Fibreculture Journal (Jan 2005)
Cute Boys or Game Boys? The Embodiment of Femininity and Masculinity in Young Norwegians’ Text Message Love-Projects
Abstract
By looking at young Norwegians’ text messages in sexual romantic negotiations, this article examines whether text messages may provide a site for performing femininity and masculinity in ways that subvert traditional conceptions of these constructs. Although various studies on gender, sexuality and media [1] have consistently indicated gender specific usage/performances which in this article is indicated and supported by the study’s young informants’ own formulations, the discourse analysis approach employed a more complex image. Here, I focus on how the young people indicate and translate their modes and body-language into texts, paying particular attention to how signs of femininity and masculinity emerge in text message love-projects, I argue that especially for young males, text messages in love-projects offer a site where in particular young males may perform masculinity in counter-traditional ways. The article is a part of a long study of young Norwegian’s usages, self-understanding and gender performances through text message communication. [[1] Döring, Hellwig and Klimsa, 2004, Hareide 2002, Johnsen 2000, Lee and Sohn, 2004, Ling 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2005, Skog 2000, 2002]
