"Chicks Be Like": Masculinity, Femininity, and Gendered Double Standards in Youth Peer Cultures on Social Media
By: Brooke Dinsmore '14
Advising Faculty: Ana Campos-Holland
In the midst of a social panic over youth's social media use, little attention has been given to youth's voices and perspectives. Adult perspectives on gendered issues of cyberbullying and sexualized performance have completely ignored youth's agency in constructing and performing gender on social media. While a body of literature on how youth construct femininity on social media has emerged, little qualitative work has been done addressing masculinity, looking at the comparatively at the construction of both masculinity and femininity or looking at how youth critically evaluate gendered performances. This study explores how youth both construct and evaluate gendered performances within peer cultures on social media. More specifically, taking the sociology of childhood approach, it explores how youth construct masculine and feminine social media performances, and how these performances are reinforced through negative and positive feedback.
This honors thesis may be viewed on Digital Commons @ Connecticut College, http://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/sociologyhp/3/.
Related Fields: Sociology