Engagement with Master and Alternative Narratives of Gender and Sexuality Among LGBTQ+ Youth in the Digital Age

Bibliographic Data

ID6432376
AuthorsLogan L Barsigian (0000-0003-0429-6227, University of California, Santa Cruz), Cyrus Howard (University of California, Santa Cruz), Anakaren Quintero Davalos (University of California, Santa Cruz), Abigail S Walsh (0000-0002-9749-7759, University of California, Santa Cruz), Adriana M Manago (0000-0002-8687-3261, University of California, Santa Cruz)
Year2023
Volume40
Issue2
Pages413-447
Publication date2023-01-20
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Adolescent Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0743-5584 • E-ISSN: 1552-6895
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/07435584221150223
OpenAlexW4317632380
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited53

Gender and sexuality are contentious political issues in the US, with a resurgence of traditional master narratives for gender following decades of advances for gender equality. To understand how today’s LGBTQ+ youth navigate this narrative landscape in a polymedia context, we conducted social media tour interviews with 20 LGBTQ+ adolescents (aged 16–19), recording audiovisual data as they guided us through important posts on their top three public social media platforms. Through reflexive thematic analysis, we found that our participants were engaging with both longstanding master narratives (e.g., traditional gender roles) and contemporary alternative narratives (e.g., gender as non-binary) using three key navigational strategies for engaging with narratives on social media platforms: seeking and sharing information, creating queer community, and making choices about visibility and permanence. The meaning and purpose of these strategies for participants, both individually and collectively, could not be fully understood apart from three key navigational contexts: the traditional gender narrative, white liberal community context, and platform affordances. Our results demonstrate that narrative engagement for contemporary LGBTQ+ adolescents is deeply influenced by personal polymedia environments, identity intersections, and power structures shaping possibilities for individual identity expression and collective cultural transformation

Context (archaeology · Human sexuality · Narrative · Political science · Queer · Social media · Sociology · Transgender · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Media Studies and Communication · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology

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