Men have to be competent in something, women need to show their bodies. Gender, digital youth cultures and popularity

Bibliographic Data

ID12255083
AuthorsManolo Farci (0000-0003-3413-8289, Department of Communication Sciences, Humanities and International Studies, University of Urbino (Italy), Urbino, Italy), C M Scarcelli (0000-0002-0384-6250, Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology, University of Padova (Italy), Padova, Italy, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume33
Issue5
Pages572-584
Publication date2023-09-11
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Gender Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0958-9236 • E-ISSN: 1465-3869
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09589236.2023.2241857
OpenAlexW4386604756
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited55

Social media represents a significant part of digital youth culture, providing young people with models, symbolic resources, and space for self-presentation and reputation management. This study explored how the ideal of entrepreneurialism, which marks the social media logic of attention and visibility, is appropriated by young people in ways that allow them to challenge or reaffirm traditional gender and sexual norms. This research was based on empirical material collected through online workshops involving 12 Italian schools (42 classes and about 900 students), in which we asked participants to join in an activity to create fictional accounts that could become popular with their peers. Our analysis shows that young people discursively construct gender and sexual norms, frequently reproducing dominant cultural discourses on gender and heteronormativity. Young people’s discourse focuses on the apparent feminization of the internet and a perception of social media platforms as belonging to the female sphere. The feminization of the internet leads to a discourse concerns men’s need to link technical competence, professionalism, and masculinity to reproduce the stereotypical portrayal of women as bearers of an innate sexual power that compensates for their perceived lack of digital skills

Digital culture · Media studies · Popularity · Sociology · Digital Games and Media · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Psychology · Social Psychology

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