- Between weeks 8 and 14, each student should provide a weekly reflection (500 words) on the data you have collected to date.
- What data did you collect?
- What is your initial impression of the data?
- How have the data you have collected this week changed/progressed your thinking about your research project?
- What challenges did you encounter while collecting the data?
- What are your next steps?
This week I completed one more interview and worked on furthering my annotated bib. Now the bib is 3/5 of the way done, and I need to conduct a few more interviews. I really thought the readings this week made me think about how femininity is related to both male and female constructions of identity and sexual scripts. Some of the examples of profiles especially from the second article really highlighted how both straight and queer men have internalized (and sometimes external too) negative associations with femininity that revealed the role of hegemonic masculinity in these identity constructions.
Christensen, Mackenzie A. ‘“Tindersluts” and “Tinderellas”: Examining the Digital Affordances Shaping the (Hetero)Sexual Scripts of Young Womxn on Tinder.’ Sociological Perspectives Vol. 64(3), 2021. 432–449.
Christensens’s “Tindersluts” and “Tinderellas” piece looks at how individual participants may choose to follow young adult sexual and romantic scripts or develop a “hybrid hookup script.” Christensen describes how womxn of color are most likely to opt out of traditional cultural scripts. Similar to other articles that we have looked at, this article discusses how Tinder functions at least for these womxn more as a hook-up app than dating app because of its game-ified features. The womxn, however, still had to follow more traditional dating scripts that are gendered because they did not want to be labeled in certain demeaning ways, if they are too sexually forward. The article concludes with promoting that tech developers take this information to create apps that produce more equitable outcomes, as Tinder seems to create better outcomes for men and male sexual desires.
García-Gómez, Antonio. “Discursive representation of masculinity and femininity in Tinder and Grindr: Hegemonic masculinity, feminine devaluation and femmephobia.” Discourse & Society 2020, Vol. 31(4) 390–410
García-Gómez’s piece is interesting, as it looks at how identity is constructed on both Tinder and Grindr in a gay versus straight man comparison. It also shows how men in general perpetuate a policing of femininity which informs how they develop their own identities and enact their own masculinity. Regardless of whether the men identify as overall masculine or feminine, they try to justify femininity in a way that clearly shows opposition to it across both straight and queer. The negative association with femininity shows how these men construct their profiles and their identity to these apps, and it will be interesting to consider alongside construction of identity. However, some straight men also choose to endorse feminine practices as a way to make them seem more likeable to the women they are interested in.
Dalton,
It has been great to see how your project with Nicole has evolved in the last few weeks. I am glad to see you expanding these questions to consider marginalized groups and their use of Tindr. I have always wondered how notions of masculinity and femininity map onto the presentation of profiles on these platforms, especially for gay and queer men. Increasingly, as we have seen “straight” men using gay apps to attract transwomen or feminine men (especially in a place like Maine), I can’t help wonder the extent to which masculinity is also policed on these platforms. I am very interested in your presentation tomorrow and to see the directions this project takes.