigma
HIV stigma refers to the discrimination and prejudice towards people who are living
with HIV. There has been exponential medical and social progress surrounding HIV
and AIDS since the 1980s pandemic. Some of the fairly recent medical and social
keystones have been the implementation of PrEP and PEP, along with the announce-
ment that U=U. U=U refers to the recent announcement by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention that undetectable is untransmittable; undetectable refers to
a viral load that is lower than 200 copies/ml, and if someone is undetectable they
cannot sexually transmit HIV (Prevention Access Campaign 2017). PrEP is an acro-
nym for pre-exposure prophylaxis; regularly taking Truvada, a pre-exposure pro-
phylaxis, an HIV negative person can reduce their risk of seroconversion up to 92%
as stated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC 2017). PEP is an
acronym for post-exposure prophylaxis; PEP is similar to a Plan B or morning after
pill in that it can be taken 72 hours after a high-risk event (CDC 2017).
While these keystone progressions have and will help reduce HIV stigma, it is
still very apparent. Two participants described facing HIV stigma. One participant
Ken a white 39-year-old gay cisgender man, described his first few encounters
with stigma:
When I became, you know, positive that was when it started becoming a real problem. I
think I didn’t realize how, how ignorant people are.
Ken then goes on to describe how the sex parties he hosts are flagged when he posts
them on Craiglist:
The worst is on Craigslist. I think. Because when I, when I post about my party on Craigslist
half of the time it gets flagged as being inappropriate. Simply because I put that HIV posi-
tive men are welcome. And I get all kinds of nasty emails from people saying, “that’s dis-
gusting,” “you’re just spreading your disease,” “How could you be doing a party like that?”
And, and it’s like people are so rude.
Ken’s experiences with HIV stigma point to an amalgamation of HIV stigma and
“slut shaming.” While slut shaming is typically studied as a “condemnation aimed
at presumably sexually active females” (Pickle and Gentry 2017, 1), it can also be
seen in how people respond to Ken’s parties, particularly in the phrase “you’re just
spreading your disease.” This phrase is a combination of HIV stigma and slut sham-
ing through their ignorance to the fact that people who are undetectable cannot
sexually transmit HIV, and the covert demand that people living with HIV not
have sex.
While this demand of people living with HIV seems illogical when looking at the
current medical and social progress, this combination of HIV stigma and sex nega-
tivity is state sanctioned. There are 33 states with laws that criminalize people with
HIV, and these laws typically criminalize someone for not disclosing their status
with a sexual partner or someone they are sharing a needle with (Lehman et al.
2014, 1001). The actions that someone can be are penalized for range from minute
low risk actions like biting and mutual masturbation to higher risk actions like vagi-
nal and anal sex (Lehman et al. 2014, 1001). Lehman et al. in their 2014 study
“Prevelance and Public Health Implications of State Laws that Criminalize Potential
HIV Exposure in the United States” analyzed all of the laws that relate to the crimi-
nalization of people with HIV in the United States and the District of Columbia.
Lehman et al. states that “many laws do not distinguish between behaviors that pose
higher, lower, or negligible HIV transmission risk and rarely take into account fac-
tors that alter transmission risk, such as condom use, ART or PrEP,” (2014, 1004).7
This study took place in 2014 and cited having an undetectable viral load as lower-
ing the probability of transmission by 96%, as opposed to the recent 100% declara-
tion; along with citing PrEP as lowering the probability of transmission by 44% for
sexual minority men and 67% for heterosexual couples, as opposed to the current
92% for all amalgamations of gendered couples (Lehman et al. 2014, 1002). Given
the current status of medical knowledge and technology surrounding HIV transmis-
7
ART refers to a cocktail of medications that can be taken to lower a person living with HIV’s viral
load.
sion, these laws that were created to deter people living with HIV from seroconvert-
ing their partners, through sex or using a needle, seem to perpetuate HIV stigma
rather than diminish stigma or educate the high-risk modes of HIV transmission.
HIV stigma can be seen as a contributor to homonationalism through its demand for
a “healthy” ideal citizen that does not have a chronic illness. This penalizing those
who are living with HIV through outdated notions of HIV transmission further
points to how people living with HIV are ostracized through the unrealistic expecta-
tions of homonationalism, along with how HIV stigma and sex negativity are state
sanctioned.
7.6 Discussion
Results from this study revealed how homonationalism comes into play with peo-
ple’s interactions on dating apps. However, one instance where these engagements
do not coincide with homonationalism is monogamy. More than half of the partici-
pants spoke about how Grindr was casual sex focused and was not the way to find
your “one true love.” With marriage equality being legal across the United States,
same gender marriage has been state sanctioned. Due to this sanctioning, same gen-
der marriage can now be seen in the same tropes of monogamy that populate various
capitalistic commercials that preach a proper happy citizen. Therefore, marriage
and subsequently monogamy is an aspect of homonationalism. A lack of monogamy
in these dating apps spurs from these apps being mostly used for casual sex; there-
fore, if someone is in a monogamous relationship they wouldn’t be on these apps or
at least open about their interactions on dating apps. Monogamy was not the only
way in which the interviews strayed from the theory.
One participant, Orion, was adamant that the challenging interactions he faced
on apps was not discrimination. Instead, he saw them as simply that, challenges.
Here Orion states that cisgender men need to know about trans men in order to dis-
criminate against them:
However, a lot of it is pure ignorance. And so, as a result for me the term of discrimination
connotes some sort of intentionality, not always, I know that there are instances where one
can be unintentionally discriminatory. But for me to use that label in my context you know
cis guy would need to know about me.
Orion states that transgender men are so largely invisible to cisgender men that
this interaction cannot be analogous to other forms of discrimination (i.e. racism or
fat-phobia). Orion argues that discrimination is much more deliberate than the igno-
rant encounters he has. However, it seems more complex than simple ignorance.
Orion mentioned how often he has to educate these cisgender men that trans men
can be the penetrator during sex. This lack of imagination on behalf of the cisgender
men points to yes, a willful ignorance, but also a reduction of trans men’s bodies.
While that may just be from a lack of knowledge, it’s not as if these cisgender men
did not know what a prosthetic penis (i.e. a dildo) is. Regardless, it is Orion’s resis-
tance to stating these instances are discrimination that is intriguing.
Similar to Orion, not all of the participants used the word discrimination when
discussing their interactions online. Only half of the participants identified those
interactions as discrimination. The remaining half often pointed to how some of
their peer’s faced worse prejudice and subsequently did experience discrimination.
This hierarchy of what is and is not a level of discrimination could speak to hege-
monic masculinity. A lack of displaying their hurt and frustration in these challeng-
ing situations might speak to the traditional gender roles of “boys don’t cry.”
However due to me interviewing them, it could be more of a self-editing technique
of stating that they don’t face all of the modes of marginalization and therefore do
not face discrimination; or at least how they might have suspected I would define
discrimination.
7.6.1 Limitations
While this study had a disproportionate percentage of gender nonconforming peo-

ple, it also mostly consisted of white people. Due to this study’s small sample size
and lack of racial diversity, it cannot accurately depict all people who inhabit these
digital spaces. There was one participant who spoke first-hand about their experi-
ences facing discrimination through trans-misogyny and ableism; however, due to
Miss Andry, a Eur-Asian, 28-year-old, queer, trans feminine person being the only
participant to discuss trans-misogyny and ableism, relying on one participant’s nar-
rative seemed unethical. While similar structures of femmephobia and misogyny
came into up in Miss Andry’s interview, they faced much more ostracization and
exotification than other participants. Moreover, Miss Andry was the only participant
who identified feminine of center. When taking into consideration the social forces
faced by a feminine of center person on a dating app like Grindr, an app oriented for
men who have sex with men, their experience seemed to skew some of the impor-
tant and pressing issues that Miss Andry faced.
7.7 Heading 15: Future Research
Future research should examine how people who are feminine of center navigate
these gay male oriented dating apps; along with whether trans feminine people’s
experiences align with or diverge from trans masculine people’s experiences. Due
to my familiarity and access to these gay male oriented digital spaces, I limited this
study to individuals who used similar apps. Future research should study app that
are oriented to queer women like PinkCupid, Ldate, HER, and FindHrr. Future
research should also have more people from a variety of identities and experiences.
A large quantitative study could yield some very interesting results as to if a large
amount of sexual minority men feel as though these acts of marginalization are
discrimination or not. It would also be interesting to look at how dating websites
and dating apps differ, if at all.
Heading 16: Appendix: Document Sent to Participants
Foreword: Participation in this study is voluntary. If at any time you feel uncomfort-
able, you may ask to stop, take a break, or skip a question. All responses are confi-
dential. Your name will not be used in the study. You may either pick your alias or
you will be assigned an alias. All of the information you provide will be coded with
this alias. Only those directly involved with this study will have access to the data
collected. Do you mind if I record this interview?
Alias:
Age:
Race:
Orientation:
Gender Identity:
You don’t have to disclose anything if you don’t want to, but what are your
thoughts on the stats on profiles (i.e. height, weight, top/bottom, etc.)?
How has your interaction with dating apps changed over time?
How has your profile changed overtime?
What advice would you give to yourself if you could travel back in time to
the first day you signed up for a dating app?
What kind of discrimination do you face on dating apps? (i.e. in relation to health,
pertaining to beauty standards, in relation to health, and more).
How does it differ from interactions you have had in person?
How do you react to these spaces of discrimination?
When you choose to engage or not why do you do it? Do you typically engage?
Do you find places of healing online?
Do you find spaces of healing offline?
Do you ever talk to anyone about the discrimination you face?
What is one positive experience to come out of your use of dating apps?
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Chapter 8
Becoming Non-binary: An Exploration
of Gender Work in Tumblr
Megan Sharp and Barrie Shannon
8.1 Introduction
In the field of social inquiry, gender has been a long debated, theorized and critiqued
series of classification systems. Notable theorists in the fields of gender have gener-
ated invaluable knowledges like performativity (Butler 1990, 1993), hegemonic
masculinity (Connell 2005) and effemimania (Serano 2016) to problematize the
gender binary. The disciplines of psychology, psychiatry, sociology and anthropol-
ogy have divided opinions of what it means to have gender; to embody and display
it, to accept or refute it. Often these interdisciplinary accounts of gendered bodies
further erase those who exist outside (or entirely inside) a binary achievement of
femaleness/maleness.
Very little literature has been published academically to illuminate non-binary
people as valid subjects of gendered critique. Some medical teams focusing on gen-
der have quantified data suggesting that the prevalence of non-binary people is
increasing (Hage and Karim 2000; Nieder and Richter-Appelt 2011) however this
may be due to those who would previously note their gender as exclusively trans
now being afforded new categories in the field of health research. A recently pub-
lished article by Richards et al. (2016) gives a succinct but thorough review of litera-
ture concerning non-binary people from a psychiatric discipline, nodding to the
social sciences throughout. The article also provides a general, but in no way
exhaustive, definition of non-binary identities.
Some people may identify as predominantly male, but with aspects of the ‘other’ gender
and use the identity term ‘male’ generally; or may identify as predominantly female, but
M. Sharp (*)
The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
e-mail: megan.sharp@unimelb.edu.au
B. Shannon
University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29855-5_8
138 M. Sharp and B. Shannon
with aspects of the ‘other’ gender and use the identity term ‘female’ generally – but both
groups of people may define additionally as ‘genderqueer’ when necessary – for example
in accepting environments or when neither a male nor female identity suits (Richards et al.
2016: 95).
It is important to note here that this reading of ‘non-binary’ should not assume
that gender takes place between two concrete categories of man/woman, nor should
it seek to whitewash understandings of non-binary gender that can be found within
various non-Western contexts. As researchers, we use the identity categories which
people assign to themselves while also engaging with the multiplicity of some non-
Western gender expressions.
The ambition of this chapter is to provide a snapshot of non-binary identities as
they aredone (West and Zimmerman 1987) in Tumblr in a day-to-day context. The
purpose of such examination brings forth a qualitative analysis of non-binary peo-
ple’s experiences in various ways of becoming (Deleuze and Guattari 1987).
Becoming is used in this chapter to describe a discursive nexus of conjugated affects,
embodiments, feelings and doings. The lived experience of non-binary identities
can be looked upon as corporeal acts of ‘doing’ (West and Zimmerman 1987) and
performativity (Butler 1990, 1993) constituted in a space of marginality – in this
case, the stifling heteronormativity of social media platforms. By repositioning
non-binary people as curators of virtual words, rather than being constrained by
them, the queer(ed) and non-binary body textualizes virtual spaces and brings them
into doing workin physical place. Secret Facebook groups, blogs, events, selfies,
hashtags and digital zines as well as structured queer media become vehicles for
non-binary space and identity making. These people shape the internet, rather than
being shaped by it. Abidin (2016) explains that by taking for granted the internet as
a space which illuminates visibility, identity and connection, the diverse and
nuanced experiences of young people’s lives risks erasure. Abidin (2016) uses the
term ‘subversive frivolity’ to contextualize how young women social media influ-
encers use selfies to generate social and economic capital. She defines it as ‘the
under-visibilized and under-estimated generative power of an object or practice
arising from its discursive framing as marginal, inconsequential, and unproductive’
(p. 2). In this chapter, we seek to highlight the populist dismissal of young peoples’
gender work on sites like Tumblr as an example of how subversive frivolities can
allow digital queer subcultures to thrive ‘under the radar’. We posit that online sites
should be viewed as cultures, visual and reflexive; where bodies, affects, times and
practices converge as doings beyond the implicit narcissism of online engagement
that is often relayed in public discourse.
8.2 Theory and Methods
We intend here to describe the potentiality of non-binary experiences to build com-

munities of solidarity and resilience across virtual and physical spaces. Qualitative,
semi-structured interview data collected from 2015 to 2017, with 15 participants
8 Becoming Non-binary: An Exploration of Gender Work in Tumblr 139
aged between 19 and 25 has been composed from two larger projects and is used to
demonstrate the key themes which informants purport to be integral to their becom-
ing. The projects, one of which explores young, queer people’s engagement in
Australian punk scenes, and the other sex education for trans and gender diverse
young people in Australia, converged at points of discussion around safe(r) spaces,
collectivism, role modelling and liminality. The excerpts presented within the chap-
ter form part of a broad discussion about gender, friendship, role modelling and
curation in general. Many of the stories recorded below form part of longer field-
work conversations with gender non-conforming people about contemporary west-
ern feminism. Some of our informants identified as trans non-binary and we have
noted this throughout; we do not assume that these identity categories are inter-
changeable and we seek to include a diverse range of informant narratives within
the data analysis.
We find that the disentangling of identity curation from feminism and body poli-
tics seems to be unattainable. In the narratives collected, we found that online and
bodily record-keeping is a primary mode of ‘identity curation’ for non-binary peo-
ple. The term identity curation emphasizes the way that non-binary people synthe-
size the representations they put forward in social worlds, and simultaneously use to
(re)form their identities. ‘Curation’ may connote a considered particularity to the
kinds of embodiments one chooses to perform, however the term also recognizes
the embedded autonomy of living a queer life. By piecing together various forms of
symbolism, communication and information, queers construct identities and
embodiments that are representative of their most desired self.
Re-conceptualizing gender as non-binary is intended to reduce enforced binary
gender display in identity construction. Recognition of iconoclastic non-binary and
non-conforming flexibilities of gender resignifies bodies as sites of resistance to
dominant norms, much like the concept of women as subversive signifiers in tradi-
tionally masculine spaces. In this regard ‘bodies are queer(ed) in these spaces through
radical (re)thinkings, (re)drawings, (re)conceptualisations, (re)mappings’ (Browne
2006: 88). It seems possible that the playfulness with gender observed among young
non-binary people signifies not only their understanding of social norms but their
desire to disrupt homogenous gender performance, thus problematizing how identity
is constructed. In such transformations, we glimpse the futurity of non-binary world-
making along the lines suggested by Stone (2013: p. 1652) where ‘identities could
be flexible and bodies could have shifting signification. Bodies did not cease to mat-
ter, but they became resignified’. In a qualitative study of transgender inclusion
within queer spaces, Stone (2013) analyzes Warner’s (1993) theoretical model of
‘the idealized queer’ to better understand the meaning of queer space in relation to
queer(ed) bodies. The idealized queer refers to the utopian notion that ‘queers are
resolutely non- binary, aware of multiple intersections of social injustice, and have a
nuanced understanding of their own stigmatization’ (Stone 2013: p. 1648). From this
work, the embedded heteronormative gendering of everyday social engagement is
recognized as presenting a challenge for queer spaces, which seek to disrupt and
breakdown binary expressions of gender, to create open or free space where gender
signifiers are flexible (Stone 2013: p. 1654).
Experiences of embodying a non-binary or some other gender diverse identity

can be described as liminal phenomena. Victor Turner’s (1974) notion of liminality
refers to the space between and around socially regulated identity markers. Though
he refers here to specific ritualized processes of becoming, theorists have found his
theory useful in analyzing the lived experience of ‘gender outlaws’ (Bornstein 1994
in Siebler 2016) whose gendered embodiment falls outside of hegemonic standards
and regulations. Dentice and Dietert (2015) describe the process by which transgen-
der people become liminal beings as they ‘leave’ the confines of the gender they
were assigned at birth. Trans and non-binary people may demonstrate this departure
by adopting new aesthetics, choosing a new name and pronouns or pursuing legal or
medical transition pathways. For some, the goal of leaving one gender may be to
assimilate comfortably into another, living unscrutinized within the male-female
binary. For many trans and non-binary people, however, this is not always possible
or preferable. By moving between gender categories, around them, or by seeking to
dismantle them entirely, trans and non-binary people represent a liminal state
of being.
8.3 inding Digital Spaces as Resistance/Resilience/

F
Solidarity
We know that transgender people face high levels of victimization in everyday life
(Namaste 2000; Lombardi et al. 2002; Hill and Willoughby 2005; Doan 2007).
Therefore, there is a nuance to space-making for trans people in that embodied cul-
tural capital (Bourdieu 1986; Skeggs et al. 2004; Stryker 2006) is acquired through
affective interactions which make transpeople hypervisible, particularly in hetero-
normative contexts. From trans hypervisibility comes the risk of being outed, vic-
timized or oppressed in online scenes. Like any other group, digital spaces afford
non-binary people the opportunity to curate a place where belonging/becoming/
community building and identity (un)making can be attempted and achieved. Juliet
(participant, 24) reflects on their experiences of realizing their non-binary identity,
claiming that ‘a large part of it was exposure and meeting other trans people on the
internet, primarily on Tumblr’ (Juliet, 24). Juliet highlights the malleability offered
by the Tumblr landscape to non-binary people and how the platform is (re)shaped
by the bodies that enter and exit it. Some of the most prevalent examples provided
by participants were the ability to make and re-make safe(r) spaces,1 the ability to
locate and curate a non-binary identity and Tumblr as place where visual, textual
and auditory representations of non-binary people can be tried out/tried on.
What is particular about Tumblr for non-binary people is that it provides a sense
of belonging without the requirement of users to generate original content or have a
1
The (r) in safe(r) spaces acknowledges that no space is ever holistically safe as individual experi-
ences define safety as exhaustingly individual.
public profile attached to their name. Unlike other social media platforms such as
Facebook and Instagram, where display of ones ‘authentic self’ is the premise for
participation, Tumblr provides a platform where content can viewed, repeated,
expanded, archived and revisited beyond the bounds of time and space. For exam-
ple, Helen (participant) states ‘I guess Tumblr feels a little more anonymous for me,
I mostly just follow queer stuff so that it’s all I see, and I reblog so I can go back to
it.’ Helen’s reflection on their use of Tumblr also suggests a collaborative effort on
behalf of those creating and sharing content. This cycle of knowledge generation is
assembled by users themselves and therefore represents a community of practice, as
opposed to some other platforms which monitor word count, content format and
display. In this way, we theorize the epistemological meanings of online engage-
ment with a specific focus on the queer doing of togetherness; relationship mainte-
nance, visibility work, (re)claiming credibility and dismantling gendered boundaries
located in online scenes.
Juliet (participant, 24) who identifies as trans non-binary, ‘just happened’ upon
Tumblr after thinking about her own relationship with gender and sexuality,
In terms of understanding my gender identity and coming to terms with it, it was entirely
Tumblr, and it was mostly just by chance. I didn’t seek out other trans people, but it just
happened that I was following them when they came out, and I followed them through their
transitions (Juliet, 24).
For Juliet, her access to knowledge about critical gender pedagogies came exclu-
sively from Tumblr and so her connection to the microblogging platform remains
strongly held, regardless of the frequency in which she uses it. Being able to curate
a feed of images, audio, narrative and video provided Juliet a private space where
she could hold up or ‘practice’ parts of her gender performance which would have
otherwise been unattainable. Juliet followed several people alongside her transition
and used this time to explore her own gender identity. Watching others do and undo
gender provided Juliet a sense of normalcy to what they were experiencing. The
people she was following on Tumblr were relatable, real and generous with their
transition narratives. For Juliet, finding trans and gender diverse people online was
an organic process which meant that engaging with the content that was being pro-
vided happened without pressure, and felt more like community-building than
voyeurism.
Some participants actively sought out other queer and gender diverse people
online, as Geneva notes,
You’d go on their profile and you’d go to the orientation status box underneath the about
me, and I remember that – if you thought someone was a bit cute you’d scroll down and
have a look and see if they were in your camp, or if they were in a different camp (Geneva,
21).
Using their mobile phone as a browser, Geneva used hashtags in the search func-
tion of Tumblr to filter what they would see in their blog feed when they logged in.
In a hashtag search, Geneva could look for specific Tumblr blogs which featured
content curated by, for, or featuring non-binary people and subjects. In Geneva’s
case, they no longer used Tumblr, for reasons that they could not recount, but
remembered their processes of scrolling to find out if a user was gay, straight, bisex-
ual, non-binary or trans. Not only was Geneva remembering the content, but the
way that Tumblr users are able to reflect their gender and sexual orientation or pref-
erence via the platform design itself. In this way, the design of Tumblr provides a
form of safety-making, where people can express and find ways to telegraph iden-
tity markers beyond content posts.
Ultimately, the clearest sentiment that appears within the narratives of non-
binary and gender diverse participants of these research studies is the appreciation
and solidarity felt in engaging with content published by and for non-binary people.
Fern, a queer non-binary person of color notes, ‘I love having a place where I can
just see trans people and trans bodies because, I don’t know, it reminds me that I’m
not a freak’ (Fern, age 23). Fern, who discusses their constant state of feeling like a
‘freak’ in their everydayness, uses Tumblr as a way to build resilience against hetero
and homosocial norms in their in-the-flesh social worlds. By visiting social media,
Fern is able to consolidate what Muñoz (2009) names a concrete utopia, one where
they can be reminded-- even temporarily-- of a community. The doing of bodies
away from those they are physically relational to provides dynamic and pleasurable
systems of knowledge which transcend the isolation they feel in the here-and-now.
While Tumblr provides only one mode of identity curation, it is nevertheless a pow-
erful platform for non-binary people who are in constant negotiation of their perfor-
mativity and relationality to others. These doings allow space for marginalized
voices to come together in local and global contexts to build digital archives and
concrete utopias, cultivating new pathways for solidarity and collectivism.
8.4 Tumblr as Global Collectivism
Queer people use their experiences, successes and struggles to build global resources
in digital form. McLean (2014) draws on the work of Fraser (1990) and Warner
(2005) to analyze the internet as a space within which queer subaltern counterpub-
lics can be constructed. They posit that online spaces can serve as foundations for
discourse that challenges taken-for-granted norms surrounding sexuality, gender
and politics in a way that might not be possible in-the-flesh. Social, cultural and
political constraint on the expression of subversive ideas is less binding in online
spaces that can be participated in and shared by people all over the world, detached
from their corporeal selves. Content generated in sites such as Tumblr by non-binary
people are used and reproduced to provide an archived toolkit for adapting to chal-
lenges taking place outside of the online counterpublic. In this way, counterpublics
provide access to temporal and ephemeral silos of resilience for young, non-binary
people particularly against a public/private landscape of policed gender norms, such
as the segregation of public space along gendered lines.
We argue here that non-binary people on Tumblr are engaging in globalized
forms of activism and citizenship where their bodies, values and ethics are connect-
ing and ‘destabilizing static and territorial conceptions’ (Wood 2017: p. 1186) of
youth practice. As an example, our informants spoke very commonly about experi-
ences of sexual harassment in music scenes. Their use of ‘secret’ feminist and queer
online spaces that span between beyond subcultural scenes and geographic areas
were a key way that queer people could capture these experiences. By using online
spaces in this way, they can share the effects of each transgression and solidify their
social and political meaning, building other group members’ capacity to challenge
oppressive practices in the future. The constant investment in affective communica-
tion such as Tumblr communities is, in itself, a form of doing work through which
feminists and queers can calibrate their narratives. These narratives then act as sign-
posts for solidarity and engage the affective transference of emotion. In telling sto-
ries and sharing experiences, the online platforms that young non-binary and queer
people use can facilitate challenges to cismale dominance and symbolic violence in
the multitude of forms they may take. Geneva (participant) discussed the potential-
ity of Tumblr to provide affirmation and resilience against heteronormative stan-
dards of gender expression, particularly in public spaces. Here Geneva discusses a
sense of obfuscation and danger in the context of their own ambiguous gender
presentation,
I think the social media thing is such a huge part in a lot of trans and queer people lives
because they might have social anxieties about going out. They may be uncomfortable with
the way that they look, might want to present in a different way but are scared of how that
will go down in their immediate world (Geneva, 21).
Fear of how an individual’s ambiguous gender presentation will ‘go down’ in

public settings is a significant driver of community building in digital spaces. Trans
and gender diverse people are increasingly seeking out community and support
online, often to address a ‘real-life’ deficit. Anonymized ‘confession’ and ‘advice’
blogs specifically created by and for trans and gender diverse people can offer a
space for expressing desire and success, pain and failure. ‘Call out’ posts shared
widely on Tumblr have been known to name-and-shame misogynistic, homophobic
or transphobic individuals, businesses, bands, politicians and service providers,
directing non-binary users away from danger and, ideally,2 towards affirmation in a
way that benefits the global community. Call-out culture and the signposting of
danger for non-binary users flourishes on Tumblr due to the lack of guidance in
users’ in-the-flesh experiences of education and social support.
Given the proficiency and skill with which queer youth can create spaces, per-
form activisms and demonstrate resilience, it is easy to fall into the trap of believing
the internet represents some sort of queer utopia. As Siebler (2016: p. 23) argues,
It would be remiss to neglect the reality that coming out and being LGBT (sic) online can
be physically safe in ways that being out in the community may not be; it is equally remiss
to romanticize digital worlds and texts as idyllic and liberating. Homophobic comments
2
We deliberately emphasise ideallyhere, acknowledging the ethical, legal and practical implica-
tions of ‘call-out culture’ online. While it can be a key feature of enforcing and maintaining safe(r)
spaces, it is not a phenomenon that should forego critique. This critique, however, is beyond the
scope of this chapter.
posted online can be just as emotionally harmful as those uttered on the street; stylized and
idealized body types replicated for consumption create unhealthy ideas about physical
embodiment.
While digital spaces can indeed provide liberating and transformative experi-
ences for queer youth, it is important to recognize that no space can be inherently or
entirely safe, even within those spaces specifically built and synthesized by queers.
8.5 Safe(r) Spaces
The use of the specific term safe(r) spaces recognizes that there is no absolute state
of feeling ‘safe’ (Avery-Natale 2016: 226). Spaces can be made more safe and less
safe, but individual safety cannot be achieved solely through collective action. The
purposeful addition of (r) recognizes the collaborative work and emotional labor as
an ongoing process, while simultaneously highlighting the limitations of safe. The
concept of safe(r) spaces is a method of claiming queer territory; a queer interven-
tion; and a form of ‘queering’ itself. Queering a space reveals how power operates
in normative codes and normalizing practices that at the same time constitute ‘devi-
ancy’ and ‘otherings’ as sites of social violence (Spike Peterson 2016).
Safe(r) spaces in Tumblr can reduce the risk of harm that a non-gender conform-
ing person or group may endure because of their engagement (see Harris 2005).
Strategies include gender neutral language, trigger-warnings, or a list of guidelines
for participation displayed. In short, the declaration of a safe(r) space offers support
and inclusive practice for marginalized people. Yet that same declaration simultane-
ously foregrounds the privilege that cisgender people already hold in everyday
online spaces. In that sense, a safe(r) space declaration in Tumblr operates as a form
of disruption to the cisgender, heterosexual gender status quo of online spaces.To
curate utopias, non-binary people employ strategies of resistance (Halberstam
2005) which push against and sit outside dominant gender and sexuality normalcy.
Forming intimate publics (Berlant 1997) on social media sites such as Tumblr,
exclusively for gender diverse people, is a site of agentic configuration where non-
binary people can engage identity curation in private arenas.
Helen, a participant, explains that online spaces have opened realms of possibil-
ity for gender diverse people to: firstly, converge and share information; and sec-
ondly, make known the often-invisible circumstances of queer scenes such as
tensions between cis and trans people, which may be so insular they remain stifled.
In that conversation, Helen discussed the emergence of ‘call-out’ culture, either
online or away from keyboard (AFK). Helen attributes the increase of willingness
to call out unacceptable behavior and language to media coverage and the spread of
online forums,
I think that explosion of social networking and people communicating and the news and
current views and stuff like that online, like people have forums to talk about that shit like,
that’s really exploded in the last 18 months (Helen, 28).
Here, Helen is describing the way that the queer(ed) body textures virtual spaces
and brings them into doing the work of calling out unacceptable cismale behavior in
physical places. They note that interactions online influence the physical places
where she participates, and so callout culture is becoming normalized in material
social spaces. The practice of calling out disrupts a taken-for-granted history of
everyday interaction which implies that cis people are the ‘owners’ of what occurs
in social spaces. Even more so, Helen points to social networking, and Tumblr spe-
cifically, as an extension and reflection of that which occurs offline rather than being
separate from it. Spaces become queer(ed), online and offline, by the interaction
that occurs within them, creating a flow of information that manifests itself across
both platforms. In this way, cross-platform work reaches and generates a plethora of
queer(ed) knowledge which highlights the utility of Tumblr in configuring identity
curation.
A safe(r) space in Tumblr is one where gender diverse people can view and share
imagery of bodies, text, places and times which could be unintelligible elsewhere.
In one instance, Al (participant, age 25) points out, ‘They know there’s going to be
people there with similar politics.’ The position of non-binary identities as political
was a consistent theme throughout young people’s narratives of belonging and
becoming in online spaces. Through Tumblr, Al is able to not only find others who
share a politic, but do gender work which aligns and propels their own project of
identity curation.
Non-binary people use online spaces to become resilient in certain domains of
their social lives, and often through what Jack Halberstam (2011) calls queer fail-
ure. Rethinking failure as purposeful and powerful, non-binary people make known
the ways they imagine solidarity through futurity and the promise of a not-yet-here
world. By doing so, resilience silos as a temporal embodiment of non-binary iden-
tity; one can find resilience in Tumblr, no matter how fleeting. Muñoz (2009: p. 1)
offers a theoretical perspective on queer world making, which we believe can and
should be considered in readings of non-binary identities. Describing the collective
affect of the world, and the imagining of ‘new worlds’, Muñoz (2009) implicitly
theorizes queerness as mobility, moving beyond the here and now to conceptualize
the potential for queer futures. For Muñoz, queerness is essentially about insistence
on potentiality, or the concrete possibility for another world. Muñoz’s theory of
futurity is used to grasp queer identity curation in online spaces; imagining new
places of possibility. For non-binary people, the potential of the future looks brighter
than the here and now, however we recognize that Muñoz’s concept of utopia does
not necessarily denote a better future. Rather, a utopia is the ‘nexus of cultural prod-
uct before, around and slightly after’ (Muñoz 2009: p. 3); a historically specific
time. In this research, that ‘time’ is the advent of digital platforms, specifically
Tumblr, which have transformed some of the ways that non-binary people engage
with online and physical places to build specific forms of resilience and solidarity.
Sharing, and sharing in failure, offers more creative, cooperative, and surprising
ways of being in the world and forces us to look at the complexities of disrupting
identity, and the gender binary.
Al explains that sharing successes and failures in online spaces such as Tumblr
builds knowledges which can then foretell ‘in the flesh’ experiences. When talking
about the way they engage with their local punk scene, Al states,
I will always check with people that what I am doing is okay, because I know how quickly
things that seemed totally fine can like, not be fine. But yeah, it can get tiresome, mostly
explaining the concept of equity to people. Like, not equality but equity. And how we need
that to make a better, or safer scene (Al, age 25).
Al explains that the experience of safe(r) spaces does not simply happen; it is
made and re-made through online and offline labor. For example, Al is happy to
engage in petitioning the internet for opinions on generating safe(r) spaces because,
as a white, non-binary person, they acknowledge their privileged position to people
of color. Recognizing the distinction between equality and equity, Al invokes an
intersectional approach to the futurity of their scene and the spaces that are created
within it. They perceive equality to be an end goal, but see equity as the approach to
get there. Work is being done by queers and people of color to create and occupy
safe(r) spaces that transgress local and platform-orientated places. In terms of futu-
rity, while Tumblr may not be a utopia, it certainly acts in some way as a place for
continued engagement. On this basis, rather than better, the term safe(r) is used to
frame the possibility of an inclusive queer place. Notably, Al added the term ‘safer’
after they said ‘better’.
8.6 umblr as a Liminal Space of Role Modelling

T
and Becoming
Using the infrastructure of Tumblr, users can enter a liminal phase of becoming dur-
ing which their preconceptions, resilience, critical knowledge and identity are chal-
lenged and rendered malleable. Users draw on the images, videos and narratives
generated by others in Tumblr to achieve this.
You’d be reblogging things like packing underwear and other trans [stuff]… bloggers, pho-
tos of them topless after they’ve had surgery. I think that did form a big part of my identity
(Geneva, 21).
Here, Geneva, who identifies as trans non-binary refers to ‘reblogging’, the pro-
cess by which an individual re-posts content from another person’s Tumblr blog to
their own. The reblogged post, with the original author’s details and any associated
commentary from other users then appears among the individual user’s consoli-
dated posts. It also appears on the ‘dashboard’ feed of anybody who is following
that user’s updates, making it available for further reblogging from others. Geneva
uses reblogging in Tumblr as a function of futurity and bricolage. They bring
together an archive of visual and textual representations which promotes gender
diversity in order to increase their comfortability with being out in the world.
Importantly, Geneva notes that the content they are reblogging is generated by peo-
ple who they will most likely never meet or converse with beyond the Tumblr-
sphere. These c ontent providers are perhaps best classified as peers who share a
common politic, rather than friends or acquaintances. Those who participated in this
study did not consider themselves to be content creators, rather they used Tumblr to
curate their own online archive from the contribution of others. The cyclic configu-
ration of Tumblr can be read variously as practices of solidarity with other users, as
maintenance of a certain aesthetic, or as a process of presenting a dramaturgical
online identity to the world.
In the case of Geneva, their reblogging of ‘trans stuff’ represents all of these fac-
tors. Their Tumblr blog was geared to a queer aesthetic, and commonly engaged in
role modelling and celebration of prominent queer users. By appropriating the
images and narratives of users who have augmented their styles and bodies in order
to reflect their gender identity, Geneva gained insight into their own personal con-
text. In reblogging the posts, Geneva reproduces them for the consumption of oth-
ers. Non-binary people, in a sense, can live vicariously through those who offer
their narratives and their bodies as accessible resources for community learning and
development. Juliet, who identifies as trans non-binary, expresses similar sentiment,
highlighting how her critical understanding of ‘transness’ was seeing it ‘human-
ized’ in Tumblr,
It was definitely meeting and coming to know these people who had relatively normal lives
in comparison to my understanding of normal at the time. These people lived their lives and
having them humanized was important. I realized I could live a normal life and be trans at
the same time – they weren’t mutually exclusive things (Juliet, 24).
Explorations of LGBTQIA people’s self-disclosure on YouTube have drawn

similar conclusions and offer insight into their motivations for doing so. As shown
by Green et al. (2015), young queer people shared information and personal experi-
ences for the benefit of others, as opposed to simply seeking validation for them-
selves. Again, analysis of how queer young people use the internet to build
community resists the populist tropes that portray young digital natives as narcis-
sistic, and the labor they undertake as fleeting or frivolous. YouTube disclosure vid-
eos and the other processes of personal sharing online represent a form of ‘subversive
frivolity’ (Abidin 2016) that allow platforms for queer community and education to
develop and flourish without external intervention.
By the process of consuming and reproducing queer content in Tumblr, an
archive is built which documents identity development in real-time. By having
access to ‘look back’ at their experiences and the experiences of others in the con-
text of the punk scene, Ren (28) expressed that they are able to consciously sculpt
identity to better fit both presentation and politics. This is also a form of identity
curation. For example, Ren discussed shows they had been to in the past, places that
bands had played, politics that they rejected and people that they had engaged with
that they would rather not admit to. However, Ren also spoke of the importance of
(un)knowing in terms of futurity,
I don’t wish those recordings didn’t exist, cause then I might not remember who I definitely
don’t want to be (Ren, 28).
Here, Ren uses the past to signpost the future and in doing so, negotiates the
ever-changing boundaries of identity politics and queer self-making. For Ren, the
ability to reach into the past is critical to personal curation of identity as a non-
binary queer person. Participants spoke often along these lines and so Ren’s articu-
lation here represents a broadly-felt, collective affect of queer archiving. The
archiving of practical information, critical understanding, aesthetic and reflexivity
converge here to demonstrate the transformative potential of online spaces such
as Tumblr.
As a body of knowledge and doing is built communally on Tumblr, such plat-
forms can serve as sites of critical pedagogy. Fox and Ralston (2016: p. 638) draw
on boyd’s (2010) work on the ‘affordances’ of social network sites, and acknowl-
edge the ‘searchability, visibility, and locatability’ of queer content in sites such as
Tumblr as key facilitators of mutual teaching and learning. Discourse in Tumblr
resists traditional pedagogy that involves the educated bestowing knowledge upon
the ignorant, closely resembling Freire’s dialogics (Freire 1996). For Freire, ‘dia-
logue cannot be reduced to the act of one person’s “depositing” ideas in another, nor
can it become a simple exchange of ideas to be “consumed” by the discussants’
(p. 70). The community curation of queer discourse in Tumblr has the ability to shift
and evolve organically due its highly participatory nature. It can encourage trans-
gression (hooks 1994), challenging preconceived notions of sex, sexuality and gen-
der and internalized homo/transphobia, provide foundations for grassroots activism
and social change, and can facilitate transformative gender work.
8.7 Conclusion
The analysis within this chapter demonstrates the complex procedures of becoming
that non-binary people actively undertake with the employment of online social plat-
forms such as Tumblr. The repertoire of behavior in Tumblr captures the diversity of
lived experience of non-binary people, and is not restricted to traumatic tropes that
limit their potentiality and agency. Rather, non-binary doings in Tumblr more
actively demonstrate deliberate processes of solidarity and resilience. It is through
these processes that we can see non-binary people expending significant labor and
initiative, building and participating in an international, digital queer project.
Archiving queerness in Tumblr serves a dual purpose here; non-binary people
follow and emulate role models through circulating text and imagery to build uto-
pias and imagine the not-yet-here. Additionally, revisiting experiences, practicing
reflexivity and reblogging serve to curate both intimate publics and private identi-
ties. The labor of non-binary people in this context can be seen as a form of ‘subver-
sive frivolity’ by which populist dismissal of gender work, especially by youth and
especially online, allowing it to flourish in subaltern counter publics (Fraser 1990)
such as Tumblr. Indeed, Tumblr represents a platform where transformative gender
work can take place, facilitated by an internationally consolidated and fluid critical
pedagogy of sex, gender and politics. By undergoing this process of becoming in
Tumblr, non-binary people are able to generate opportunities for identity work and
resilience in their immediate, physical lives away from the keyboard.
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Chapter 9
Prejudice and Social Media: Attitudes
Toward Illegal Immigrants, Refugees,
and Transgender People
Theresa Davidson and Lee Farquhar
9.1 Introduction
A recent report shows that there are now over 3 billion users of social media glob-
ally (The Next Web 2017). Facebook, though perhaps waning in popularity among
younger generations, is still a behemoth in the social media landscape, with 1.4
billion daily active users as of December 2017 (Facebook Newsroom 2018). Indeed,
Facebook has over 220 million users in the United States alone (Statista 2018).
Instagram is the second-most popular social media site, behind Facebook, with over
half of adults aged 18–34 using the photo-sharing application. Additionally, over
25% of teens report that Instagram is their favorite social media app (Statista 2018).
Like Instagram, Twitter continues to see growth in virtually every demographic.
Twitter currently sits at 60 million users, with projections to add another five million
by the end of 2018 (Statista 2018). Snapchat has also been on the rise in the social
media landscape over the last 2 years, especially among teens and young adults.
Roughly 40% of persons 18–34 in the U.S. are on Snapchat (Statista 2018).
While there exists a growing body of literature on the effects of social media on
the user, questions remain about how social media may shape users’ attitudes about
disparaged social groups. The ubiquity of Facebook and other social media plat-
forms suggest the potential for users to expand their online networks to include
people of other countries and cultures, potentially increasing tolerance and accep-
tance of others. However, it is also possible that those who deeply engage with
social media may tailor their experience to view posts and interact only with those
T. Davidson (*)
Samford University, Homewood, AL, USA
e-mail: tcdavids@samford.edu
L. Farquhar
Butler University, Indianapolis, IN, USA

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29855-5_9
152 T. Davidson and L. Farquhar
who are similar to them in terms of social characteristics and worldview. Thus,
social media holds the potential for fomenting or reinforcing prejudice and social
distance.
Another important consideration regarding the role of social media to challenge
or reinforce prejudice is its reality as a news source. In addition to entertainment and
personal connections, social media has become an important source for news con-
sumption. Indeed, a recent PEW study showed that 47% of Facebook users get their
news from that social media site. Though most users are receiving the news inciden-
tally as they engage in other activities on Facebook, this still amounts to about 30%
of the U.S. population gleaning news from the site (Mitchell and Page 2013). In
light of the growing importance of social media as a news source, it is crucial to
understand the implications this might have for users’ perceptions of vulnerable
social groups. In recent months and years certain groups have gained widespread
news attention. Global immigration trends, refugee crises, and public discourse
about the rights of transgender persons have all received recent attention. If users
are accessing news about these groups on social media, this has the potential to
shape understanding (or lack thereof) and attitudes.
This project investigated three specific research questions about the potential
relationship between social media use and prejudicial attitudes. First, how does
using social media as a news source impact attitudes toward immigrants, refugees,
and transgender people? Second, how does selective exposure in social media net-
works impact attitudes toward immigrants, refugees, and transgender people? Third,
how does the diversity of one’s social media network impact attitudes toward illegal
immigrants, refugees, and transgender people? The following sections review the
literature, summarize the data and methods used for this study, present the findings
of the analyses, and conclude with a discussion on the implication of those findings.
9.2.1 Social Media as a News Source
Social media has clearly established itself in the news creation, dissemination, and
consumption chain (Broersma and Graham 2012). Though only 14% of participants
called social media their “most important” source of news leading into the
2016 U.S. Presidential Election, stories verified as “fake news” were shared 30 mil-
lion times when favoring Donald Trump and shared eight million times when favor-
ing Hillary Clinton (Allcott and Gentzkow 2017). Further, about 50% of the
participants who said that they recalled seeing a fake news story said that they actu-
ally believed the story (Allcott and Gentzkow 2017). Belief of a fake news story was
directly tied to the story being in favor of the candidate that the reader supported
(Allcott and Gentzkow 2017). Political candidates, professional athletes, celebri-
ties, and other newsmakers are now able to connect directly to audiences at a level
9 Prejudice and Social Media: Attitudes Toward Illegal Immigrants, Refugees… 153
never previously possible. Thus, we’ve seen a reshaping of the roles and relation-
ships between news sources, journalists, and the audience (Broersma and Graham
2012). Research has found that roughly 40% of participants received news from
people (i.e. – newsmakers) they follow on social media, while only 20% received
news from news organizations and individual journalists that they follow (Hermida
et al. 2012). Interestingly, those who use Twitter are more likely to believe they have
an understanding of the political issues facing our country than those who are not on
Twitter (Siegel 2018). To restate that, people tend to learn more on social media
from non-journalists (politicians, celebrities, pro athletes, friends), and they also
believe they know more about issues facing our country than those who avoid apps
like Twitter. Studies show, however, that using social media does not compensate
for not using traditional media or web sites of those traditional media (Shehata and
Strömbäck 2018). Traditional media and their associated websites are still better at
providing the audience with a clearer understanding of issues. One potential goal of
having an informed citizenry, though, is civic participation. Here, the waters are
muddied by research that indicates that those who seek out information on social
media are more likely to have increased civic participation, both online and offline
(Gil de Zúñiga et al. 2012).
Ultimately, an appropriate goal would be to be both informed and active, and it
appears that traditional media plays a more important role in the former, and per-
haps social media can play a role in facilitating the latter. Nonetheless, social media
users are being informed, accurately or not, about current social and political issues.
For the purposes of this study, we ask what impact being informed about news via
social media may have on attitudes toward immigrants, refugees, and transgen-
der people.
9.2.2 Selective Exposure
When Negroponte (1995) first popularized the term the daily mein 1995, digital life
had not yet exploded in the manner it has two decades later. The term refers to the
practice of filtering one’s news before they actually receive the news, keeping that
which affirms one’s values and discarding that which challenges one’s beliefs
(Lazarsfeld et al. 1944).Thus, one only/mostly receives the news they choose to
receive. In the pre-digital era, an individual picked up a newspaper and the stories
covered any number of topics that were not of the individual’s choosing (Lazarsfeld
et al. 1944). The newspaper editors, though, thought the stories were important
enough to warrant their inclusion. A similar exercise occurs when that same indi-
vidual turned on the nightly news. A series of stories are presented over which the
individual viewer has no control (she can always turn the channel, but any other
newscast would present the same lack of control). The point is that the news content
wasn’t tied to personal tastes or beliefs of the consumer. Ostensibly, it was related
to what editors and directors of the media deemed to be most germane to the audi-
ence, and the idea is that the audience would be a well-informed citizenry, with a
better understanding of the world around them, the plights of others, and the work-
ings of their government.
So what happens when the audience gets to entirely choose what news stories
they consume? Typically, they consume what makes them feel good. They consume
those stories that support their firmly held beliefs. They don’t consume as many
stories about “others” (Klapper 1960). The result is a polarized, fragmented, uncar-
ing, and uninformed society (Sunstein 2018).
This is the world of selective exposure, and while selective exposure was always
possible to some degree in older, traditional media (Klapper 1960), it has taken hold
in the modern media landscape (Sunstein 2018). Consumption is shaped into a sea
of like-mindedness by unfollowing friends with different views, filtering stories in
the Facebook newsfeed, following only specific partisan outlets, and simply swip-
ing away anything that doesn’t match up with entrenched values. The news media
in general, and cable news specifically, has seemingly tailored content to meet the
selective exposure demands of partisan audiences (Jones 2002; Stroud 2007). On
the consumer’s end, however, the enhanced user controls over what gets digitally
filtered out and what gets viewed is at unprecedented levels. A logical result of fre-
quent and deepening selective exposure seems to be an intensification of views and
values, often called polarization (Stroud 2010). However, several studies have
shown that the connection between polarization and selective exposure is tenuous at
best (Bakshy et al. 2015; Messing and Westwood 2014). Munro et al. (2002), for
example, found that participants spent more time with stories that challenged their
values than with those with which they were in agreement. To be clear, the partici-
pants spent that extra time looking for flaws or otherwise undercutting the argu-
ments of the value-challenging story; but the difference in time spent and attention
cannot simply be overlooked because it doesn’t fit the easy-to-understand mecha-
nism of selective exposure. Likewise, in terms of social media, selective exposure,
and polarization, research has found it problematic to apply simple understandings
of selective exposure and polarization. For example, studies have shown that strong
social endorsements in social networks can play a role more important than user
values and beliefs when it comes to story exposure (Bakshy et al. 2015; Messing
and Westwood 2014). Further, these endorsements can actually reduce the selective
exposure and polarization process (Bakshy et al. 2015).
Overall, it seems that the selective exposure-polarization process may be murkier
than that first envisioned by Negroponte (1995) and expanded upon by Sunstein
(2018). Nonetheless, we hope to contribute to a better understanding of the role of
selective exposure in shaping attitudes about marginalized groups in our global
society: immigrants, refugees, and transgender people.
9.2.3 Network Diversity, Contact Theory, and Prejudice
Contact Theory (Allport 1954) states that when we come into (offline) contact with
those who are different from us (in terms of race, ethnicity, social class, and the
like), these interactions can serve as a mediator regarding any negative attitudes
held. Studies have consistently showed that having friends and acquaintances from
out-groups has a significant impact on how the individual views that group (see
especially Aberson et al. 2004; Dixon and Rosenbaum 2004; Ellison et al. 2011;
O’Neil and Tienda 2010).
Social media’s influence on prejudice ties directly to the concepts of selective
exposure and polarization, and the level of prejudice could be seen as either an ante-
cedent or an outcome of the selective-exposure process. Perhaps limiting Contact
Theory’s applicability is the fact that individuals’ networks tend to be remarkably
homogeneous regarding characteristics like race, social class, and religion
(McPherson et al. 2001).
Further nuancing the impact of social media on prejudice is research that has
shown social media can increase or decrease desired social distance from others,
depending on a handful of factors (Davidson and Farquhar 2014, 2015). Factors that
decrease desired social distance (reducing prejudice) are the Number of Unique
groups represented in one’s social network and having a trend toward diversity
within one’s social network. Davidson and Farquhar (2015), though, found an
increase in desired social distance (increase prejudice) related to the sheer number
of friends one has. Thus, it is not simply a matter of using social media a lot and
gaining a lot of friends. Regarding prejudice, it is a matter of having unique voices
represented in the network.
In the end, when it comes to social media as a news source, the potential for
selective exposure, and ultimately polarization and deepening of prejudices, the
research is mixed. So much, it seems, depends on having a diverse set of voices
(1-traditional media plus social media, 2-heeding strong social endorsements for
stories plus tapping into traditional journalists, 3-being active on social media but
having unique groups represented) shaping values and opinions. This study consid-
ers the role that network diversity may play in shaping the user’s views on immi-
grants, refugees, and transgender people. The next sections review the research on
attitudes toward these three groups.
9.2.4 Attitudes toward Controversial Groups
For this project we focus on three specific, though disparate, social groups that have
held a high profile in the news cycle over the last few years: immigrants, refugees,
and transgender people. Though immigration has often held a prominent place in
public discourse, it has been a particular focus in the last couple of years, in part,
because President Trump made this a prominent issue while on the campaign trail
(Perez Huber 2016). Refugees have been in focus, in large measure, because of the
Syrian crisis which led to the exodus of over five million Syrians seeking asylum
from the civil war (UNCHR 2018). Finally, transgender issues have been prominent
because several state legislatures put forward “bathroom bills” intending to create
laws restricting access to restrooms on the basis of biological sex (NCSL 2017). The
public and political discourse surrounding these groups, and their prominence in the
news cycle, led us to consider what impact social media as a news source may have
on personal attitudes.
9.2.4.1 Attitudes toward Illegal Immigrants
As of 2016, roughly 43.7 million immigrants live in the United States, comprising
just over 13% of the total U.S. population. Mexicans are the largest foreign-born
group in the U.S. at 26% of all immigrants, but various groups including Indians,
Chinese, Filipinos, and others make up sizeable shares of the immigrant population
(Migration Policy Institute, February 2018). Notably, and what appears to raise the
most ire in the public discourse, is that roughly 11 million immigrants are unauthor-
ized (Krogstad et al. 2017). In addition, there was a 7% increase in the overall num-
ber of immigrants entering the U.S. between 2015 and 2016 (Migration Policy
Institute, February, 2018). Given the numbers of immigrants entering the country
and their representation in the population, it is imperative to understand the public’s
attitudes for their potential to impact public policy and assimilation efforts.
The literature on attitudes toward immigration shows complexity. Negative atti-
tudes in the U.S. are common (Espenshade and Hempstead 1996; Stephan et al.
2005; Wilson 2001), and those sentiments are reflected globally as well (Skinner
and Gottfried, 2017). Some of those negative attitudes are predicted by concerns
about impacts on public services (Skinner and Gottfried 2017) and detriments to the
economy (Esses et al. 2012; Fogleman and Kellstedt 2012; Garcia and Davidson
2013). Notably, however, racial hostility also plays a key role. For example, a study
of San Diego residents found that racial resentment significantly predicted negative
attitudes and proximity to Latino populations actually increased opposition to legal
immigration (Ayers et al. 2009). Documented status also shows influence as a sur-
vey of undergraduate students showed that they held more prejudicial attitudes
toward unauthorized than authorized immigrants, and, attitudes were more positive
toward refugees than immigrants overall (Murray and Marx 2013). However, other
studies show that attitudes can be mediated by having more diverse interpersonal
networks (Berg 2009) and a general tolerance for diversity (O’Neil and Tienda 2010).
9.2.4.2 Attitudes toward Refugees
According to a recent PEW report (2017), globally there were just over 17 million
people displaced from their homes due to conflict or persecution in 2016. Historically,
the number of refugees resettled in the United States has waxed and waned depend-
ing upon the numbers displaced around the globe. In recent years, however, the
number of resettlements in the U.S. has not kept pace with the number of global
refugees. In addition, the Trump administration used an executive order in 2017 to
reduce the number of refugees allowed into the country (Connor 2017). In light of
the need for resettlement and the official response to that need, it is important to
understand public opinion regarding refugees. Public sentiment can have a direct
impact on policies geared toward refugees.
A recent global study found negative attitudes toward refugees to be quite com-
mon and widespread among the 24 countries surveyed. Indeed, a notable percentage
(40%) of the U.S. population favored closing borders to refugees. Further, larger
percentages in many of the countries surveyed felt that terrorists were masquerading
as refugees, with 65% of respondents in the U.S. agreeing with this sentiment.
Finally, this same survey showed that majorities in many countries, including the
U.S., doubt that refugees even are refugees (Skinner and Gottfried 2017). Similar to
research on attitudes toward immigrants, attitudes toward refugees are often pre-
dicted by perceptions of realistic and symbolic threat (Esses et al. 2017; Schweitzer
et al. 2005) and intergroup hostility and prejudice (Louis et al. 2007). However, a
few smaller studies of undergraduate students in the U.S. showed that attitudes were
generally positive toward refugees (Bullard 2015).
9.2.4.3 Attitudes toward Transgender People
Research on attitudes toward transgender people tends to be scant, but of those stud-
ies that do exist, the picture is mixed. Flores (2014) reviewed over 300 national
surveys regarding attitudes toward LGBT people and of the two surveys that
reported on attitudes toward transgender people, there was a 40% increase in sup-
port between 2005 and 2011 for this group. Notably, however, feelings about trans-
gender people remain slightly less supportive and comfortable than feelings about
lesbians and gays. A recent international survey (IPSOS 2018) found that while
71% of U.S. respondents feel the country is becoming more tolerant of transgender
people and about 51% would like to see more done to protect them, U.S. respon-
dents were more likely than those in other countries to feel that transgender people
have a mental illness and are committing a sin. It is important to note that several
studies report that contact with someone who is transgender reduces prejudice and
increases support for transgender rights (Flores 2015; King et al. 2009; Norton and
Herek 2013).
In light of these attitudes described, we ask how social media as a news source,
selective exposure behaviors, and network diversity influence attitudes toward
immigrants, refugees, and transgender people. Our specific hypotheses are:
H1: Those who receive most of their news from social media will have more nega-
tive attitudes toward illegal immigrants, refugees, and transgender people.
H2: Those who receive most of their political news from social media will have
more negative attitudes toward illegal immigrants, refugees, and transgender
people.
H3: Those who engage in selective exposure will have more negative attitudes
toward illegal immigrants, refugees, and transgender people.
H3. Those who have more unique groups in their social network will have more
positive attitudes toward illegal immigrants, refugees, and transgender people.
H4: Those who have more religious diversity in their network will have more posi-
tive attitudes toward immigrants, refugees, and transgender people.
H5: Those who have more racial diversity in their network will have more positive
attitudes toward illegal immigrants, refugees, and transgender people.
The following section outlines the data source, measures, and methods used to
answer our research questions.
9.3 Data and Methods
9.3.1 Data Collection and Sample
We administered a Qualtrics-based survey to students in three universities: two

located in the Southeast and one in the Midwest of the United States. With permis-
sion of instructors, students in large introductory courses in Journalism and
Sociology were sent a link to the survey. No identifying information was asked of
respondents and there was no way to trace their responses to their identity. After
data were cleaned and incomplete surveys were deleted our final sample included
253 respondents.
9.3.2 Measures: Dependent Variables
9.3.2.1 Dependent Variables
Each of our dependent measures are scales based on questions that assess respon-
dents’ agreement with a series of statements. Our anti-illegal immigrant scale is
created from the three statements: “Illegal immigrants are more likely to commit
crime than U.S. citizens”, “Illegal immigrants bring diseases into the United States”,
and “Illegal immigrants are a drain on the economy”. The five response categories
were Likert-style ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”. Responses
were reverse-coded such that higher scores indicate more hostile sentiment toward
immigrants. A reliability analysis produced a Cronbach’s score of .853 so the
responses were combined into one measure ranging from 1 to 5, with higher scores
indicating more negative attitudes toward immigrants.
Our anti-refugee scale was created in the same fashion by combining the
responses to the following three statements: “Refugees are more likely to commit
crime than U.S. citizens”, “Refugees bring diseases to the United States”, and
“Refugees are a drain on the economy”. Five response categories ranged from
“strongly agree” to “strongly disagree” and responses were reverse coded to reflect
more hostile sentiment toward refugees. The 3 items produced a Cronbach’s score
of .851 so were combined into one measure ranging from 1 to 5, higher scores indi-
cating more negative attitudes toward refugees.
The anti-transgender scale was created similarly to the previous two measures.
The statements “transgender people are sick”, “transgender people are dangerous to
children”, and “transgender people should be excluded from some public areas
(restrooms, parks, etc.)” were combined into a single measure with higher values
indicating more negativity toward transgender people. The five response categories
ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree” were reverse-coded so that
higher scores indicate more negative attitudes toward transgender people. The
Cronbach’s score for this scale was .880.
9.3.3 Measures: Independent Variables
9.3.3.1 Social Media as a News Source
We incorporate two measures to capture use of social media as a news source. Our
first variable measures how often respondents get their news from social media.
Response categories were never, hardly ever, sometimes, and often. Higher scores
indicate more frequent receipt of news from social media.
Our second variable in this block asks about the frequency of receipt of political
news, specifically, from social media. Again, response categories were never, hardly
ever, sometimes, and often, with higher values indicating more frequent receipt of
political news from social media.
9.3.3.2 Selective Exposure
The selective exposure scale is based on two questions regarding respondent behav-
ior on social media. First, “how likely are you to change your settings to see fewer
posts from someone in your feed because of what they post about politics or current
events?” Second, “how likely are you to block or unfriend someone in your feed
because of what they post about politics or current events?” The 5 response catego-
ries ranged from “very unlikely” to “very likely”. With a Cronbach’s score of .821,
these two questions were combined to create a 5-point scale with higher scores
indicating greater likelihood of engaging in these behaviors to “weed out” opposing
or unappealing perspectives.
9.3.3.3 Network Diversity
We include three measures to tap into the diversity of one’s network. First, the num-
ber of unique groups measures the number and types of groups present in the
respondent’s social network. These include family, coworkers, friends, people from
religious organizations, neighbors, and the like. There are a total of 14 possible
groups that can be part of one’s network. Responses were added together to provide
a total score for the number of unique groups in each respondent’s network.
Our second measure of diversity is based on the survey question, “about how
many of the people in your Facebook network do you feel hold the same religious
preference as you?” The five response categories include “almost all”, “most”,
“about half”, “a few”, and “none”. Higher values indicate more homogeneity of
religion in one’s network.
The third measure of diversity asks, “about how many of the people in your
Facebook network do you feel are the same race as you?” The five response catego-
ries include “almost all”, “most”, “about half”, “a few”, and “none”. Higher values
indicate more homogeneity of race in one’s network.
9.3.3.4 Control Measures
We include several controls in our analysis. We control for gender (1 = female,1

0 = male) and race (1 = white, 0 = all other races). Social class is an ordinal measure
with 5 categories ranging from “upper class” to “lower class”. Political views is an
ordinal measure with 7 categories ranging from “very conservative” to “very lib-
eral”. Finally, we control for views toward each group in question (immigrants,
refugees, and gays/lesbians2) by asking respondents to rate them on a feeling ther-
mometer ranging from 0 to 10, with higher numbers indicating more favorability
and warmth and 5 indicating a neutral response.
9.4 Findings
9.4.1 Sample Description
Table 9.1 presents the sample descriptives. Regarding our dependent measures, the
mean scores show moderately tolerant attitudes toward immigrants (2.80) and refu-
gees (2.71) as responses tend toward disagreement with stereotypical attitudes
1
We included the two respondents who identified as “other” in the “female” category. We speculate
that those who identify as something other than male or female may be more similar to women in
their attitudes and experiences due to their gender minority status.
2
We kept the original wording of “gays/lesbians” for the feeling thermometer rather than changing
it to reflect warmth toward “transgender people” as research shows attitudes toward all these
groups tend to be strongly correlated (Norton & Herek, 2013).
Table 9.1 Sample descriptives

Measure Proportion or mean Minimum – Maximum
Dependent measures
Anti-immigrants 2.80 1.0–5.0
Anti-refugees 2.71 1.0–5.0
Anti-transgender 2.27 1.0–5.0
Social media as news source
Frequency of news from social media 3.50 1.0–4.0
Frequency of political news from social media 3.32 1.0–4.0
Selective exposure
Selective exposure scale 2.92 1.0–5.0
Network diversity
Different FB groups 8.37 0.0–14.00
Religious diversity of network 2.71 1.0–5.0
Racial diversity of network 2.21 1.0–5.0
Control variables
Female 0.68
White 0.83
Social class 3.45 1.0–5.0
Political views 3.47 1.0–7.0
FB intensity scale 3.06 1.0–5.0
Warmth toward immigrants 5.52 0.0–10.0
Warmth toward refugees 6.90 0.0–10.0
Warmth toward gays/lesbians 6.98 0.0–10.0
n = 253
toward these groups. The mean score for attitudes toward transgender people (2.27)
also shows generally tolerant attitudes toward this group.
In terms of the use of social media as a news source, the mean of 3.50 indicates
that the average respondent “sometimes” or “often” gets their news from social
media. In terms of the type of news from social media, political news is gleaned
between “sometimes” and “often” by the average respondent (3.32).
Our “selective exposure” scale indicates that respondents are somewhat likely
(2.92) to engage with social media in ways that ensure only views similar to their
own will be included in their media feed.
In terms of their social network diversity there is a moderate level of group diver-
sity as the average respondent indicates about eight different groups in their friend-
ship network. Regarding religious diversity, the average respondent indicates that
most, to about half, of their network is comprised of people who share the same
religion (2.71). In terms of race, the average respondent indicates that most of their
network are of the same race (2.21).
Regarding our control measures, 68% of respondents are female, 83% are white,
and the average respondent identifies as middle-class or slightly higher (3.45).
Political views tend toward slightly conservative to moderate (3.47). The Facebook
Intensity Scale shows a moderate level of engagement with Facebook (3.06). Our
Table 9.2 Attitudes toward illegal immigrants

Measure Beta Standard error
Frequency of news from social media 0.064 0.087
Frequency of political news from social media −0.050 0.080
Selective exposure
Selective exposure scale 0.046 0.043
Network diversity
Different FB groups −0.073 0.021
Religious diversity of network 0.025 0.062
Racial diversity of network 0.039 0.076
Control variables
Female −0.135∗∗ 0.102
White 0.084 0.163
Social class 0.054 0.063
Political views −.419∗∗∗ 0.035
FB intensity scale .024 0.057
Warmth toward immigrants −0.429∗∗∗ 0.016
Adjusted R-square 0.553
p < 0.10+; p < 0.05∗; p < 0.01∗∗; p < 0.001∗∗∗
thermometer ratings of the three key groups of interest show that feelings toward
immigrants are moderate (5.52), warmth toward refugees is slightly higher (6.90),
and warmth toward gays and lesbians the highest (6.98).
Table 9.2 presents the findings from our linear regression of attitudes toward
illegal immigrants. Notably, none of our theoretical variables of interest show any
relationship to attitudes toward illegal immigrants. However, regarding our control
variables, women and those with more liberal political views have less hostile atti-
tudes toward illegal immigrants. Similarly, those who feel more warmth toward
illegal immigrants also hold less prejudicial attitudes toward that group.
Table 9.3 presents the linear regression findings on attitudes toward refugees.
Measures of social media as a news source and political news source show no rela-
tionship. Likewise, our selective exposure measure shows no influence on attitudes.
Interestingly, one of our network diversity measures, number of Facebook groups is
predictive. Those with more unique groups in their Facebook network are less hos-
tile toward refugees. This finding should be noted with caution, however, as the
p-value is 0.063.
Two of our control variables are also predictive. Those with more liberal political
views and those who express more warmth toward refugees hold less prejudicial
attitudes toward refugees.
Table 9.4 presents the linear regression findings for attitudes toward transgender
people. Notably, both of our social media measures show predictive power, though
in opposing directions. Those who get their news from social media with higher
frequency show less prejudicial attitudes toward transgender people. Those who get
their political news with higher frequency show more negative attitudes toward
Table 9.3 Attitudes toward Refugees

Frequency of news from social media −0.003 0.087
Frequency of political news from social media 0.023 0.081
Selective exposure
Selective exposure scale 0.001 0.044
Network diversity
Different FB groups −0.100+ 0.021
Religious diversity of network 0.016 0.062
Racial diversity of network −0.003 0.076
Control variables
Female −0.072 0.105
White 0.004 0.166
Social class 0.038 0.063
Political views −0.400∗∗∗ 0.034
FB intensity scale 0.083 0.057
Warmth toward refugees −0.455∗∗∗ 0.019
p < 0.10+; p < 0.05∗; p < 0.01∗∗; p < 0.001∗∗∗
Table 9.4 Attitudes toward transgender people

Frequency of news from social media −0.114∗ 0.096
Frequency of political news from social media 0.132∗ 0.089
Selective exposure
Selective exposure scale −0.030 0.048
Network diversity
Different FB groups 0.042 0.023
Religious diversity of network −0.050 0.069
Racial diversity of network 0.079 0.083
Control variables
Female −0.130∗∗ 0.115
White 0.018 0.180
Social class −0.074 0.069
Political views −0.430∗∗∗ 0.038
FB intensity scale 0.010 0.062
Warmth toward Gays and Lesbians −0.408∗∗∗ 0.020
p < 0.10+; p < 0.05∗; p < 0.01∗∗; p < 0.001∗∗∗
transgender people. Selective exposure behaviors show no relationship to transgen-

der attitudes. Network diversity also shows no relationship to attitudes.
Similar to our other analyses, three of our control variables show a relationship
to attitudes toward transgender people. Females, those with more liberal political
views, and those who feel more warmth toward gays and lesbians all show less
prejudiced attitudes toward transgender people.
9.5 Discussion and Conclusion
Overall, our findings present nuanced implications for understanding attitudes

toward immigrants, refugees, and transgender people. Findings indicate that, in
some cases, having diverse groups represented in one’s social network can have a
positive influence on attitudes toward other groups, and findings also support the
potential for strong social (online) endorsements of news stories and their positive
impact on attitudes toward others. However, evidence also supports past research
that found selective exposure and polarization in online behaviors. This was case for
participants in this study with regard to seeking political news online and the result-
ing negative attitudes toward transgender people.
Regarding attitudes toward immigrants, social media appeared to play no (sig-
nificant) role. Given the size of the average social network online (source), it is quite
likely that the average user would encounter numerous viewpoints and potentially
people who are themselves immigrants. However, past research has shown that most
social networks are homophilous (McPherson et al. 2001), which is perhaps a limit-
ing factor in terms of potential attitude change. Further, measures such as a net-
work’s sheer size (number of friends) or even the frequency of engaging that
network are less impactful when it comes to attitude change because the social
network presents little to no new ideas (Davidson and Farquhar 2015; Bakshy et al.
2015). To this end, the homophilous network could be considered a form of the
selective attention laid out by Lazarsfeld et al. (1944).
Regarding attitudes toward refugees, findings show that having more groups rep-
resented on Facebook leads to more positive attitudes. This finding generally sup-
port Contact Theory (Aberson et al. 2004; Dixon and Rosenbaum 2004; Ellison
et al. 2011; O’Neil and Tienda 2010), and specifically supports past research that
indicates that having unique voices represented online leads to heightened accep-
tance and tolerance (Davidson and Farquhar 2014; Davidson and Farquhar 2015). In
this case, it is not the sheer volume of friends online that matters, it is having at least
some representation from diverse groups that makes the difference (Davidson and
Farquhar 2015).
Regarding transgender people, results indicate that the number of Facebook
groups and intensity show no relationship, again nuancing previous research
(Davidson and Farquhar 2015). However, participants who used social media as a
news source had softened attitudes toward transgender people. This, perhaps, indi-
cates the positive potential for news on social media, particularly for those who have
strong social endorsements leaning toward acceptance and tolerance (Bakshy et al.
2015). However, it should be noted that those who frequently sought out political
news from social media tended to have more negative attitudes. This finding appears
to directly support concepts of selective exposure and polarization (Jones 2002;
Stroud 2007; Sunstein 2018).
Overall our findings suggest complexity in the relationship between prejudicial
attitudes and social media use. While the use of social media and the characteristics
of one’s network seems to have no impact on attitudes toward immigrants, the diver-
sity of one’s network softens attitudes toward refugees. Future research should more
thoroughly consider the role that on- and offline network diversity plays in shaping
our understanding of vulnerable groups in society. Immigration has long been a
contentious issue in U.S. society and it may be that attitudes are so durable that
social media use and network characteristics are irrelevant to individual opinion.
When it comes to refugees, however, it may be that the seeming recency of their
plight suggests possibilities for positive attitude construction, and social media
could play a role in that.
A key shortcoming of this study is that it includes only college students. The
social network characteristics, selective exposure behaviors, and overall political
attitudes are likely different from those of non-college populations. A more diverse
sample could yield deeper and more complex understandings of the way in which
social media shapes public opinion toward vulnerable groups. College students may
regularly be confronting the issues of immigration, refugee resettlement, and trans-
gender rights in various courses, possibly shaping attitudes that are less likely pre-
dicted by social media as a news source. In addition, to the degree that college
campuses can expose students to diverse people and ideas, it is possible that these
experiences have impact beyond social media. Future studies should consider these
questions using more diverse samples. Nonetheless, we feel this exploratory study
confirms that social media does play some role in shaping our sentiments toward
key social groups. Further research can, and should, add nuance to this finding.
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Part IV
Sexual Cultures and Their Isms
Chapter 10
The Drama of Predatory
Heteromasculinity Online
Sine Anahita
10.1 Heading 1
On a May afternoon in California in 2014, a young man, Elliot Rodger, went on a

rampage, killing six persons, injuring 14 others, and killing himself. Moments
before he began the murder spree, he uploaded a YouTube video and a manifesto
that detailed his hatred of women, angrily decried his lack of sexual success with
women, and bitterly outlined his plans for retribution. The manifesto (Rodger
2014b) and YouTube video (Rodger 2014a) went viral. The investigations of
Rodger’s rampage alerted mainstream Americans to the existence of male suprem-
acy movement communities that are largely online-based, and are populated by
angry young men like Elliott Rodger.
In the months leading up to the killings, Rodger frequented several online forums,
including The Red Pill (TRP), a subreddit (or category) on the social bookmarking
site, Reddit (Wilhelm 2014). In the first days after Rodger’s rampage, members of
TRP hotly discussed the murders and Rodger himself. Some posters to the site
lauded him as a hero (Woolf 2014). I became interested in the ideologies of neo-
masculinity as expressed on TRP, especially in the discourses and performances of
what is identified in this paper as predatory heteromasculinity.
This paper proposes a Goffmanesque dramaturgical framework to analyze how
The Red Pill site functions as virtual theatre for participants to perform the dis-
courses of predatory heteromasculinity. I first review Goffman’s ideas about theatre
as a metaphor for social life, and outline ideas about neo-masculinity and predatory
heteromasculinity as a framework with which to analyze TRP. I then describe the
methods and the data for the study before discussing the findings.
S. Anahita (*)
University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA
e-mail: sine.anahita@alaska.edu

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29855-5_10
172 S. Anahita
10.2 eading 2: Dramaturgy, Online Social Movement

H
Communities, and Neo-masculinism
Members of the internet site, The Red Pill (TRP) use dramaturgical elements in
their online discussions of neo-masculinity. In this section, I describe Goffman’s
dramaturgical ideas, and discuss how other writers have elaborated on his work.
Next, I discuss online social movement communities. I finish by discussing neo-
masculinity and operationalizing the concept of predatory heteromasculinity.
10.2.1 Heading 3: Goffman’s Dramaturgy
Erving Goffman ((1959) 1973) developed the idea of using theatre as a metaphor for
understanding social interactions. He described how people use performance tools,
such as scripted dialogue, staging cues, and character creation to convince audi-
ences to believe in a certain social reality about both the actor(s) and the scene being
performed. The internet was unimaginable in Goffman’s day, but clearly the theatre
of social life has expanded to the internet. Today, people move seamlessly from
social interactions in the digital world to social interactions in the “real” world
(Johns 2010). Social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and
Reddit, now serve as important sites of social interaction for 74% of adult internet
users (Pew Research Center 2012). More than half of online adults regularly use
two or more social media sites (Duggan et al. 2014). Social communities and social
interactions have expanded beyond face-to-face to the internet, and sociologists
have begun to analyze the rich data to be found online. Perhaps it is not surprising
that Goffman’s dramaturgical ideas, especially his ideas about impression manage-
ment and the presentation of self, would be important sociological tools with which
scholars have worked (Johns 2010).
10.2.2 Heading 4: Online Social Movement Communities
The internet has long been recognized as providing space for lone individuals to
interact as members of communities (Adler and Adler 2008; Sunwood 2002; Kidd
2014). Indeed, Adler and Adler (2008) document that through online interaction,
people who were once loners can locate each other online, and discover and create
shared meanings and become “cyber colleagues” (34). Similarly, Sunwood (2002)
describes how online communities can unite spatially separated people who share
interactively-created meanings in ways that were impossible before the internet.
Duggan et al. (2014) document that people who use the internet obtain more support
from their social ties. Kidd (2014) elaborates how individuals bond together to form
communities uniting around a highly specific topic, such as Lady Gaga’s Little
10 The Drama of Predatory Heteromasculinity Online 173
Monsters, which offers Lady Gaga fans an identity and unconditional acceptance by
other “monsters” and the celebrity herself (Gaga 2015).
There has been significant work on how social movement adherents utilize the
internet. For example, studies describe how internet technologies such as livestream-
ing, photo sharing, text messaging, and video sharing have transformed how and
why people engage in collective action (Haggart 2013; Rodriguez 2013; Soon and
Cho 2014; Theocharis 2013; Turner 2013; Vicari 2014; Yamaguchi 2013), even
while social scientists are still pondering how advocacy groups actually function
online (Hestres 2014). New digital tools, including social media platforms, but also
including traditional email and text messaging, have blurred the boundary between
online activism and off-line activism so that it is no longer meaningful to distinguish
between the two (Nielsen 2013). However, the increasing availability of performing
token support for social movement claims, e.g. “liking” a Facebook post, has
expanded slacktavism, defined as the “willingness to perform a relatively costless,
token display of support for a social cause, with an accompanying lack of willing-
ness to devote significant effort to enact meaningful change” (Kristofferson et al.
2014:1149).
Kristofferson et al. demonstrate that people who express symbolic support for a
cause within private settings are more likely to follow through with more than mere
token support than are people who express support in a more public context.
Conceivably, then, adherents to a particular social movement who express their
ideas in a relatively private setting, such as a members-only blog that limits its audi-
ence, would be more likely to follow through with more substantial social move-
ment activism than people who publicly tweet their views to a larger audience.
Privacy of groups also leads to their insularity, which leads to an increase in extrem-
ist ideas. Sunstein (2004, 2009) argues that group polarization inevitably results
when groups engage in enclave deliberation, defined as discussions that take place
within the boundaries of a closed group. Sunstein’s work documents that groups
composed of like-minded persons will, over the course of discussion, move towards
more extreme positions in the direction of their original ideas. Group polarization
happens as a result of the limited argument pool within a group of like-minded oth-
ers. Importantly for the present study, people tend to move in the direction of the
group due to social comparison—they want to create a favorable impression of
themselves in the eyes of their audience. Thus they perform the roles expected of
them and use the socially acceptable scripts, participating in the team effort to move
the group towards an extremist position. Sunstein (2009) and others (Soon and Cho
2014) document that the internet has decreased opportunities for people to hear
ideas that oppose their own, and increased the chances they will interact with others
online who hold their same position, a problem Sunstein labels “information
cocoons.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which tracks the activities of hate
groups and extremist violence, reports the number of organized hate groups declined
by 17% in the continental US from 2013 to 2014 (2015). However, the SPLC also
warned that while the number of organized groups has declined in the physical
world, extremist activism has shifted to the online world. The SPLC also noted that
174 S. Anahita
extremist violence continues at a rate comparable to its heyday in the 1990s, but
unlike that period, the majority of extremist violence is committed by lone wolf
activists, those who may or may not be affiliated with an organization and who work
alone. Days after Elliot Rodger’s murder spree, the SPLC identified Rodger’s
actions as a hate crime against women, and linked his motive to his participation in
online misogynist social movement communities (Glasstetter 2014). Thus Elliot
Rodger may be considered to be a lone wolf activist who honed his misogynist
views through participation in online social movement communities that are infor-
mation cocoons.
10.2.3 Heading 5: Neo-masculinism
Masculinism is an ideology that drives contemporary anti-feminist backlash move-

ments and lone wolf activists such as Rodger. Movement adherents believe that men
and masculinity are in crisis because society has become feminized, and men have
become oppressively domesticated (Blais and Dupuis-Deri 2012; Connell 2001;
Kimmel 1996). The ideologies of masculinism can be arranged along a continuum
from centrist to extremist. The centrist men’s rights movement, for example, focuses
on issues of men’s equality, such as fathers’ rights to custody in divorce (Crowley
2009; Blais and Dupuis-Deri 2012), paternal rights to prohibit female partners from
having an abortion (Macleod and Hansjee 2013), and equitable divorce and alimony
laws (Macleod and Hansjee 2013). In comparison, masculinist extremists believe
men are victimized by women at greater rates than women’s victimization by men
(Potok and Schlatter 2012), and advocate subordination of women. If Elliot Rodger
is rightly considered to be a lone wolf activist, then his performance of revenge
against womankind would be an iconographic example of masculinist extremism.
Backlash movements against feminism have emerged during every wave of fem-
inism, from the late-1800s to the present day, thus the continuation of backlash
movements comes as no surprise. What is surprising, though, is the virulence of the
misogynist discourses that are openly expressed in online social movement com-
munities such as The Red Pill. I propose that the virulence of the misogyny, and its
open expression, constitutes a new wave in anti-feminist backlash movements, and
I propose the term neo-masculinism as a description of this new wave.
Using data from The Red Pill (TRP) as an exemplar social media site, I define
neo-masculinism as an ideology that is a contemporary redeployment of older, male
supremacist tropes of masculinity, femininity, and sexuality. Neo-masculinism on
TRP utilizes gender essentialism and biological determinism to assert innate gender
differences between men and women. The discourses of neo-masculinism reassert a
gender hierarchy with heterosexual men superior to women. Men are also arranged
in a hierarchy, with men who embody the ideals of hegemonic masculinity—domi-
nance, physical strength, conventional attractiveness, heterosexual, fit, and muscu-
lar—ranked above men who do not. In TRP discourse, men at the top of the hierarchy
are alphas, while men who rank in the secondary tier are labeled betas. Men who are
omegas are considered to be at the bottom of the hierarchy. Men are ranked accord-
ing to their sexual market value (SMV). Indicators of high SMV include: youth;
whiteness; the display of designer clothes; muscularity; fitness; and excellent sexual
hunting skills. Most homosexual men are considered by neo-masculinists to be too
feminized to be included in the hierarchy. Neo-masculinitists believe in the idea of
sex complementarianism, understanding that both sexes have specific roles to play,
and that each is necessary to society. The discourses of neo-masculinity as played
out on TRP encourage suppression of women through the deployment of dramatur-
gical strategies of sexual conquest (game), initiation of fear in women (dread), and
negating women’s subjectivity and agency (“all women are like that,” aka AWALT).
Neo-masculinists consider women to be capricious sexual tricksters who must be
managed by men using “red pill” strategies. Neo-masculinists desire sex with attrac-
tive women (hot girls) who have high SMV as indicated by youth, low sexual expe-
rience but high sexual appetite.
One discourse of neo-masculinism is predatory heteromasculinity, a masculinity
that is affirmatively heterosexual, sexually entitled, and focused on hunting women
as sexual prey. The ideal type is casual, hook-up sex, but men may also engage in
long term relationships, if they remain totally in control. Men who embody preda-
tory heteromasculinity deploy particular dramaturgical strategies in their pursuit of
women for sex, strategies that are described in detail on TRP. As will be demon-
strated, predatory heteromasculinity, as an important discursive element in neo-
masculinism, is prominently staged on TRP.
10.3 Heading 6: Methods and Description of the Data
The data for this study consist of original posts and comments on The Red Pill
(TRP), a subreddit (category) of the social media site, Reddit. TRP was founded in
January, 2013, by a user whose online handle is RedPillSchool (Valizadeh 2013) as
an online community where men can share what the site calls “sexual strategy.” The
introductory statement for the site states that the purpose of TRP is “[d]iscussion of
sexual strategy in a culture increasingly lacking a positive identity for men.”
Membership in TRP surged since its 2013 founding. In May 2014, there were
53,538 subscribers (Woolf 2014). When data collection began in January 2015,
there were just under 100,000 subscribers. During the second week of March 2015,
Bell (2015) published a study of Reddit that ranked TRP as among the top 250 sub-
reddits in terms of number of subscribers. TRP gained 200 subscribers in the week
following publication of that study. By late July, 2017, the site claimed nearly
218,000 subscribers.
The term, “the red pill,” comes from the 1999 science fiction film, “The Matrix.”
In the film, a dystopian future, humans were enslaved by machines and fed an alter-
nate non-reality. People who swallowed the red pill, however, were able to see
“real” reality, and became rebels leading a battle to save humanity from the
machines. TRP subscribers commonly begin their narratives with a ritualistic
176 S. Anahita
a ffirmation that they had swallowed the red pill as a way of performing their accep-
tance of TRP principles. In the context of TRP, swallowing the red pill means that
members have realized the reality of contemporary gender relations that have
reduced men to a state of inequality in comparison to women. Yet the members of
TRP desire sex with women, and so have developed sexual strategies that, if fol-
lowed, will yield sexual success and return men to their rightful place of dominance
over women.
The subscribers who most often post to TRP seem to be mostly young,
16–30 years old, judging by their comments about college roommates, living with
parents, and mention of high school or college classes. Regular posters claim to be
male, and seem to be well-educated. For example, most posts are comparatively
well-written, and contain few writing problems to indicate lower educational attain-
ment. Additionally, posts commonly refer to information gained from college
coursework or criticize female high school teachers and female college professors.
10.3.1 Heading 7: Methodology
This study is a qualitative analysis of 500 original textual posts and 25,737 com-
ments associated with those posts, for a total of 26,237 data points. A purposive
sample was collected of every post and comment made during the period of February
7 to March 14, 2015, a period of 5 weeks. Data were collected in 7 day increments
on Saturdays, and consisted of all of the new posts and comments made in the previ-
ous Saturday through Friday period. This method was selected on the assumption
that participation in TRP would peak on weekends.
The data were organized in two ways. First, all of the posts and comments were
entered into NVivo, using the nCapture function. Qualitative analysis began by open
coding the data, looking for broad patterns. It was at the open coding stage that the
utility of Goffman’s dramaturgy as a possible analytical framework was recognized.
Focused coding followed; in this stage, the data were searched for dramaturgical
elements, and, using grounded theory, the ideas about neo-masculinity and preda-
tory heteromasculinity were developed.
The data were also entered into Excel, which facilitated basic quantitative analy-
sis. I was interested in counting the percentage of members who awarded upvotes to
each post, which allowed a count of the posts to which TRP members positively
reacted. Excel was also used to record the number of comments that were associated
with each of the 500 original posts. TRP members also allocate points to comments,
which were also entered into Excel as a way of measuring group popularity of the
comments.
I skimmed the entire corpus of the data twice: when pulling and entering the data
into NVivo, and when entering the data into Excel. Posts that were calculated as
having the highest popularity among TRP members, as indicated by the percentage
of members who upvoted, the number of comments, and the total number of points
members allocated to original posts and sets of comments, were selected for
focused coding.
10.4 Heading 8: The Drama of Neo-masculinism on TRP
In March 2015, the Red Pill subreddit was proclaimed to be the most bigoted space
on Reddit by a data and information start-up company, Idibon (Bell 2015). The
study consisted of a survey of Reddit users, which asked them to indicate which
subreddits were the most toxic. TRP was one of 33 subreddits most often mentioned
by users who responded. Bell also used algorithms to plot the degree of toxicity of
subreddits based on popularity of posts, indicated by percent of upvotes, and crowd-
sourced coding of a random sample of posts. In Bell’s study, TRP scored very high
in toxicity. Additionally, Idibon’s (Bell) 3000 crowd-coders overwhelming coded
TRP’s content as toxic.
In this section, I analyze the TRP data I collected using a dramaturgical analyti-
cal framework. I claim that the members of TRP use dramaturgical ideas as their
sexual strategies. Further, I claim that TRP participants can be thought of as actor-
adherents: they are performing scripted roles to establish their predatory heteromas-
culine identity, and they are doing so as activists in the online version of the
neo-masculinist social movement.
10.4.1 Heading 9: The Red Pill as Stage
In dramaturgical terms, TRP is the stage upon which actor-adherents to neo-

masculinism perform. The other readers of TRP are the critical audience who
applaud good performances, and boo botched performances. Participants use
resources on the site, e.g. readings on Red Pill theory, Ask TRP, and other members’
Field Reports to prepare their scripts for approaching women for sex, managing
their current relationship(s), and analyzing women and heterosexual relationship
dynamics. Participants offer performance tips, suggest dialogue and gestures, and
advise on stage settings. In the process, participants learn the tenets of neo-
masculinity and the techniques of predatory heteromasculinity.
Participants often write about incidents when they utilized red pill principles to
pick up women. When participants describe the incident, others often offer cues for
lines. One poster, for example, approached a woman at a bar and was rebuffed. In a
post entitled, “What makes you think you have a shot with me?”, the poster recounts
that he simply walked away from the woman when she asked him the titular ques-
tion. Other TRP participants offered one-line retorts, such as “[y]ou had a positive
rating on The Erotic Review plus your ad claimed you accept travelers checks,” as
ways to save face for the actor. By offering lines, and helping actor-adherents set the
stage for their performance of neo-masculinity, participants use TRP as a stage.
178 S. Anahita
10.4.2 Heading 10: Re-performances
After participants accomplish a performance, e.g. approach a woman in a bar using

TRP strategies, they often write about their experience—a re-performance—on the
site in the section labeled Field Reports. The re-performances recount the details of
actors’ performances, describe how they utilized TRP strategies, and whether and
how quickly their target submitted to sex. The Field Reports place the target along
a continuum of sexual attractiveness, ranking her sexual market value (SMV) from
one to ten. Often the Field Reports include a rating for the quality of the sexual act.
Successful performances receive upvotes and positive comments, which function as
applause for the actors. Performances that the TRP audience deems inadequate,
receive boos in the form of down votes or lack of comments.
In a post, entitled “[W]ent on a tinder date tonight. Bailed halfway through the
first drink,” the actor recounted an unsuccessful first date. The woman he had met
on Tinder, a hook-up app, turned out to be older and fatter than she had appeared in
her photographs. In his post, he rated her a six on a 10-point scale. Early in the date,
she irritated him: “Then [I] said I’m leaving, you are not what I want, I’m out of
your league, have a good night, and walked straight out. Felt fucking good.” The
re-performance of the original scene succeeded for the TRP audience, even though
the actor had failed to obtain the sex he was seeking. It earned applause for the actor
because he stayed in character and ad libbed a line that was applauded by the other
members of TRP. The post received 78% upvotes and 443 comments, the second
highest number of comments in the sample.
10.4.3 Heading 11: Belief in Their Part
Goffman describes how actors may range in their sincerity of belief in the part they
are playing. Because re-performances on TRP are text-based only, actors must find
ways to convince their audience about their sincerity of belief in their roles. This is
accomplished through ritual affirmation of actors’ belief in TRP principles. For
example, “I took the pill a few months ago. Many MANY things have changed,”
writes a TRP member in a post entitled “My field report.” Affirming acceptance of
red pill principles, and incorporating them into daily life is an ongoing process. In a
post entitled, “Don’t get too comfortable, keep swallowing the pill indefinitely,” the
affirmation of sincerity of belief in the part being played began with an affirmation
of sincere belief, and then reaffirmed the necessity of continued sincere belief in
order to obtain sex:
First I want to say the pill has changed my life, thank you again. But, I was enjoying the
changes too much and found myself coming here [to TRP site] less often and reading less
theory. Then I noticed changes. Two outings with my plate and no sex… That’s when I real-
ized I had gotten comfortable and wasn’t injecting TRP into my life on a regular basis.
The poster went on to describe how once he started using TRP principles again,
his plate—TRP-speak for women with whom men have casual sexual relation-
ships—became emotionally distressed. “Me not giving a shit about her broke her
down and brought her back into my frame,” he says. Further, as a result of his reaf-
firmation of TRP principles, he “[f]ucked her three times over the next 12 hours,
best sex we have had yet. And she took me out for lunch. I know it’s not huge, but
it is a big win for me. Remember to never forget the pill and always hold frame.”
Maintaining “frame” is an important TRP principle, which means remaining in neo-
masculine character as an emotionally distant male who seeks satisfying sex with a
minimum of emotional or financial investment.
10.4.4 Heading 12: Ideological Stage Setting
Participants on TRP work with others to create an ideological stage setting. An ideo-
logical setting is akin to a director describing the scene to the cast to get actors to
understand the characters to be played. Key to the ideological setting on TRP is the
idea that women are self-centered sexual tricksters. In this post that urges TRP par-
ticipants to stop using online dating sites, the anti-female ideological scene is set:
Basically, online dating only perpetuates that which we are trying to stop, and that is the
swirling of the quality of the average western woman down the shitter. Women on dating
sites receive an endless spigot of validation from thirsty betas, it increases their sense of
narcissism, which causes them to get fatter and lazier, and then even thirstier betas continue
to validate them, which increases narcissism more, which makes her even more lazier, and
the cycle continues into a swirl [of] complete and utter shit.
There are other TRP ideas that set the scene for the participants on the social media site. For
example, this comment appeared below an original post that was entitled “Postwall woman
blows up on okcupid date, gets insulted that she has to pay for her meal:”
Postwall women versus pre-wall are easy and difficult in different ways. Postwall women
are desperate for a relationship with like you said, a Mr. Right, so if you play upon that, you
can be the alpha high SMV guy who selectively flashes just enough beta traits to hook her.
By their 30s they are a bit more wary of the pump and dump because it’s happened so many
times - but flashing enough beta traits to seperate [sic] you from the other “fun” guys, while
not enough to cripple your game will always get you a plate.
Some definitions are necessary in order to understand how this post sets the ideo-
logical scene for a performance of predatory heteromasculinity. First, the term
“postwall women” refers to women who TRP members believe are too old to attract
alpha males. SMV is sexual market value, which is determined in men by their
adherence to neo-masculinist ideals, and in women by their ratings on a sexual
attractiveness scale. Beta is the term used to indicate a man who is in the second tier
of the hierarchy of men. In many ways, beta men exhibit characteristics that are
opposite of alpha traits. For example, beta men exhibit desire for gender equity and
compassion and empathy for women. Physically, beta men are considered to be less
attractive than alpha men, have less muscles, and may be short or fat. Postwall
180 S. Anahita
women—older women—are thought to be attracted to beta men only out of des-

peration because they understand that they can no longer attract alpha men. But to
be beta on TRP is undesirable; beta men who frequent TRP construct their identities
online as “recovering” from playing the beta role, are working on their character
development, and are learning the scripts of alpha men. So the post quoted above
reveals a strategy to manage postwall women’s impression. Actors are advised only
to flash occasional glimpses of the beta within; in this way, they retain their role
identity as alpha—they stay in character—but obtain sex.
Pump and dump refers to the predatory heteromasculine strategy of having hook-
up sex and then physically and/or emotionally leaving. The term plate refers to the
women with whom TRP men have non-committed sex. Plates, in TRP ideology, are
prohibited from having multiple relationships themselves, or risk being labeled a
whore and thus rendered undesirable. The term originated on TRP as shorthand for
the goal of “spinning plates,” or maintaining many casual sexual relationships while
refusing to commit to any one woman. The fact that plate spinning is an actual type
of performance seen at circuses highlights the Goffmanesque applicability of
the term.
10.4.5 eading 13: Character Creation, Development,

H
and Maintenance
The TRP actors adapt elements of neo-masculinism to co-construct their on-stage

persona, or role for their character. The character they create is that of an alpha
male—young, professionally successful, attractive, fit, muscular, emotionally dis-
tant, hyper-heterosexual, sexually dominating, and desired by many hot girls. They
utilize the site to create scripts, and to work with other participants backstage to
co-construct reliable routines that will enable them to successfully approach women
for sex. For example, the post that received the highest number of comments in the
sample (n = 462) and 81% upvotes offers script, routines, and character develop-
ment advice on how to perform the role of alpha man. The post, entitled “Quick-
and-dirty tips and tricks for aspiring alphas,” begins with an acknowledgement that
alpha acting skills can be learned: “A pure, natural alpha doesn’t need tips and tricks
for maintaining frame, but I am anything but a natural alpha and these are some
simple techniques I’ve employed to “fake it till I make it“ with respect to communi-
cating with women…” The term, “maintaining frame” means staying in character in
TRP-speak.
Note the tacit acknowledgement of Goffman’s concept of impression manage-
ment in the use of the adage, “fake it till I make it,” which is also a common saying
in contemporary 12-step groups that seek to assist individuals with recovering from
various addictions and traumas. TRP also uses ideas about recovery, not about
recovery from drug or alcohol addictions, but recovering from being a beta male, or
recovery from “oneitis,” TRP-speak for monogamy.
The neo-masculinist character of alpha male is entitled to sex with women. The
post, “Quick-and-dirty,” suggests this gestural performance tip to ensure that TRP
actor-adherents obtain the sex that they unquestionably deserve:
“Touch her. You are entitled to her body. It’s your toy for you to play with and enjoy.
Assume this right as early as possible, beginning with benign physical contact and quickly
escalating. It’s her responsibility to protect herself from unwanted physical affection, not
yours to guess how much affection she is comfortable with. Her restricting your access is
funny, always.”
This post was the most popular in the sample, with 81% upvotes on the day the data
were gathered. The popularity of the post demonstrates one of the key principles of
predatory heteromasculinity: women’s bodies are to be owned and controlled by
men, for men’s pleasure. In TRP context, the line, “her restricting your access is
funny,” means men should laugh at women who reject advances. Laughing at
women, in TRP sexual strategy, is a performance tactic intended to diminish wom-
en’s sense of personal agency while bolstering men’s rights to sex. In another tip,
the “Quick-and-dirty” poster writes: “Sex should consist of her acting in submis-
sion to you. In bed, she is a rag doll, a slave. Exercise complete dominion over your
woman in bed. The only limits to your alpha expression in bed should be legal ones.
Don’t be an English farmer, be a Viking pillager,” (emphasis in original).
The ideal alpha male character is emotionally distant, using neo-masculinist
ideas of male supremacy in order to achieve this impression. For example, the
“Quick-and-dirty” post advises: “Never discuss feelings or emotions via text. Your
sincere thoughts are probably too meaningful and sacred to even be communicated
verbally to your woman, let alone put into a cheap text.” This poster is adamant that
to maintain sexual control over women, TRP actor-adherents must never step out of
character, but must constantly enact a predatory heteromasculine identity.
10.4.6 Heading 14: Routines and Scripts
Routines and scripts, in the Goffmanesque sense, are predetermined patterns of

behavior and speech that actors use to play their parts in a social performance. TRP
adherents discuss routines and scripts, all of them tied with character development
and ideological stage-setting. A key routine discussed is the cold approach, which
entails approaching an unknown woman (target) in a social setting with the objec-
tive of obtaining sex quickly and efficiently. This post describes how to perform the
cold approach routine:
You have to start with your body language... Women notice your body language. To achieve
good body language first off don’t be fat. That shit will bring you down. Girls will notice if
you are proud of your body. Stand up tall, shoulders back, head up, making eye contact with
everyone. Walk with your abs tight and deep breaths… As you walk around make eye con-
tact with everyone... Once I started deliberately running day game [frequenting social
spaces during the day, such as shopping malls, lunch spots, student gathering spaces] I
opened everyone. So approaching just becomes a fun thing to do to find out shit about
182 S. Anahita
people. Then if you do this to a girl, you evaluate her person, notice she’s got a fuckable
body, and bam, “come get lunch with me.”
Even well-performed cold approach routines often result in rejection, so other

recommended routines and scripts discussed on TRP describe ways to save face.
While some posters suggest having a stock set of witty one-liners, others recom-
mend simply walking off stage. This excerpt is from a post entitled, “The power of
walking away:”
My favorite option is to walk away. Don’t say anything, even if you have a witty comeback,
don’t give her an angry look, don’t talk shit, and don’t even think of rewarding her shitty
behavior… Blank, deadpan face. Just turn and walk away. Nothing else. Just leave. Go talk
to another girl, or if there aren’t any, go to another venue. If you approach goes really bad,
just turn and leave her. Don’t invest a single more calorie of energy into the interaction.
You’re not going to get what you want (sex), so stop wasting time and make your next
move. You’re a man: don’t apologize for how you’re built and what you need. Don’t argue.
Just accomplish your mission.
A key neo-masculinist principle that is constantly articulated on TRP is that men

are biologically hard-wired to need sex. Additionally, TRP actor-adherents believe
that this natural imperative for men has been unfairly criticized, but that men should
no longer apologize for being who and what they are. The mission that is mentioned
in the post is to obtain the necessary sex as efficiently as possible with a minimum
investment in time, energy, or money.
Another routine that many TRP actor-adherents rely on is called creating dread.
The script calls for the actor to create fear in his woman, e.g. by giving her the
impression that he is being sexually pursued by other women, that he is emotionally
uninterested, and/or that he may or may not stick around after sex. The objective is
to create a sense of dread so that she will adhere to his sexual demands. Members of
TRP suggest performance strategies such as waiting a minimum of 2 hours to
answer text messages, and recommend props such as empty condom packages left
on the bedside table. Maintaining frame—staying in character—is advised as vital
to instill the sense of dread in women. For example, in the following post, titled
“Surprise… dread works like a charm,” a TRP adherent describes how he performed
in character to instill dread into his girlfriend with the objective of obtaining satis-
factory sex:
Long story short, I realized I was missing some dread in my LTR [long term relationship],
so I made sure to take an opportunity to demonstrate my value to her around other women.
We went to a party, paid her little mind while I let all her drunk friends chat me up. Began
dancing (with plausible deniability) with a cute little blonde who’s not shy about her inten-
tions, and as soon as LTR sees, she comes RIGHT over, and says quicker than I’ve ever
heard her speak “Hey __, have you met my boyfriend, ___??” Of course I had done nothing
improper, just dancing beside this kindly blonde. It was also a bonus that every other guy
there was very Blue Pill [did not subscribe to TRP principles], so I had the benefit of having
the attention of the room, which worked wonders. Get home and I get the best blowjob I’ve
had in a month.
As demonstrated, participants in TRP work collaboratively to create routines and

scripts to achieve the neo-masculine objectives of efficient and satisfactory sex for
the actor-adherents.
10.4.7 Heading 15: Costumes and Props
In addition to routines and scripts, TRP adherents recommend the use of costumes
and props. Leaving a used condom package on the bedside table to indicate that the
actor is sexually involved with others is one prop that is mentioned. Costumes
include designer clothes and the extravagant use of high quality grooming products.
But even more important than the outside layer, TRP urges participants to sculpt
their bodies through lifting, diet, and posture. The sculpted, muscular, hyper-
masculine body acts as the costume for TRP actor-adherents. TRP actor-adherents
also believe that lifting weights assists in reaching desired psychological states,
such as high self-esteem, self-discipline, and a sense of command. The psychologi-
cal states help participants maintain frame (to stay in character), to save face when
rejected during a cold approach, and to be sexually assertive with women, as this
post entitled “Lifting, muscles, SMV and social class” describes:
After swallowing the red pill, I set myself down the road of making myself a better man.
Lifting is vital to red pill success. As with all my hobbies, I got serious and dedicated, and
put on some good mass with regular hard work and proper diet. I am visibly muscular,
depending on how I dress. It’s definitely helped my confidence, my appearance, and my
ability to close.
In this thread, the term “to close” means to successfully persuade a woman with
high SMV to have sex with a minimum of time, emotional, and/or financial invest-
ment on the part of the man.
10.5 Heading 16: Conclusion
In this paper, I describe how participants in the subreddit, The Red Pill, utilize dra-
maturgical strategies in order to achieve their objectives of casual sex with hot girls.
TRP can be considered to be a social movement organization (SMO) (McCarthy
and Zald 1976), and even though it is virtual and not “real,” I argue that it functions
like an SMO would in the physical world. Therefore, in addition to participants
achieving their personal goals, the SMO also has constructed ideologies to which
participants adhere. The ideologies are created through the Goffmanesque drama-
turgical processes described in this paper: the use of TRP as a virtual stage; re-
performances that are evaluated by the TRP audience; reaffirmations of TRP
ideologies to demonstrate sincere belief in the part actor-adherents are performing;
setting the ideological stage; creating and maintaining characters; constructing
184 S. Anahita
routines and scripts; and using costumes and props. Through their dramaturgical
strategies, TRP actor-adherents have elaborated the ideology of predatory hetero-
sexuality as biologically and socially normative for young adult men.
Although Elliot Rodger’s murderous rampage alerted mainstream America and
this author to the presence of online misogyny through networked individuals, the
extent of the neo-masculinist movement in America or elsewhere remains obscure.
Future research might map the contours and chart the progression of the movement.
In this paper, I have identified how one particular networked group of neo-
masculinists utilize dramaturgical elements to perform predatory heteromasculinity.
Future work might also examine other key principles of neo-masculinism.
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Chapter 11
Negotiating Racialized Sexuality Through
Online Stancetaking in Text-Based
Communication
Ping-Hsuan Wang
11.1 Heading 1: Introduction
Sexuality, as Giddens discerns, is not a set of “biological promptings” but a social

construct with its investigation producing texts and discourses about itself (1992:
23. See also Foucault 1990, on social production of sexuality through discourse and
Seidman 1997, on conceptualizing gender, race, and sexuality in social sciences).
This proposition presumes an increasing negotiation of how sexuality comes into
being among individuals. When we turn our attention to the discourses around sexu-
ality in computer-mediated communication (CMC) in the digital age, we are con-
fronted with the same phenomenon. Only that in this case, we are concerned not
only with the interaction between users, but also with users’ interaction with digital
features, or affordances, the “functional and relational aspects which frame, while
not determining, the possibilities for agentic action in relation to an object” (Hutchby
2001: 444). The Internet “provides [people] with some added efficiencies and
opportunities to tailor their interactions to better meet their needs” (Tyler 2002:
204). In this vein, more recent studies of sociolinguistics in CMC aim to account for
the social diversity of language use by unraveling “socially situated discourses in
which these features are embedded” (Androutsopoulos 2006: 420). That is, instead
of treating digital features independently, the research on CMC has yielded more
fruitful results by considering how these features are “locally appropriated” within
various discourse types.
In this chapter, I examine text-based comments to situations when sexual prac-
tices among gay men are complicated by the use of racial language on dating apps.
By taking the approach of discourse analysis, I demonstrate how users create align-
ment with one another through stancetaking using two digital affordances, tagging
and quoting. I argue that these affordances facilitate the creation of alignment and
P.-H. Wang (*)

Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
e-mail: pw433@georgetown.edu

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29855-5_11
188 P.-H. Wang
positioning in online stancetaking, the process of which gives rise to negotiation of

sexuality and the construction of two realities where sexual practices are viewed
differently. The analysis illustrates how tagging and quoting, when used in conjunc-
tion with stance markers (i.e., linguistic units that express one’s attitudes) in the
comment section, create connections between comments and, in turn, alignments
between commenters for stancetaking. This process links micro interaction to a
macro ideological debate and facilitates the creation of alternative social realities. I
begin by providing background information on the ideological debate of using
racial language in one’s user profile, to describe and situate the data under analysis
in the larger sociocultural context. I then give an overview of past literature on
stance and how stancetaking is relevant to the online negotiation of sexuality. This
is followed by a description of the data. By presenting how commenters position
and align with each other as they take stances in the analysis, I argue that the affor-
dances serve as resources for establishing relationships with others and thus making
salient our stances in CMC.
11.2 eading 2: The Ideological Debate of “No Asians,

H
No Black People”
While mobile applications (apps) for online dating such as Grindr and Jack’d have
facilitated sexual or romantic encounters for gay men since they were first released
in the early 2000s, it has been reported that some user profiles contain language that
is considered overtly racist, as in “No Blacks, No Asians.” This has sparked a debate
as to whether expressions like this are a form of racism or merely personal prefer-
ences. As Cameron and Kulick note, the same sexual practice, from a social con-
structionist view, does not always have the same meaning, but is rather “dependent
on the kind of discourse about sex in a given time and place” (2003: 10). This phe-
nomenon has attracted some scholarly attention. Rodney Jones (2000), for example,
examines gay personal ads that reflect and recreate racial stereotypes in the social
context in Hong Kong. The ads, as Jones points out, highlight the negotiation of the
users’ racial identities. He notes that the “relatively exclusive preference for one
race or another is an unmarked expectation in the sexual marketplace in Hong
Kong’s gay community” (2000: 52). In similar line with Jones’ study, Daroya (2011)
adopts a sociological approach to examine the hierarchy of desires in gay communi-
ties, especially the eroticization and fetishization of gay Asian men, which are used
to increase one’s desirability in Craigslist personal ads even though both can be
nonetheless perceived as racist for objectifying Asians.
Some scholars have come to conceptualize the expressions of racialized desires
online as sexual racism, or “the sexual rejection of the racial minority, the conscious
attempt on the part of the majority to prevent interracial cohabitation” (Stember
1976: xi). With the advent of technology, our online activities seem to have compli-
cated the matter. Anonymity, for instance, allows for the articulation of desires with
11 Negotiating Racialized Sexuality Through Online Stancetaking… 189
less inhibition and a disregard of political correctness, corresponding to what Suler

(2004) terms the “online disinhibition effect.” Cyberspace, in this regard, is
described as a space where “racial preferences, fetishes, and stereotypes can be
expressed directly, unapologetically, and without fear of social retribution”
(Plummer 2007: 19). The explicit language of racial references online reflects and
reinforces the dominant racial/sexual ideologies within the gay community offline.
Callander, Holt, and Newman (2012) investigated the racialized language in profile
content created by users on Manhunt, a sex-seeking website for gay men, and con-
cluded that the use of such language may elucidate “the broader social and political
climate that shapes how race is articulated in public discourse” in Australian gay
communities (p. 1061). In a 2015 study, Callander, Newman, and Holt surveyed
attitudes of gay and bisexual men in Australia toward online sexual racism and
found that, with simplified racial labels on dating websites (e.g., Asian, Black,
White, Latino), participants seemed to be encouraged to “defend the use of racial
discrimination in the context of sex and dating” (p. 1998) and that White-identified
men in the study tended to view sexual racism more positively than Asian- or Indian-
identified men (p. 1998–1999).
The proliferation of online articles that are featured in major news and on opin-
ion websites and blogs intensifies the ideological debate. Although there lacks an
agreement as to whether these expressions constitute sexual racism, there seems to
be an inclination for columnists to address the issue along these lines, as shown in
articles that were published in recent years, stating that such behaviors are not per-
sonal preferences but racism. Allen (2015), for example, cites Callander et al.’s
(2015) study and writes that racial disclaimers like “no Blacks” and “no Asians” or
food metaphors like “no rice” are racist language. This argument is corroborated by
other columnists, among whom are Brown (2018), Krachenfels (2017), Lang
(2017), and Stafford (2016). Some of these websites or blogs attract readers’ feed-
back ranging from 200 to over a thousand comments. The comment section of such
articles oftentimes functions as an online forum, with multifaceted interaction
among the commenters. Contrary to the growing consensus among article writers
who view the expressions excluding certain races as racist, the replies in these com-
ment sections sketch a mixed climate in which a considerable number of com-
menters dissent from the main arguments presented in the articles or blogs. The
various shades of opinions, sometimes in direct conflict with one another rather than
in unison or on a slant toward one viewpoint, distinctly substantiate how debating
over the issue of using racialized language as sexual racism or not is discursively
achieved in CMC, and aptly instantiate how sexuality is constructed in discourse as
commenters take different stances toward the issue, the author, and other
commenters.
190 P.-H. Wang
11.3 Heading 3: Theoretical Background: Stancetaking
In this section, I give an overview of how researchers have defined and studied
stances. The theoretical concept provides a lens though which we can observe the
landscape of public interests as well as the audiences’ attitudes toward certain
topics. A close examination of stancetaking in CMC can lend useful insights into
how an issue is perceived by commenters.
Stance is a broad and interdisciplinary concept with “an orientation toward con-
ceiving of language in terms of the functions for which it is used, based on the
contexts within which it occurs” (Englebreston 2007: 1). Within the diverse range
of research, Englebreston summarizes five principles fundamental to stance: it is (1)
personal attitudes imbued with social values, (2) a public act that is available for
interpretation by others, (3) a relational notion characterized by its interactional
nature, (4) indexical, pointing to a specific knowledge system beyond the immediate
context, and (5) consequential, leading to real consequences for the person or insti-
tution involved in stancetaking (2007: 6).
The study of stance and identity in discourse analysis can be traced to the work
of Ochs (1992); she lays out the constitutive relation between language and gender
that relies on our tacit understanding of how particular linguistic forms index social
meanings through stances. In her model, stance, as a domain of social meaning,
helps constitute social reality, such as the image of gender (1992: 343). Her theori-
zation echoes Giddens’ that “discourse became constitutive of the social reality it
portrays” (1992: 28). She later defines a stance as “a display of a socially recognized
point of view or attitude” (1993: 288) and further explicates the types of stance:
“epistemic and affective stances are the basic linguistic resources for constructing/
realizing social acts and social identities” (1996: 420). Epistemic stances refer to
linguistic indexing of one’s knowledge and belief, whereas affective stances have to
do with one’s attitude, feeling, and degrees of intensity. In English, some examples
of features that construct stances include quantifiers (a lot), emphatic stress (that-
long), phonological lengthening (jus:::t), and repetition, to name a few.
Following Ochs’ works, Kiesling (2001) explores two fraternity men’s use of
African American Vernacular English (AAVE) to construct a ‘Black’ stance as they
draw on the racialized indexical relationship between Black masculinity and sports.
The racial stances are marked by the participants’ lexical choices or articulation of
phrases (e.g., Know what I’m sayin’?). Kiesling then goes on to argue that stance,
“a person’s expression of their relationship to their talk… and to their interlocutors,”
is the primary way through which people organize interaction (2005: 96). This view
is central to his study, which considers the relations between the cultural models
which speakers draw on and their stances indexed by certain linguistic features.
John Du Bois (2007) introduces the stance triangle, a geometrical model that
builds on the interrelations between the evaluation of a stance object, the positioning
a stancetaker (Subject1), and the alignment with another stancetaker (Subject2). It
interweaves multiple concepts in one interactive construct, including evaluation, posi-
tioning, and alignment in order to examine stancetaking in discourse. Du Bois
describes evaluation as “the process whereby a stancetaker orients to an object of

stance and characterizes it as having some specific quality or value” (p. 143).
Positioning is defined as “the act of situating a social actor with respect to responsibil-
ity for stance for invoking sociocultural value” (p. 143). Lastly, alignment refers to
“the act of calibrating the relationship between two stances, and by implication
between two stancetakers” (p. 144). He also clarifies that alignment, rather than a
positive-negative binary, “represents a point along a continuous scale or range of val-
ues” that is better characterized as convergent or divergent to varying degrees (p. 162).
In sum, within this triangular formulation, Du Bois (2007) approaches the stance act
by considering three processes that take place simultaneously: “evaluating objects,
positioning subjects (self and others), and aligning with other subjects” (p. 163).
Research of discourse analysis on stance in CMC has grown in recent years as
more scholars focus on the multifarious activities in online interaction, including
stancetaking. For instance, Gordon and İkizoğlu (2017) examine how taking stances
toward a poster’s reported behaviors on an advice-seeking forum contributes to the
identity construction of the poster as a “nagging girlfriend.” Hodsdon-Champeon
(2010) quantitatively analyzes racially antagonistic posts to suggest that users quote
the texts of others to express their stances, which in turn show their ideological posi-
tions as racist. A notable gap exists, however, in the literature pertaining to the
interplay between online stancetaking and the negotiation of sexuality. It also adds
to the literature of sexuality in online space (e.g., Herrera 2017, on using hashtag to
construct lesbian identity). The purpose of this study is two-fold: first, it under-
scores how sexuality is constituted and reconstituted as users negotiate their stances
toward the use of racialized language as a sexual practice, and second, it highlights
the dialogic nature of stancetaking in CMC when digital affordances factor in the
management of relationships between commenters. Tagging serves two purposes in
public discussion forum: first, it signals the previous user, thereby creating a con-
nection between one comment and another so that the user being tagged knows that
there is a reply for potentially developing an extended discussion; second, because
of that connection, the comments that are not immediately adjacent to each other are
linked, making cross-turn discussion possible. Page claims that tagging another user
with the prefix “@” can be used to “display connections with others” as a means to
gain increased attention (2012: 183). Also, Bou-Franch, Lorenzo-Dus, and Blitvich
point out that cross- turn addressivity, “explicitly using a user name to select
addressee,” is instrumental to maintaining CMC coherence in YouTube comments
(2012: 506).
11.4 Heading 4: Stancetaking and Digital Affordances
Users’ interaction with digital affordances illustrates how human agency molds the
functions of technologies to best serve the purposes that users have in mind. Just as
linguistic resources can be employed for multiple purposes, digital affordances pro-
vide their users with resources to align and position one another, thereby taking a
192 P.-H. Wang
stance. Heeding the contention that “written language constitutes the primary
resource for creating social reality in text-based computer-mediated communica-
tion” (Herring and Androutsopoulos 2015: 139), I will show how stancetaking is a
means by which users create social reality in CMC, along Berger and Luckmann’s
(1966) description of reality as interpreted by people to be (inter)subjectively mean-
ingful as a coherent whole (p. 19. See also Wang, 2020).
Corresponding to Eckert and McConnell-Ginet’s (1992) call for grounding stud-
ies of gender and language in social practices, the analysis I present is premised on
the notion that participants of CMC, similar to speakers of a speech community, are
not determined by their populations as in their geographic locations or demographic
information, but their shared norms for using the language and interacting with the
digital affordances. Users’ interaction with social networking affordances becomes
more pronounced in situational shaping in the following ways.
First, different modes of communication converge on one single platform: while
commenters reply to each other in the traditional two-way message transmission,
they also tag or quote others to establish connections. While in conversation, stances
are mostly conveyed through the lexical items or grammatical construction, in
CMC, they are made identifiable because of the relationships created through digital
affordances. We can analyze the creation and maintenance of social networks “by
studying social and technical choices that participants make on social network sites”
(Lange 2007: 362). In this regard, tagging and quoting other commenters are not
just ancillary to stancetaking, but in fact, essential to how it is achieved in the
discussion.
For another, what would be characterized as adjacent turns in conversations is
defined largely by tagging and quoting. These affordances obscure the traditional
distinction between synchronous and asynchronous communication. The links cre-
ated by these affordances make possible the cross-turn interaction in CMC. Echoing
Hutchby’s (2001) statement, rather than deterministic mechanical constraints, tag-
ging and quoting come to have interactive uses with users’ agentic adaptations,
which play a key role in evaluation, positioning, and alignment in the stance trian-
gle. The stance in one comment may not be clear until it is juxtaposed to another
comment whose author is tagged or a fragment of which is quoted. When the com-
ments are connected through these affordances and alignment is established through
stancetaking, it becomes possible to frame the topic at issue in one way or another,
with different framings corresponding to different realities, each presented as a
“intersubjective world” (Berger and Luckmann 1966: 23).
11.5 Heading 5: Data
Data examined consist of 1709 comments posted to an opinion piece on the website
of The Guardianentitled, “No Asians, no black people. Why do gay people tolerate
blatant racism?” Owen Jones, a British columnist and commentator who wrote this
article (2016), postulates that racial dating preferences are essentially racist by
Fig. 11.1 A segment of the comment section in The Guardianarticle
maintaining that ethnic minorities in the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans-
gender) community are discriminated against for their ethnicities on dating website
and apps. The comment section, serving as an asynchronous online forum, garnered
well over a thousand responses that accentuate the ideological debate mentioned
above. The digital features in the comment section (Fig. 11.1) include commenting
on the article, replying to someone else’ comment, tagging another commenter in
the reply, quoting from the article or from another comment, recommending a com-
ment (indicated by the upward arrow on the right), sharing a comment on Facebook
or Twitter, or reporting a comment as inappropriate. Once a comment is reported, it
may be removed by the moderator, in which case instead of a comment, the follow-
ing appears in the comment thread: This comment was removed by a moderator
because it didn’t abide by our community standards. Replies may also be deleted.
For more detail see our FAQs. Comments that were removed are not considered for
the analysis in this chapter. For the purposes of qualitative discourse analysis, I
focus on the top comments, which are ordered by how many Recommendations
they get (i.e., comments with more Recommendations appear at the top of the
thread). I specifically focus on stancetaking in the comments making up this thread.
In the next section, I build the analysis on the interactive framework of stancetak-
ing. The extracts of comments illustrate how stancetaking is a way commenters use
text-based language to create diverging realities when it comes to the debate of
racialized sexuality in CMC.
11.6 Heading 6: Analysis
I now turn to analysis, showing how stances emerge in online posts when the com-
menters employ diverse linguistic features to contrast different viewpoints. These
features index the local relationship between the commenters by alluding to a wider
cultural context. Tagging and quoting, in this process, outline the relational posi-
194 P.-H. Wang
tioning: whereas one commenter problematizes the racial language in gay online
dating apps, another finds nothing wrong with it. In tandem with the process of
stancetaking, the issue of using racialized language as a sexual practice on gay dat-
ing apps is negotiated, leading to the construction of two diverging realities: one in
which such behavior is deemed as a blatant act of racism and the other in which it is
merely personal preferences. Because of the indexical property of stancetaking that
connects local language use to the knowledge and cultural system in the society by
invoking “presupposed systems of sociocultural values” (Du Bois 2007: 139), the
negotiation of sexuality as a wider phenomenon is actualized in detailed and
nuanced linguistic expressions in CMC.
When commenters of The Guardian article tag each other, they create connec-
tions that will be necessary for stancetaking. First, alignments between commenters
are formed based on these connections. Tagging, therefore, is conducive to the
emergence of stances with alignment being an integral part of the stance triangle.
Furthermore, “the prior stance must be incorporated anaphorically into the interpre-
tation of the overall emergent stance which culminates in the current stance utter-
ance” (Du Bois 2007: 157). To flesh out the stances in one comment written in reply
to another, tagging is the digital affordance with which we can trace back to the
previous comment and, in the dialogic context, identify the culmination of stances.
Quoting, too, helps commenters overcome asynchronicity. Investigating coher-
ence pertaining to turn-taking and topic maintenance in CMC, Herring observes
some interactional features that users adopt as adaptive strategies to overcome the
challenges posed in the computer-mediated environments. One such feature is quot-
ing, which according to Herring, “creates the illusion of adjacency in that it incor-
porates and juxtaposes (portions of) two turns” (1999: 8). On the other hand, quoting
serves another purpose as it incorporates the voice of another commenter in a new
comment. Online quotation, a form of reported speech, resembles what Tannen
terms “constructed dialogue” because representing an utterance of another is con-
structing a dialogue that “expresses the relationship not between the quoted party
and the topic of the talk but rather the quoting party and the audience to whom the
quotation is delivered” (2007: 111). It is in this sense that commenters can quote
someone’s words to frame certain information for the immediate interactional goal
in the context where the words are resituated. Although quoting in CMC appears to
be mechanical and accurate because it is verbatim, “using cross-turn quotations, this
user explicitly identifies the parts of the message s/he wishes to respond to” (Bou-
Franch et al. 2012: 506). The flexibility of how it is used in CMC interaction epito-
mizes that this feature is appropriated for users’ intended purposes. As is the case
for constructed dialogue, online quoting is always selective and involves recontex-
tualizing words for new purposes. The commenters participate in an active and cre-
ative selection process to support their own arguments. This is why quoting itself
can be inherently evaluative because of the commenters’ conscious move to extract
a particular segment of a comment or an article. When an evaluative comment is
accompanied by a direct reference to another’s statement, Hodsdon-Champeon
(2010) finds, the stance becomes strongly negative by invoking “an atmosphere of
debate” through alternating between stances (p. 17).
In the examples, we see how stances are evinced in the commenters’ lexical
choices and grammatical structures and emerge with the relationships between the
participants that are established through tagging and quoting. We see in the first
comment in the first thread (comment 1.1) how UltraLightBeam (Subject1) creates
a divergent alignment with the author, Owen Jones (Subject2), by evaluating the
expressions (stance object) to take a stance and evoke an alternative viewpoint to
argue that what is at issue is not racism, as the author suggests (UltraLightBeam
quotes Owen Jones; the quoted text appears in italics).
Comment 1.1.
UltraLightBeam 24 Nov 2016 3:22
On dating sites and apps, profiles abound that say “no Asians” or “no black peo-
ple”, casually excluding entire ethnic groups. It’s like a “bastardised ‘No dogs, no
blacks, no Irish’ signs”
It’s not though, is it. People’s dating or sexual preferences aren’t ‘equal opportu-
nity’, and they don’t have to be. On dating sites, people aren’t being excluded from
a public, communal space, as with the old pub signs. They’re being ruled out by that
particular site user, which is that person’s prerogative.
Quoting the article, UltraLightBeam makes an argument by drawing the distinc-
tion between public versus private. In the comment, following the quote, the com-
menter introduces a contrastive to mark the opposite stance (It’s not though, is it)
before going on to elaborate how the analogy that Jones draws between the racial
expressions on dating apps and the discriminatory signs in Britain in the postwar era
is an inappropriate one. The sexual practice at issue is described as “dating or sexual
preferences,” parting from the argument Jones made in the article. Contrary to the
“public, communal space,” UltraLightBeam suggests that the sexual practice on
dating sites of excluding potential partners based on race is a personal and private
matter (that person’s prerogative) and should be exempted from scrutiny based on
equal opportunity. As noted earlier, the current stance must be examined against the
prior one because of its public and interactive nature. Not only does a stance embody
a person’s attitude toward the issue, but it also is public for others’ interpretation and
is interactive as it is built on the relationship between two parties.
The next two comments are direct replies to UltraLightBeam’s comment (indi-
cated by a rightward arrow). Both users (Subject1) tag UltraLightBeam (Subject2) to
establish connections. These connections are translated into their alignment with
another and positioning to the topic, and in turn their stances. The two examples
show that alignment is a convergent-divergent continuum. Concomitant to position-
ing themselves to the stance object, the commenters define alignment with the same
user to varying degrees of divergence.
Comment 1.2
Lovelight → UltraLightBeam 24 Nov 2016 3:27
It’s racism. And we need to start calling it that.
In comment 1.2, Lovelight states in the declarative form that the sexual practice
of racial expressions and such exclusion is racism, adopting a stance of epistemic
196 P.-H. Wang
certainty by stating it as a factual matter. This goes into the latter part of the com-
ment with the construction of “need to” that marks a deontic stance, that is, “the
linguistic expression of relative rights to influence future courses of action”
(Heritage 2013: 570). It serves as a political statement that calls for action. The
comment is a direct objection to UltraLightBeam’s stance: using the word “racism,”
Lovelight evaluates the issue negatively in support of Jones’ argument in the article
and aligns divergently with the tagged commenter. In the next extract, Afrochic tags
UltraLightBeam’s comment to expound the “racism” argument in more detail.
Comment 1.3
Afrochic → UltraLightBeam 24 Nov 2016 3:28
That’s disingenuous. You can have racial preferences in online dating platforms, we
all do, without stating it explicitly. Certainly not in the language I’ve seen used on
gay dating profiles. Phrases like ‘no rice queens’ for instance, have no place in a
civilized society.
It’s disgusting and am glad this article’s been written.
Afrochic’s comment also builds on the relationships created by tagging while
highlighting different stances, mostly affective. Afrochic evaluates UltraLightBeam’s
comment, the sexual practice, and then the article. First, the previous comment and
the implied stance were labeled as “disingenuous.” Unlike Lovelight, who protests it
as racism, Afrochic acknowledges UltraLightBeam’s stance by using the word “pref-
erences” and mitigates the confrontation by saying “we all do” to avoid singling out
the previous commenter. Nonetheless, Afrochic regards such language as unaccept-
able, as evidenced by the lexical choice “disgusting,” taking up an affective stance of
repulsion. Lastly, the stance predicate “am glad” suggests a shift: now the commenter
is evaluating another stance object, the article, in a positive light. In sum, Afrochic
expresses multiple stances by evaluating different objects, positioning self in relation
to those objects, and bringing self in divergent alignment with UltraLightBeam. With
conflicting stances against the first one, the two commenters portray a reality in
which such online sexual practice should not be tolerated, also reflected in the adjec-
tive “civilized” to describe what the society ought to be like by insinuating an epis-
temic stance with clear personal beliefs.
Next, I show how tagging helps continue the discussion and the accrual of
stances. Tagging offers online spaces to engage in social issues with reference to
media and “reframes the dialogic links between participants as a network” (Page
2012: 6). The two examples below show that with tagging, commenters can main-
tain cross-turn coherence.
Comment 1.4.
Andy77 → Lovelight 24 Nov 2016 3:28
No. UltraLightBeam is right and you are wrong.
Comment 1.42.
ClareLondon → Andy77 24 Nov 2016 5:06
Ah – no. Let me clear this up for you.
Actually, Ultrabeam AND you are BOTH wrong.
Andy77 tags Lovelight and evaluates the two previous stances with the predi-
cates “is right” and “are wrong,” thus positioning self to the two arguments and
aligning disparately with the two commenters. Andy77’s stance is made prominent
in this stance triangle by siding with UltraLightBeam with a positive evaluation and
backing from Lovelight with a negative one. Along the line, ClareLondon picks up
this meshwork of stance relations by tagging Andy77 and offering another evalua-
tion (Actually, Ultrabeam AND you are BOTH wrong). Even though this comment
is 38 comments apart from Andy77’s, and with a 1.5 h lag in time, tagging dialogi-
cally links the two comments and makes the stances decipherable. In comment 1.42,
the conversational particle “ah,” adverb “actually” and the parallel grammatical
structure all contribute to stancetaking. Ah is an exclamation used to signal a shift in
tone that prefaces a potentially offensive response, in line with Myers’ observation
that conversational particles are “used to enact disagreement” in online blog com-
ments (2010: 271). Adverbs are also discussed in Myers’ study. “Actually,” when
used in public online discussion, “functions to position a statement as a contrast to
some other statement or expectation, particularly when it occurs at the beginning of
the sentence” (2010: 270). This fits with ClareLondon’s use of the term. Lastly,
ClareLondon replicates the structure in comment 1.4 to evaluate the prior stance
with the predicate “are BOTH wrong,” indicating an unfavorable stance, and an
affective one that is intensified with capitalized texts. The fact that these two com-
ments provide no explanation as to why one previous commenter is right while
another is wrong suggests that through tagging, one’s stance is built on that of the
linked comment and positively or negatively align with one another, substantiating
Du Bois’ (2007) idea of “stance accretion.”
I now turn to examples in which the commenters tag another user in agreement.
Even though it is shown above that many tags are embedded in negative comments,
tagging itself is relatively neutral, serving only to link comments and build connec-
tions. Therefore, to make a highly convergent alignment with another user, com-
menters are likely to start with an agreement token to clarify their stances. This
network in turn shapes and defines the situation in a specific way that not only
reflects but reinforces the social reality, contributing to the construction of sexuality
in CMC. The three comments all begin with an agreement token that affirms
UltraLightBeam’s proposition in the prior comment that the expressions of exclud-
ing one certain demographic does not constitute racism but a mere matter of
preference.
Comment 1.7
Bishop_Basher → UltraLightBeam 24 Nov 2016 3:31
Absolutely.
I am a complete gerontophile (older men only), and while I don’t care about colour,
I certainly made it known in any profile I had that I don’t want anyone who is under
a certain age. I also said no right-wingers and no religious people, so that would
make me an ageist, anti-Semite and an Islamophobe, yes?
Or would it justmean that I thought that I would get on better with a certain type?
198 P.-H. Wang
Bishop_Basher, for example, agrees by saying “absolutely” and goes on to

expound a similar stance. With the adjective “complete” and the adverb “certainly,”
the commenter heightens the phatic aspect in stancetaking. The comment includes
three criteria (age, political stance, and religion) for selecting dating partners and
the corresponding labels (ageist, anti-Semite, and Islamphobe) to question Jones’
argument by following the same argument that excluding a certain population for
dating based on one criterion would categorize a person as hostile and prejudiced
against that one population. Bishop_Basher ends the comment with a rhetorical
question that implies what is at issue can just be a matter of personal preferences, or
“a certain type.”
Comment 1.8.
KingHerodFanClub → UltraLightBeam 24 Nov 2016 3:32
Quite right, UltraLightBeam. Sexual preference is ruthless and can’t be constrained
by any notion of ‘correctness’.
After “quite right,” KindHarodFanClub makes the stance clear with the word
“sexual preference,” characterizing it as “ruthless” for an affective stance with a
heightened attitude. Also, putting quotation marks around “correctness” problema-
tizes the notion, suggesting that the rule for defining racism does not apply to this
situation.
Comment 1.10
ziggythehamster → UltraLightBeam 24 Nov 2016 3:35
Exactly – I’ve seen many profiles (admittedly on straight dating sites) that specifi-
cally say WLTM [would like to meet] black male/female. Is that racist? Also is
‘athletic’ discriminatory against fat people, ‘tall’ against short people, etc.?
Using the same logic and rhetorical questions, ziggythehamster agrees with
“exactly” and gives a personal account of another racial expression, “WLTM black
male/female,” to retort Jones’ reasoning.
Comments like these shape the situation. Tagging links the comments into a
network in which similar opinions circulate and commenters establish convergent
alignment on this topic. They display their stances in the text-based CMC and,
simultaneously, create a social reality that defines or redefines the situation. In
explaining the stance triangle, Du Bois remarks that “participants remember inter-
actionally salient information about co-participation, and so may factor into their
stance interpretation” (2007: 147), which echoes Goffman’s concept of performance
team, in which a definition of the situation can be “fostered and sustained by the
intimate co-operation of more than one participant” (1959: 77). Elsewhere (1974)
Goffman refers to a definition of the situation as “frame,” namely, participants’
understanding of what is going on. The series of interactions in the comments linked
by tagging, in this light, agglomerate the commenters into a team whose collabora-
tive stancetaking maintains a relevant frame, that is, how the situation is defined and
how it should be understood by others. This creates the social reality in which racial
expressions are considered personal preferences instead of a form of racism, thereby
constructing sexuality in computer-mediated discourse.
The last set of excerpts show how quoting often co-occurs with the use of con-
trastive connectors. Ten out of the 27 comments with a quote include a contrastive.
This combination seems to suggest that quoting is often employed to substantiate an
opposing view.
Comment 1.9.
UltraLightBeam → Afrochic 24 Nov 2016 3:35
Phrases like ‘no rice queens’ for instance, have no place in a civilized society.
But that’s different. What you’re saying is that abusive terms shouldn’t be used.
That’s not what Owen’s saying – his examples were ‘no black people’ or ‘no
Asians’, which are pretty neutral.
Comment 1.27.
partoftheproblem → Afrochic 24 Nov 2016 4:07
That’s disingenuous. You can haveracial preferences in online dating platforms, we
all do, without stating it explicitly.
Why notbe explicit about it though? You’ve got a choice to be overt or covert and
I’m guessing that if people started to use coded language that it would also be seen
as a problem.
In these two examples, the quotations are select segments of previous comments
to which the quoting poster responds. Quoting, therefore, alludes dialogically to a
prior stance, outlining a precise indexical relation between the quoted texts and the
new comments. In comment 1.9, UltraLightBeam displays an opposing view by
demarcating the difference between the expression in Afrochic’s comment and
those in Jones’ article. After the contrastive “but” at the beginning that marks the
opposite stance, the commenter evaluates the former (“rice queen,” a racial slur for
exclusive attraction to Asians) with the adjective “abusive,” attributing a negative
quality to it, and the latter with “pretty neutral” to reinforce the same stance toward
“no Asians, no blacks” as innocuous and acceptable expressions on dating apps. In
comment 1.27, partoftheproblem similarly projects a counter stance with a contras-
tive “though” while questioning Afrochic’s negative stance on using explicit lan-
guage. The cognitive verb “guess,” serving as a stance verb here, makes public the
act of stancetaking as it is following by a personal belief and it denotes a relation to
the previous commenter by attributing a hypothetical stance to Afrochic. “Guess,”
though commonly associated with an indicator of certainty or evidentiality in mark-
ing one’s epistemic stance, serves another purpose of marking the addressee for
holding a different stance “to signal a relation to another person or persons” (Myers,
2010: 269). It also sets up two alternative stances, agreeing with the lexical choices
of “overt” and “covert” (Dancygier and Sweetser 2012: 83). In the comment, partof-
theproblem expresses that being covert would be problematic in a hypothetical sce-
nario to construct a favorable stance toward using explicit language (if people
started to use coded language). Quoting, as illustrated in these examples, can be
used to emphasize an opposing stance that is alternative to the prior stance shown in
the excerpted part, which explains the conjunction with contrastive connectors.
200 P.-H. Wang
Therefore, the quoted part of a comment serves to exemplify a social reality against
which a commenter takes a stance to construct an opposite reality by providing a
different interpretation of the sexual practice in the process of negotiating racialized
sexuality.
11.7 Heading 7: Conclusion
In the area of sexual discourse, Giddens notes that debates around sexuality not only
“became part of a wide public domain, but also served to alter lay views of sexual
actions and involvements themselves,” thereby contributing to an accelerating
reflexivity on those actions (1992: 29). In this chapter, I have presented one such
debate and demonstrated how two digital affordances, tagging and quoting, help
establish stancetaking as the foundation for creating social reality in CMC. By eval-
uating the practice of using racialized language on gay dating apps and positioning
themselves to the topic, commenters take difference stances, the conglomerate of
which brings this practice to the public domain and shapes the discussion about and
people’s attitudes toward sexuality. Two opposing social realities are incarnated in
the ways commenters define the sexual practice at issue: in one, phrases like “No
Blacks, No Asians” are considered a personal preference, whereas in the other, they
are deemed racist. The analysis illustrates that, first, sexuality, even in the digital
age, remains a social construct that is built on constant negotiation. Secondly, this
online negotiation is achieved discursively through an intricate process of stancetak-
ing that entails evaluation, positioning, and aligning in CMC.
The two affordances stand out as prominent features in the comments when they
make possible online stancetaking in CMC. Goffman posits that a change in the
alignment, or interpersonal relationships “as expressed in the way we manage the
production and reception of an utterance” (1981: 128), can change how we frame
the event. Interestingly, he points out that significant shifts of alignment can be
missed without bodily orientation or tone of voice. The absence of both poses a
challenge in CMC, where interaction is often represented only in text. Digital affor-
dances, in this case, enable commenters to build on prior stances and construct new
ones. Tagging, for example, contributes to what Du Bois (2007) calls “stance accre-
tion,” with a new one responding to the previous one linked by the digital feature.
Quoting likewise helps mark the previous stance to show contrast by constructing
dialogue and holding another commenter accountable for what has been said.
This analysis adds to the literature of sexuality as a social construct and extends
research on stancetaking in text-based CMC. Different online stances toward the
racialization of sexual attraction suggest that the internet and affordances enable
dialogic interaction, which encourages the negotiation of sexuality in the digital age
that frames racialized desires as two opposing social realities. Stancetaking, as sug-
gested here, is a framework that reveals how language use at the micro level, such
as adverbs, is connected to ideological positions at the macro level, such as sexual
racism. Online stancetaking, therefore, has a direct impact on how participants of an
online discussion construe a sexual practice as one issue or another. As technology

facilitates the social construction of sexuality, this connection matters even more in
the digital age in that it shows that, by leaving a comment, we can participate in an
ideological debate around sexual discourse to effect change in how people think of
an issue.
Acknowledgements I thank Joseph Lavallee for the insightful discussion we had throughout the
development of this article. I am grateful to Cynthia Gordon for her thorough feedback on the first
draft. I thank Andrea Herrera for her comments and reference suggestions.
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Chapter 12
“No Fats, Femmes, or Blacks:” The Role
of Body Types, Gender Roles and Race
in Condom Usage Online
Jesus Gregorio Smith and Sally Brown
12.1 Introduction
In 2016, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced, in a first
of a kind study that estimated lifetime HIV risk based on race, that “half of gay and
bisexual Black men and a quarter of gay and bisexual Hispanic men will be diag-
nosed with HIV in their lifetimes.” This contrasts with studies that have found that
Black men use condoms at the same rate or more than Whites (Raymond and
McFarland 2009). The reasons for the rise in infection rates included “poverty,
stigma, barriers to healthcare access and too few people knowing their status” (Allen
2016). Left out of the possible reasons for infection were how certain social loca-
tions may increase the chance of HIV risk. One such location is where men who
have sex with men (MSMs) and gay men often meet each other, which is online
(Bolding et al. 2004; Chan et al. 2016; Lewnard and Berrang-Ford 2014; Paul et al.
2010; Salyers Bull et al. 2004). The internet is one of the great connectors for peo-
ple, especially MSMs, who may not be out, or live in small towns, or a host of other
reasons (Miller 2015; Brickell 2012). The internet is their way to connect with other
men like themselves.
The internet is also a complicated space where race and sexuality intersect in
unique ways. For instance, MSMs of color experience a variety of racialized inter-
actions from subtle expressions of race based preferences, to blatant racial hostility
and objectification (Paul et al. 2010). While most MSMs prefer to seek partners via
the internet (Bolding et al. 2004), many MSMs face racism as an ongoing issue for
seeking partners online (Callander et al. 2016). Not only that, odds of contracting
sexual infections are increased by online use (Lewnard and Berrang-Ford 2014).
J. G. Smith (*) · S. Brown

Lawrence University, Appleton, WI, USA
e-mail: jesus.g.smith@lawrence.edu

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29855-5_12
206 J. G. Smith and S. Brown
Bolding and associates (2004) find a link between men’s risky sexual behavior and
internet usage to find sexual partners. To further complicate this, Klein (2010) finds
that the most sought-after profiles for men who specifically seek unprotected sex
partners by means of the internet are the profiles of men of color. This information
illuminates the need to examine the role of the internet in the potential spread of
HIV/AIDS for gay and bisexual MSMs.
Also, left out of this discussion is how marginalization in the online gay com-
munity based on body type, gender performance and race can limit the ability for
certain MSMs to negotiate sexual health behaviors. For instance, having an increased
Body Mass Index (BMI) is associated with a lower likelihood of rejecting sexual
partners and decreased condom use (Moskowitz and Seal 2010). Fields et al. (2012)
find that perceptions of masculinity are the primary contextual factor influencing
partner selection, risk assessment and decision making regarding condom use for
young Black MSMs. Likewise, the “sexual networks of Black MSMs is so stifled by
a legacy of racism in the US that it forces Black men to be more highly intercon-
nected than other groups with the potential consequence of more rapid spread of
HIV” and “a higher sustained prevalence of infection” (Raymond and McFarland
2009: 636).
Open rejection of men based on body type, gender performance, and race is not
uncommon for online dating in the gay community. In fact, it is often publicly
expressed via the profiles of users on dating sites, through the popular moniker, “No
Fats, Femmes, or Blacks/Asians.” This open rejection of certain men simultane-
ously epitomizes other types of men as more desirable sexual mates. In this instance,
they are in shape, masculine, White men or the Ideal White Male Archetype (IWMA).
The IWMA then becomes the lens through which all desire is perceived. Thus, the
“No Fats, Femmes, or Blacks/Asian” tagline is deployed by MSMs and gay men in
order to block out, cleanse and remove the men who fall into any of these three
categories from view (Robinson 2015; Han 2007, 2008a, b). These marginalized
men are then forced to either be willing to engage in more risky behavior to increase
their pool of potential partners, or be shunned and limited in finding a sexual and
romantic mate. Taken together, these three marginalizations, in the social context of
the internet, create pathways to increased HIV risk and possible infection.
The goal of this chapter is to add to the discussion on HIV/AIDS risk by examin-
ing the role of different marginalizations on condom use online. Based on past
research, we argue that the online environment that fosters marginalization among
gay men based on body type, gender performance, and race, contributes to the
increase of HIV/AIDs. To support this argument, we explore the website adam4a-
dam.com (A4A), a popular gay men’s dating site and mobile app. We then collect
data from user profiles and run a binomial regression with the variables for race,
sexual positioning and body type onto condom use. We conclude by presenting the
results and discussing the findings below.
12 “No Fats, Femmes, or Blacks:” The Role of Body Types, Gender Roles and Race… 207
12.2.1 Body Type and Condom Use
The research on the body and its intersection with race and HIV risk has begun to
take shape. Past research has focused largely on the stigma of obesity towards
women, with very little attention on men (Hebl and Turchin 2005). Newer studies
demonstrate that men are also stigmatized for being overweight. Furthermore, men
expressed a heterosexual masculinity through their bodies and used masculine
forms of body control, like going to the gym and exercising, to fight off the femini-
zation brought on by fatness (Hebl and Turchin 2005). Although the media presents
the ideal body-type for gay and bisexual men as White, fit, masculine and muscular,
gay and bisexual men of color would actively battle against their bodies being
racialized by the White mainstream (Brennan et al. 2013). While there is not much
difference in the desired body types gay and straight men have for their own bodies
(Swami and Tovée 2008), men who are more engaged in the gay community at large
are exposed to more opportunities for sexual objectification, which is related to
higher body image concerns (Davids et al. 2015).
Both White gay and bisexual men and gay and bisexual men of color who were
disappointed with their body’s lack of muscularity and who viewed body image as
an indicator of masculinity, had increased chances for HIV sexual risk behaviors
(Brennan et al. 2015). Also, because fat gay men are so maligned in the gay com-
munity to the point that actually having a partner for anal intercourse is rare, some
evidence suggesting that the overexcitement of the occasion can lead to inconsistent
condom use (Moskowitz and Seal 2010), and that young MSM’s who had high
BMI’s also had greater odds of being the receptive partner during unprotected anal
intercourse.
12.2.2 Femininity and Condom Use
Masculinity functions in gay spaces and during male-on-male sex as an objection to

gay effeminacy, as a marker for sexual positioning during anal intercourse, and as a
signifier for sexual risk behavior and a risk assessment for HIV/AIDS. By adopting
hegemonic masculinity and the title of “straight acting,” some MSM’s embrace het-
eronormative ideals of gender performance by embracing traits and features that are
stereotypically associated with masculine, heterosexual men and by enacting in
anti-effeminate behavior (Eguchi 2009). Masculinity is often an important trait for
an MSM to have in a partner and in oneself, with some men wanting to be less femi-
nine and more masculine (Sánchez and Vilain 2012), and many MSM’s expressing
negative attitudes towards effeminate gay men (Borgeson and Valeri 2015; Sánchez
et al. 2015).
Sexual roles during anal intercourse have also been mitigated by the social con-
struction of masculinity in society. For example, dominant society’s hegemonic
masculinity has been replicated in gay society through strict gender roles based on
perceived masculinity/femininity, creating a hierarchy between tops/bottoms (Reilly
2016). The insertive partner (tops) during anal intercourse was typically viewed as
dominant, muscular and tall whereas the receptive partner (bottoms) during anal
intercourse was viewed as submissive, slender and small (Johns et al. 2012). Lick
and Johnson (2015), found that “cultural stereotypes, interpersonal perceptions, and
individual self-labels” merge to illustrate “Asian men as feminine bottoms, Black
men as masculine tops” and “White men consistently as neither tops nor bottoms”
(p. 1479).
Lastly, sexual negotiations around power relating to topping or bottoming,
whether sex was with a hook-up versus a long-term partner, and whether it was with
someone who is HIV negative versus HIV positive, also played a role in sexual
positioning. Tops were often seen as having more sexual power, hook-ups being
largely based on sexual stereotypes for tops and bottoms, whereas long term rela-
tionships have more fluidity, and HIV negative men typically being tops during anal
intercourse and positive men being bottoms (Dangerfield et al. 2016). In terms of
sexual risk behavior and risk assessment, masculinity was closely related. Sexual
prowess demonstrated through multiple partners, bareback or condom-less sex,
drug use, condom decision making, refusing to get tested and failure of treatment
compliance are all heavily associated with masculinity and/or perceived as mascu-
line behavior (Fields et al. 2012; Wheldon et al. 2014; Zeglin 2015).
12.2.3 Race and Condom Use
Racism in the gay community operates in three ways; exclusion from the main-
stream White gay community, sexual rejection due to race, and sexual stereotyping
based on race, with all three yielding negative outcomes on the mental health, stress
management and sexual behaviors of gay and MSM men of color (Choi et al. 2013;
Han et al. 2014; Ro et al. 2013; Teunis 2007). Racism shapes the personal identity
of gay men of color and their interactions with the mainstream gay community (Ro
et al. 2013). For example, as more people of color are identifying as poor, unedu-
cated and LGBT (Gates and Newport 2012),1 most mainstream LGBT organizations
portray the gay community as White, affluent, and longing for marriage rights above
all else. Raymond and Mcfarland (2009) found that racism affects the lives of gay
men of color, especially gay Black men. In their study they found that Black men
who have sex with men (MSMs) were significantly more likely to have same race
sexual partnering than would be expected by chance alone (Raymond and McFarland
2009).They also found that Black MSM’s were reported as the least preferred sex-
1
http://www.gallup.com/poll/158066/special-report-adults-identify-lgbt.aspx
ual partners, believed by other racial groups to be at higher risk for HIV, counted
less often among friendship networks, considered the hardest to meet, and Black
MSMs were perceived as less welcome at the common venues that cater to gay men
(Raymond and McFarland 2009).
Another way racism operated in the gay community was through sexual exclu-
sion. As Callander et al. (2016) points out, race is seen by many as a way to articu-
late desire and perceived as an individual preference with no intent for harm. White
gay men yield the largest influence in dictating the physical requirements of poten-
tial sex partners, including race, and were the group to reject men of color most
often (Callander et al. 2012). Many MSM’s of color may also internalize this racism
by rejecting other men of color as unsuitable sexual partners (Han 2007). Also, the
dominate White gay male group creates a narrative around racial desire as prefer-
ence that reproduces inequality, and MSM’s of color help maintain this inequality
by adopting this language of preference (Han 2008a). Finally, men utilize the social
environment of the internet hook-up sites in order to racially cleanse their partner
pools (Robinson 2015).
Racism in the gay community also sexually stereotyped groups. Black men con-
tinue to be socially constructed as aggressive, dominant and hyper-masculine tops
with large penises and Asian men as smooth, feminine and passive bottoms (Grov
et al. 2010; Han 2008a; Wilson et al. 2009). White men are seen as the default of
desire, and as the preferred sexual partner with other racial groups competing for
their attention (Han 2008b). This racism has impacted the mental and physical
health of many MSM’s of color. Stigma due to race resulted in many men having
psychological distress and engaging in risky sexual behavior(Choi et al. 2013;
Kyung-Hee et al. 2011). Gay Asian men experienced higher levels of racial rejec-
tion as partners, resulting in stress that was felt more intimately than other forms of
rejection (Han et al. 2014).
The results of this racism have also increased the chances of HIV/AIDS infection
for gay men. Racism and exclusion in the gay community has kept men of color
from having equal access to sexual health related resources and resulted in increased
drug use as a coping mechanism for such racism, both are factors that increase the
risk of HIV/AIDS infection (Ro et al. 2013). Racism in the gay community margin-
alized gay Asian/Pacific Islander men, constructed them as feminine and placed
White men at the top of desirability (Han 2008b). Since White men less frequently
view Asian men as sexually attractive, Asian men compete for the attention of White
men by taking on anally receptive roles and leaving condom use decisions up to
their tops (C. S. Han 2008b). This then also increases their chances of HIV/AIDS
infection.
Based on this previous research, we developed three hypotheses. Each hypothe-
sis tests a separate marginalization found within online dating profiles, and its rela-
tionship to condom use. The three hypotheses are as follows:
Hypothesis 1: The log odds of having sex with a condom will be higher for Whites.
Hypothesis 2: The log odds of having condom-less sex will be higher for bottom/
fem men.
Hypothesis 3: The log odds of having condom-less sex will be higher for fat/large
bodied men.
By testing the three hypothesizes, we hope to reveal whether or not a relationship
between these variables and condom use exists. If so, this opens up the possibility
of how marginalization online can be contributing to the increase in HIV/AIDS.
12.3 Data and Methods
This project takes place within the popular gay men’s hookup site adam4adam.com
(A4A) (Robinson 2015). A4A is a social site for men looking to find friends, love,
or sex with other men and calls itself the most popular website for men who have
sex with men (MSM) (Dawley 2007). While today, mobile apps such as Grindr,
Scruff, and Jacked, may be rising in popularity, we contend that A4A continues to
remain a staple among MSM’s. A4A now too has a mobile app (A4ARadar) that
improves the ease of sexual contact via free access, profile building and partner
searches that allow users to stratify along race and body type lines. It also pays for
itself through pornographic ads that litter the sides of profiles and the main website
(Robinson 2015). This method of free usage by means of ad space would later be
adopted by Grindr and other mobile apps. For these reasons, we see the research
imperative in studying the website and its users.
The data and methods were approved by the Texas A&M University Institutional
Review Board (IRB). All work conducted followed carefully constructed procedures
that protected the identity of adam4adam.com users. We immediately disposed of any
information that could potentially be traced back to users, to maintain their privacy
and protect their identities. This study was conducted during the months of August of
2014 and completed by May 2016. Once we obtained IRB approval, the principal
investigator (PI) created a profile on the website. To do this, a working email that
could be verified by the website was used. The website requires users to select their
body descriptors, providing all the options and not giving users the chance to write in
their own definitions. Thus, the race options were provided to the PI, including White,
Black, Asian, Latino, Mixed Race, and Native American, among others. The profile
was filled out with all the requirements needed for creating a profile, such as location,
race, body type, age, height, weight but left photo-less so as not to give the impression
that we were on the website for any other reason than research.
12.3.1 Description of Sample
Adam4adam allows for a precise method of stratification in so much that you can
chose the state, city and part of town in that city that you want as your location. We
chose the online setting for this study to be in the city of Houston, Texas. Per Census
figures (Census 2010), Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth largest city
in the United States. It is also the largest city in the Southern United States (Census
2010). The census (2010) puts Houston’s racial demographics at 25.6% for non-
Hispanic Whites, 23.7% for African Americans, 43.7% for Hispanic’s of any race,
and 6.0% for Asians. The Annual Houston gay Pride Parade is the largest gay pride
event in the Southwest region of the U.S. (Hlavaty 2015). This large makeup of a
racially and sexually diverse metropolitan area in the South of the U.S. made it a
significant location for research on race and sexuality that few sexuality studies, to
our knowledge, have explored.
12.3.2 Procedure for Data Collection
The method of data collection required that we quickly collect as many profiles as
possible in the shortest amount of time. A4A is a website where, because of the
simplicity of using it, new users get on and create and delete profiles daily. Thus,
those profiles will more than likely have the bare minimum on them and not have
pictures. Therefore, this left us with a limited amount of time for which to collect
profiles.
To do this, we entered the A4A database that is open for and keeps a record of all
users. There, we stratified along race within the search space provided by the web-
site. We chose each major race group, Black, White, Latino, and Asian/Pacific
Islander to sample from so that we could capture differences that may be found
between and within racial groups. Eighty pages’ worth of profiles were populated
for Latino, Black and White users, and 20 for Asian/Pacific Islanders, with 15 pro-
files per page except for the last page for each racial group, which would stop a few
profiles short of covering the whole page. We took screenshots of all 80 pages for
the Black, White and Latino users and all 20 pages for the Asian/Pacific Islander
users in one sitting on March 4th 2015. The pages were saved in a private folder for
only our viewing and destroyed once we were done with the data.
Once all the profiles were collected, we then assigned each racial grouping of
profiles all numbers in numerical order. We then used a random number generator
to pick two numbers (6, 11) for the Black, Latino, and White profiles. On each page
the 6th and 11th profiles were selected out of the 15, with the aim of collecting
approximately 160 profiles for each racial group. For the Asian/Pacific Islander
group, since there were so few, we chose 8 random numbers with the random num-
ber generator and those 8 places were selected out of the 15 on each page, totaling
approximately 160 profiles.
Collecting data online was not without its flaws, since some of the profiles went
missing the next day when we went to input the data in excel. The following day
after all profiles were collected and sealed, we searched for the randomly selected
profiles individually to input their data into an excel spreadsheet. While over 99%
of the profiles remained intact the following day, some did vanish, suggesting that
the users deleted their profiles overnight. The final count for the users who had par-
tial or all of their profiles filled out was 628. The number of profiles that vanished
overnight was 21, dropping the total down to 607, with the final number count for
each racial group being 145 for Blacks, 154 for Whites, 156 for Latinos, 152 for
Asian/Pacific Islanders. The website did not include more profiles beyond the 80
pages for Black, Latino, and White, which suggests that there might be more but
that only a certain number are accessible. Therefore, the sample represents the users
of A4A that were accessible at this time but not necessarily all of them. Since there
were only 20 pages for the combined Asian/Pacific Islander, it can safely be con-
cluded that that is the entirety of the Asian/Pacific Islander profiles.
After renaming and assigning values to the variables in STATA data analysis
software, we ran cross tabulations and summations in order to populate the demo-
graphic table. We then generated a variable touse to make sure our cases were con-
sistent from model to model. This is because not all profiles filled out all the optional
data including condom use. This resulted in the profiles shrinking down to 300 cases
and only 300 being used for the analysis. Missing cases were accounted for.
The demographics of the sample population included in this study are as follows
(Table 12.1). A higher proportion of minorities in the sample are younger than
Whites, with more Black, Latino and Asian men falling in the 18–40 age range and
a majority of White men falling in the 41–50 and up age range. A higher proportion
of Blacks identify as tops (42%), while higher proportions of Whites, Latinos and
Asians identify as bottoms (36.59%, 43%, and 33%). Larger proportions of Blacks
(40.58%) and Whites (43%) identify as having the ideal body type. Conversely, a
higher proportion of Latinos (53%) and Asians (47%) identify as average bodied.
Table 12.1 Demographics

Blacks Latinos Asians Whites All
Variable N % N % N % N % N %
Age
18–30 31 27.68 34 30.36 38 33.93 9 8.04 112 37
31–40 23 23.00 24 24.00 27 27.00 26 26.00 100 33
41–50 12 19.67 16 26.23 6 9.84 27 44.26 61 21
51+ 4 14.81 1 3.70 2 7.41 20 74.07 27 9
Sex roles
Bottoms 18 26.09 25 33.33 32 43.24 30 36.59 105 35
Tops 29 42.03 23 30.67 18 24.32 24 29.27 94 31.33
Versatile 18 26.09 23 30.67 22 29.73 23 28.05 86 28.67
Body types
Slim 14 20.29 8 10.67 19 25.68 4 4.88 45 15
Average 20 28.99 40 53.33 35 47.3 36 43.9 131 43.67
Ideal body type 28 40.58 23 30.67 18 24.32 36 43.9 105 35
Large 7 10.14 4 5.33 2 2.7 6 7.32 19 6.33
Sex practice
Safe sex only 66 95.65 65 86.67 71 95.95 62 75.61 264 88
Anything Goes 3 4.35 10 13.33 3 4.05 20 24.39 36 12
The majority of men had safe sex only on their profiles (88%) compared to those
who had anything goes on their profile (12%), with largest group of men to have
anything goes on their profile being White men (24%) and Black and Asian men
being the least likely to have anything goes on their profiles (4%).
12.3.3 Dependent Variable
Per the literature (Green 2008; Han 2007; Raymond and McFarland 2009), race and
racism, gender performance and sexual positioning all impact condom use (Grov
et al. 2015; Han 2008b; Klein 2010). Based on this information, the dependent vari-
ables that was selected was based on profiles that put “Safe Sex Only” meaning
always wears condoms during sexual intercourse, or “Anything Goes” suggesting
condom-less sex as a contrast. A dummy variable was created and named “condom”
to measure responses to this question. For this variable 0 represented “Anything
Goes” and 1 represented “Safe Sex Only.” A tabulation of the variable revealed that
36 had “Anything Goes” on their profiles, while 264 had “Safe Sex Only” on theirs.
12.3.4 Independent Variable
The independent variables used in the study include race, body type, and sexual
positioning. These variables were selected based on the literature that suggests men
at the margins of race, gender performance and sexual positioning will be more at
risk for HIV/AIDS (Green 2008; Han 2008a; Klein 2010; Robinson 2015; Smith
2014). Age was used as a control variable, being that the website did not provide
other traditional control variables such as education and employment. The profile
provided the options for race, breaking them down into Black, White, Latino, Asian,
Pacific Islander, American Indian, Mixed, and Other Ethnicity. From these, White,
Black, Latino and Asian/Pacific Islander were chosen and made into dummy vari-
ables for the logistic regression. For body type, A4A provides seven options; slim,
swimmer’s, average, athletic, muscular, bodybuilder, and large. Based on the litera-
ture ((Brennan et al. 2015; Moskowitz and Hart 2011; Swami and Tovée 2008)), we
combined the variables swimmer’s, athletic, muscular and bodybuilder into one
large variable called idealbt or ideal body type. This was because in some way or
another, these variables represented bodies that were more physically in shape than
the “average” body. The other variables were then made into dummy variables.
Last, although the option to identify as feminine or masculine was not available,
past research (Johns et al. 2012) has argued that often times the man in the “bottom”
sexual position is more likely to be associated with femininity. Although some
newer research seems to counter this claim (Robinson and Vidal-Ortiz 2013), a
larger portion of the research seems to be in line with the past research (Dangerfield
et al. 2016; Grov et al. 2010; Johns et al. 2012; Zeglin 2015).
We used sexual positioning to address the “no fems” part of the argument. Sexual
positioning offered seven choices; bottom, top, versatile, oral, foreplay, verse top,
and verse bottom with bottom representing the sexually receptive partner, top the
insertive partner, and versatile the men who took on both sex roles. The men who
identified as verse bottom or verse top we collapse with the larger groups that were
not versatile, meaning verse tops were combined with tops and made into a new
dummy variable group called tops. This was because despite the selection of verse/
top, if the participants were mostly just versatile then why not just select versatile?
Arguably, the men were more likely to be willing to go versatile in very particular
situations with particular men, thus top being their preferred position all other times.
The same would be said for bottoms. For that reason, we combined them with the
top profiles and created the variable tops. The same was done for bottom profiles
and we created the dummy variable bottoms.
12.3.5 Quantitative Analysis
The dependent variable is dichotomous and not continuous (Treiman 2009)—as

such, we used logistic regression analysis. This method is necessary because while
Ordinary Least Squares can handle categorical dependent variables, this method is
not appropriate for dichotomies (Treiman 2009). We began with a regression of the
prominent variable of race onto condom use, to identify if there is significance.
In the first model, we look at the relationship between race and condom use
while controlling for age. The second model examined body type and its relation-
ship to condom use. The third and final model examined sexual positioning in rela-
tionship to condom use. A combined model of all three independent variables onto
condom use was not possible because the number of cases was too small. This pre-
sented some limitations to this current study but possibilities for future research.
After running several logical regressions, items significant at the .05 and .01 level
were included.
12.4 Results
We return to one the sources of alienation in the gay community, the popular moni-
ker “No Fats, Femmes, and Blacks/Asians.” According to the literature, the IWMA
is given the most value and placed atop the racial hierarchy of desire. Yet, IWMAs
are less likely to want to have sex outside of the ideal type. With less IWMA men
wanting fat, fem, or men of color (especially Black and Asian men), and these men
competing among each other for the IWMAs, they must be willing to do more to
increase their chances of getting an IWMA, including engaging in sexually risky
behavior that could result in HIV/AIDS. Based on this argument, we developed
three hypotheses:
fem men.
Hypothesis 3: The log odds of having condom-less sex will be higher for fat/large
bodied men.
To research this relationship, we first run a logistic regression on the descriptors
of the profiles to see their relationship with condom use. That is, we look at whether
the race and body type of the profiles is associated with condom use online and if
so, how and why. We then examine the likelihood of condom use if one is a top
(insertive partner) or bottom during anal intercourse. We use age as a control since
it relates to erotic capital in that youth elicits more erotic capital than maturity
(Green 2011), suggesting that older men may be more willing to forgo condoms
than young men in an attempt to counter the effects of aging. We conclude the
analysis with a discussion of the effects of our findings.
Studies have long examined the role of race in relation to condom use (Carballo-
Diéguez and Bauermeister 2004; Davis et al. 2013; Fields et al. 2012; Grov et al.
2010, 2015; Zeglin 2015). While there is racial inequality in the HIV infection rates
with Blacks on the higher receiving end than Whites, paradoxically Black men are
no more less likely to wear condoms than Whites (Raymond and McFarland 2009).
In fact, our findings support this phenomenon, or what we call the Black Condom
Use Paradox. Table 12.2 includes the logistic regression analysis used to measure
any relationship with condom use. The first model is where we examine the rela-
tionship between race and condom use and control for age. The second model is
where we examine the relationship between sexual position and condom use and
control for age. Finally, in the third model we examine the relationship between
body type and condom use and control for age.
The findings from the study in Table 12.2 did not support this hypothesis. The Z
and P scores for the values can be found at the end of the chapter. All things being
equal, the predicted log odds of having safe sex is higher for men of color than for
Whites with the coefficient significant at z = 2.65, P = 0.008 for Black men and at
z = 2.53, P = 0.011 for Asian men. There was not a level of significance for
Latino MSM’s.
fem men.
The findings from the study did support this hypothesis, suggesting that men
who identified as bottoms during anal intercourse had greater log odds of having
condom-less sex than men in the top position. Age was also significant in the model
as well but in the opposite direction at z = −3.35, P = 0.001. This suggests that the
log odds were higher for younger men to wear condoms than older, with the
coefficient significant at z = −2.76, P = 0.007. Being versatile, or being able to be
both receptive and insertive during sex, was not significant in the model.
Table 12.2 Relationship between race, sex position and body type on condom use
Variable Model 1: Race Model 2: Sex Position Model 3: Body Type
Race Black 1.738∗∗
0.655
Latino 0.431
0.46
Asian/PI 1.695∗
0.669
Sex position Bottoms −1.246∗∗
−0.46
Versatile −0.318
−0.535
Body type Slim −0.427
0.552
Average 0.051
0.409
Large 1.101
1.077
Control Age 0.032 −0.053∗∗∗ 0.052∗∗
0.017 - 0.016 0.016
Constant 2.525∗∗ 4.633∗∗∗ 3.948∗∗∗
−0.824 −0.77 −0.709
Observations 300 300 300
∗p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01, ∗∗∗p < 0.001
Hypothesis 3: The log odds of having “anything goes” on a profile in place of con-
dom use will be higher for fat/large bodied men.
The findings from the study did not support this hypothesis, with no coefficients
being significant except for the constant and the control variable age. This suggests
that there might not be a relationship between body type and the log odds of having
condom-less sex. Or this could also suggest an error in analysis based on the small
sample of men who identified as large.2
12.5 Discussion
The findings in this study were in line with the Black Condom Use Paradox, where
one might think Black men facing marginality would be more likely to forgo con-
doms but in fact, are more likely to wear them. That is, the findings suggest that the
likelihood of having safe sex only for condom use on a profile was higher for
2
The original STATA regression outputs for all three models can be found at the end of the
chapter.
younger Black and Asian men who have sex with men (MSM) than Whites. This
paradoxical relationship seems to be at odds with the findings of the Center for
Disease Control and Prevention, which again posit that “half of gay and bisexual
Black men and a quarter of gay and bisexual Hispanic men will be diagnosed with
HIV in their lifetimes.” How can Black men be both more likely to wear condoms
and be more likely to be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetimes? The answer seems
to lie in the broader social context of the internet and the mechanism of racism and
sexuality.
Han (2008b, 2015) theorized that Asians may be more at risk for sexual risk
behavior based the sexually racist stereotype that they are the bottoms during sexual
intercourse. Since the IWMA positions White men atop the racial hierarchy, and
there are fewer White men who find Asian men attractive, they compete among each
other for the attention of White men. This gives White men the sexual power in
condom use decision making during sex with Asian men, putting them at higher risk
for infection (Han 2008b). Similarly, Latinos and Black men may be more likely to
be selected for condom less sex based on racist sexual stereotypes of sexual aggres-
sion and risk behaviors (Klein 2010).
One of the most prominent theories about HIV/AIDS risk in Black communities
is that of sexual networking theory (Raymond and McFarland 2009). The theory
suggests that the sexual networks of Black MSMs are tremendously constricted by
a legacy of racism. Therefore, if one person gets HIV/AIDS in these networks, it
spreads like wildfire to a greater group of people, despite the more common use of
condoms (Raymond and McFarland 2009). Similarly, several studies suggest that
the internet increases the chances of risky behavior by providing a space for those
specifically looking for risky sex to meet (Klein 2010).
12.6 Conclusion
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention released a state of the art study that
predicted that HIV/AIDS rates for gay and bisexual Black and Latino men who have
sex with men will increase dramatically in the future. They provided several reasons
for why this would happen including poverty, education and a lack of access. Still,
not considered and of extreme importance is the role of the internet in the dating and
sex lives of MSMs. Online, body type, gender performance, and race are openly
embraced and rejected, with the Ideal White Male Archetype (IWMA) usually being
heralded as the most desired and the fat, fem, and Black/Asian usually being the
most marginalized. Based on this reality, we sought to examine the role of body
type, gender performance and race on condom use online and test the theory that fat
men, fem/bottom men, and Black/Asian men would have to be more willing to
forgo condom use in order to increase their pool of potential partners in order to
compensate for not fitting into the IWMA.
Using the popular gay men’s dating website, adam4adam.com, we collected and
analyzed 300 randomly selected profiles off the website and ran a logit regression
analysis to see whether a relationship between the variables and condom use existed.
The results were mixed. The log odds of bottoms having “anything goes” on their
profile was higher than for tops, affirming the theory, but body type had no signifi-
cant relationship, likely due to the small number of fat/large men in the sample. As
for race, the log odds of Black and Asian men having anything goes on their profiles
was less than White men, contrary to the theory and reaffirming the Black Condom
Use Paradox. We argue that the reasons for this paradox is based on previous litera-
ture that suggests Black men’s social network is stifled by a legacy of racism and
that racism constructs certain men’s bodies as more desirable than others, resulting
in risk increasing in some communities while not in others.
We caution readers from extrapolating more from our study than is provided. Our
sample, while large and random, was limited to men who use adam4adam.com and
to only the profiles we had access to. There could very well be many more profiles
than was available. We also focused on men in the Houston area while other areas
may produce different results. Last, our analysis does not include a model where all
three variables are tested together against condom use. This was because the sample
size was too small to produce such a model. Nonetheless, our findings demonstrate
the importance of investigating the internet’s impact on dating and sexuality as well
as the importance of exploring how race, gender and sexuality intersect online.
Appendix: Stata Regression Outputs
logit condom black latino asianpi age if touse==1

Iteration 0: log likelihood = −110.0775
Logistic regression Number of obs = 300

LR chi2(4) = 23.52
Prob > chi2 = 0.0001
Log likelihood = -98.317348 Pseudo R2 = 0.1068
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
condom | Coef. Std. Err. z P>|z| [95% Conf. Interval]
--------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
black | 1.737852 .6547928 2.65 0.008 .454482 3.021223
latino | .4314682 .4603193 0.94 0.349 -.4707409 1.333677
asianpi | 1.694957 .6690363 2.53 0.011 .3836701 3.006244
age | -.0317634 .0174996 -1.82 0.070 -.0660621 .0025352
_cons | 2.524749 .8237316 3.07 0.002 .9102649 4.139233
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
logit condom slim large average age if touse==1.

Logistic
o regression Number of obs = 300
LR chi2(4) = 11.90
Prob > chi2 = 0.0181
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
slim | -.4269437 .5517211 -0.77 0.439 -1.508297 .6544098
large | 1.100607 1.07708 1.02 0.307 -1.010432 3.211645
average | .0512207 .4093655 0.13 0.900 -.751121 .8535624
age | -.0516032 .0157837 -3.27 0.001 -.0825387 -.0206678
_cons | 3.94779 .7094853 5.56 0.000 2.557224 5.338356
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
logit condom bottoms versatile age if touse==1

Logistic regression Number of obs = 300

LR chi2(3) = 18.62
Prob > chi2 = 0.0003
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bottoms | -1.24554 .4603192 -2.71 0.007 -2.147749 -.3433309
versatile | -.3180194 .5345718 -0.59 0.552 -1.365761 .7297221
age | -.0527277 .0157184 -3.35 0.001 -.0835352 -.0219202
_cons | 4.632749 .7703131 6.01 0.000 3.122963 6.142535
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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D. Nicole Farris · D’Lane R.

Gender, Sexuality and Race

ISBN 978-3-030-29854-8 ISBN 978-3-030-29855-5 (eBook)

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

Part I Youth Culture and “Kids These Days”

Part II Visual Media and Social Control

Part III Online Disruptions and Nonbinary Genders

8 Becoming Non-binary: An Exploration of Gender

Part IV Sexual Cultures and Their Isms

Kate Henley Averett

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 3

1.2 What Are “Anxious Publics?”

1.3 “A Boy Is a Boy”: Reinforcement of Binary Gender

1.4 Too Young to Know? The (Non-)Agentic/Precocious

A second theme in the responses to this story is that a seven-year-old is too

1.5 The Decline of American Society

1.6 Conclusion: A Story of “National Interest”

Ahmed, S. (2000). Strange encounters: Embodied others in post-coloniality. London: Routledge.

Gabrielle Richard and Sigolène Couchot-Schiex

G. Richard (*) · S. Couchot-Schiex

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2.2 Cyberviolence and “Face-to-Face” Violence

2.3 Youth’s Gender and Heterosexual Socialization

To understand gender interactions between peers in cyberspace, one must consider

Thirty years of gender studies have undoubtedly shown gender relations to be

2.4  yberspace, Digital Devices, Gender and Sexuality

Similar to face-to-face interactions, cyberspace – and social networking sites in par-

Î­ le-de-­France region completed a survey questionnaire on episodes of gender vio-

2.6 Revenge Porn, or the Unfolding of a Cybersexist Event

In order to see how an episode of cybersexism can progressively come to “unfold”,

2.7 Being the Right Gendered Cyber Version of Oneself

Sherazade, 15 years-old, 3rd grade France/9th grade USA).

–– Saïd: He can’t cry.

2.8 Gender and Sexualities at Play in Cyberspace

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3.1 The Feminist Debate

3.2 Constructions of Gender in Pornography

3.3 Representations of LGBTQ Persons

Gay sexuality is less a problematic arena of pornography than lesbian sexuality

3.4  he Effects of Watching Pornography on (Heterosexual)

3.5 The Effects on Relationships

sexual satisfaction without having to have intimate connections and reciprocation

The sample was created by contacting various university LGBTQ organisations

3.8 Sex Education

When highlighting problems within social science research, it is also essential to

The participants talked about pornography as a medium for self-discovery. This

3.9 Unrealistic Expectations

discussed pornography being a complicated issue, and it only being problematic

3.10 Desensitise/Devalue Sex

3.11 Heterosexual Norms

The reproduction of heterosexual norms within pornography came up in all focus

Several of my lesbian identified participants expressed that heteronormativity

3.12 Conclusive Responses

In my findings there always seemed to be a chicken-and-egg scenario. Was it the

3.13 Summary of Main Findings

MOVP, as it is currently produced, creates unrealistic expectations of sex and body

Name Age Sexuality Degree Class Gender Ethnicity Religion

Name Age Sexuality Degree Class Gender Ethnicity Religion

Name Age Sexuality Degree Class Gender Ethnicity Religion

Name Age Sexuality Degree Class Gender Ethnicity Religion

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 55

4.1.1 Coming Out Narratives

4.1.2 LGBT Cyberspace

Part I Youth Culture and “Kids These Days”

Part II Visual Media and Social Control

Part III Online Disruptions and Nonbinary Genders

8 Becoming Non-binary: An Exploration of Gender

Part IV Sexual Cultures and Their Isms

1.2 What Are “Anxious Publics?”

1.3 “A Boy Is a Boy”: Reinforcement of Binary Gender

1.4 Too Young to Know? The (Non-)Agentic/Precocious

1.5 The Decline of American Society

1.6 Conclusion: A Story of “National Interest”

2.2 Cyberviolence and “Face-to-Face” Violence

2.3 Youth’s Gender and Heterosexual Socialization

2.4 yberspace, Digital Devices, Gender and Sexuality

Î le-de-France region completed a survey questionnaire on episodes of gender vio-

2.6 Revenge Porn, or the Unfolding of a Cybersexist Event

2.7 Being the Right Gendered Cyber Version of Oneself

2.8 Gender and Sexualities at Play in Cyberspace

3.1 The Feminist Debate

3.2 Constructions of Gender in Pornography

3.3 Representations of LGBTQ Persons

3.4 he Effects of Watching Pornography on (Heterosexual)

3.5 The Effects on Relationships

3.8 Sex Education

3.9 Unrealistic Expectations

3.10 Desensitise/Devalue Sex

3.11 Heterosexual Norms

3.12 Conclusive Responses

3.13 Summary of Main Findings

4.1.1 Coming Out Narratives

4.1.2 LGBT Cyberspace

4.2 Theoretical Framework

4.2.1 Identity as Injury

4.2.2 Collective Identities

4.4.1 Experiencing Adversity

4.4.2 Receiving Affirmation

4.4.3 Offering Encouragement

4.4.4 Disrupting the Narrative

5.2 Literature Review

5.3.1 Implicit Aggression

5.3.2 Explicit Aggression

5.3.3 Aggression with Sexuality

5.3.5 Verbal Cues

5.4.1 Implicit Aggression

5.4.2 Explicit Aggression

5.4.3 Aggression with Sexuality

Appendix (Tables 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, and 5.8)

Songs Sampled for Analysis

6.4 ‘ Tamir Would Still be Alive if He Wasn’t Black’:

6.5 How Structural Ignorance Influences the Color of Justice

7.1 Heading 1: Introduction

7.2 Heading 2: Literature Review

7.2.1 eading 3: Racism in the Sexual Minority Men’s

7.2.2 Heading 4: Racism Online

7.3 Heading 6: Theoretical Framework

7.4 Heading 7: Methods

7.5 Heading 8: Findings

7.5.1 Heading 9: Transphobia

7.5.2 Heading 10: Fetishization of Trans People

7.5.5 emmephobia or Misogyny? The Disregard

7.7 Heading 15: Future Research

Heading 16: Appendix: Document Sent to Participants

8.2 Theory and Methods

8.3 inding Digital Spaces as Resistance/Resilience/

8.4 Tumblr as Global Collectivism

8.5 Safe(r) Spaces