Duckface/Stoneface : Selfie stereotypes and selfie literacy in gendered media practices in Sweden

• This article describes how Swedish teens use selfies for gendered self-representation in online peer-to-peer communication. The aim of the article is to critically question and add on to the extensive tradition of studies of large scale mass mediated stereotypes, by looking at how gender selfie stereotypes are produced and performed in social media through the interaction and participation of school children. The article combines constructionist perspectives on representation and gender with social semiotics. Based on empirical data from focus group interviews with student from grade 7 in four Stockholm schools (N=41) the article show that the way the selfie genre is played out and negotiated among teens is marked by gender stereotypes. These stereotypes are used to confirm a dualistic separation of sexes, the subordination of women, and a heteronormative order for sexuality, but also used for “stereotype vitalization” where prevailing gender norms are renegotiated, jested and mocked.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

selfies

stereotypes

gender

social media

literacy

Kritisk kulturteori

Critical and Cultural Theory

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kap (ämneskategori)