“Oh no! I'm a nerd!” Hegemonic masculinity on an online forum

L Kendall - Gender & Society, 2000 - journals.sagepub.com
L Kendall
Gender & Society, 2000journals.sagepub.com
In this article, the author presents findings based on her research on BlueSky, an online
interactive textbased forum. She discusses BlueSky participants' online performances of
gendered and raced identities. Participants interpret their own and others' identities within
the context of expectations and assumptions derived from offline US culture, as well as from
their membership in various computer-related subcultures. Given the predominance of white
men on BlueSky, such identity interpretations also rely on expectations concerning …
In this article, the author presents findings based on her research on BlueSky, an online interactive textbased forum. She discusses BlueSky participants' online performances of gendered and raced identities. Participants interpret their own and others' identities within the context of expectations and assumptions derived from offline U.S. culture, as well as from their membership in various computer-related subcultures. Given the predominance of white men on BlueSky, such identity interpretations also rely on expectations concerning masculinity and whiteness. The author explores BlueSky participants' understandings of themselves as “nerds” and considers the implications of this nerd identity for their relationship to hegemonic masculinity, especially to expectations of heterosexuality. Analyzing online identity performances in this way provides information pertaining not just to online interaction but to a better understanding of the social construction of gendered and raced identities more generally.
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