Identity Modulation in Networked Publics: Queer Women's Participation
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IDENTITY MODULATION IN NETWORKED PUBLICS: QUEER WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION AND REPRESENTATION ON TINDER, INSTAGRAM, AND VINE Stefanie Duguay BASc. University of Lethbridge, MSc. University of Oxford Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Communication Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology 2017 Keywords Authenticity Collective identity Digital platforms Gender Identity Instagram Lesbians LGBTQ Micro-celebrity Mobile apps Networked publics Queer women Representation Sexual identity Social media Technocultures Tinder Vine Visual media Walkthrough i Abstract Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ) people now have access to a range of rights and protections in several countries and frequent visibility across television, film, print, and digital media. Despite this, they still experience stigmatisation that affects their wellbeing, access to support, and participation in society. Queer women, in particular, face sexual stigmatisation and gender inequality. Social media platforms can facilitate social and political participation. However, platforms also bring together audiences with whom individuals may otherwise interact in separate contexts. In this thesis, I examine queer women’s participation and representation on contemporary social media platforms. I analyse how they negotiate these social conditions and, in turn, how platforms shape their activity. I combine traditional and digital research methods to examine queer women’s use of: Tinder, a platform for dating and meeting people; Instagram, a platform for photo sharing; and Vine, a platform for sharing short, looping videos. For each platform, I conduct a close reading of platform features and materials, analysis of queer women’s content, and interviews with queer female users. Findings across platforms highlight a common set of practices, which I refer to as “identity modulation.” I define identity modulation as individuals’ continuous decision-making about whether and how much to make their sexual identity recognisable in relation to personally identifying information (e.g., names, face photos) for particular social media audiences. This concept is analogous to adjusting device settings, such as volume and brightness: users can modify the noticeability of elements of identity but their adjustments are subject to a platform’s features and constraints. Queer women in this study engage in identity modulation for platform- specific purposes. Individuals increase the visibility of their sexual identity on Tinder to attract other queer women, often while minimising identifying information. Instagram users accentuate their sexual identity as part of their personal brand while frequently maintaining a separation between Facebook and Instagram audiences. On Vine, individuals display sexual identity and shared experiences to form close-knit communities while avoiding discriminatory audiences. ii Across platforms, identity modulation facilitates these queer women’s connections with other users in the form of networked publics, as gatherings of people that are structured by networked technologies. Queer women’s networked publics often enhance their self-validation, access to social support, and ability to challenge stigmatising discourses. However, individuals also encounter impediments to identity modulation, such as embedded platform biases and discriminatory user practices, which inhibit their participation in networked publics. Such impediments highlight ways that users, platforms, and media producers can better facilitate identity modulation. These findings pave the way for research that further explores the concept of identity modulation, examining the social media practices of other stigmatised populations across a variety of platforms. iii Table of Contents KEYWORDS ....................................................................................................................................... I ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................... II LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................................... VI LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................... VII STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP ......................................................................... VIII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................. IX PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED CONTENT ..................................................................................... XII CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 1.1 OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 RESEARCH DESIGN ............................................................................................................................ 7 1.3 THESIS STRUCTURE ........................................................................................................................ 18 CHAPTER 2: MODULATING REPRESENTATIONS IN NETWORKED PUBLICS ........... 21 2.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 21 2.2 WAYS TO BE GAY: REPRESENTATIONS OF SEXUAL IDENTITY ........................................ 23 2.2.3 LGBTQ media representation over time .............................................................................. 24 2.2.4 Queer women’s representation ................................................................................................ 29 2.3 NETWORKED PUBLICS AND IDENTITY MODULATION ........................................................ 36 2.3.1 Identity modulation ....................................................................................................................... 39 2.4 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................... 52 CHAPTER 3: DISPLAYING AUTHENTICITY ON TINDER .................................................. 55 3.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 55 3.2 TINDER’S AUTHENTICITY PROBLEM ........................................................................................ 57 3.3 IDENTITY MODULATION AND AUTHENTICITY ...................................................................... 65 3.3.1 Superficial Tinder .......................................................................................................................... 68 3.3.2 Detecting and displaying sexual identity ............................................................................. 76 3.3.3 Identity modulation across platforms .................................................................................... 83 3.4 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................... 91 CHAPTER 4: ASPIRING TOWARD INSTAFAME .................................................................. 95 4.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 95 4.2 A PLATFORM FOR INSTAFAME ................................................................................................... 97 4.3 COMMERCIAL, FANTASY, AND DISRUPTIVE AESTHETICS ............................................. 106 4.4 IDENTITY MODULATION THROUGH INSTAFAME ............................................................... 117 4.4.1 Reflective self-representations ............................................................................................... 118 4.4.2 Reflexive self-promotion ........................................................................................................... 125 4.4.3 Managing refracted self-representations ........................................................................... 130 4.5 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................. 137 CHAPTER 5: VINING AS COLLECTIVE IDENTITY WORK ............................................... 141 5.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 141 5.2 PROFESSIONALISATION OF THE VINE .................................................................................... 143 5.3 IDENTITY MODULATION THROUGH COLLECTIVE SHARING ......................................... 152 5.4 A TALE OF TWO VINES .............................................................................................................. 163 5.5 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................. 177 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 183 6.1 IDENTITY MODULATION IN NETWORKED PUBLICS .......................................................... 185 6.1.1 Impediments to identity modulation