Gaydar Culture: Gay Men, Technology and Embodiment in the Digital Age

ISBN-13: 9780754675358 / Angielski / Twarda / 2010 / 252 str.

Sharif Mowlabocus

Opis

Popular culture has recognized urban gay men's use of the Web over the last ten years, with gay Internet dating and Net-cruising featuring as narrative devices in hit television shows. Yet to date, the relationship between urban gay male culture and digital media technologies has received only limited critical attention. Gaydar Culture explores the integration of specific techno-cultural practices within contemporary gay male sub-culture. Taking British gay culture as its primary interest, the book locates its critical discussion within the wider global context of a proliferating model of Western 'metropolitan' gay male culture. Making use of a series of case studies in the development of a theoretical framework through which past, present and future practices of digital immersion can be understood and critiqued; this book constitutes a timely intervention into the fields of digital media studies, cultural studies and the study of gender and sexuality.

Recenzje

'By focusing on Gaydar - the UK-based, globally-accessed, gay/queer male website - Sharif Mowlabocus both theorizes and documents how the personal profiles men post there have allowed for the emergence and negotiation of new forms of gay male subjectivities and practices. In so doing he has produced a truly interdisciplinary work that bridges the fields of sexuality studies and new media/internet studies.' Ken Hillis, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA 'To say this book is needed is an understatement! In the midst of the overwhelming hype and heteronormativity surrounding the Internet, Mowlabocus provides a challenging, accessible and reflexive account of gay men’s experiences with digital media. His study makes an substantial contribution and is a must read for anyone studying the Internet, gender, sexuality, media or culture.' Ben Light, University of Salford, UK

Spis treści

Chapter 1 Introductions: The Personal, the Political and the Perverse; Chapter 2 Contexts and Frameworks: British Gay Male Subculture – 1984 and Beyond; Chapter 3 Cybercarnality: Identifying a Critical Pathway through Gay Men’s Digital Culture; Chapter 4 ‘From the Web Comes a Man’ 1 This catchphrase was used during an advertising campaign in December 2002, for the Gaydar dating website. : Profiles, Identity and Embodiment in Gay Dating/Sex Websites.; Chapter 5 Cruising the Cybercottage; Chapter 6 Bareback Sex Online: Knowledge, Desire and the Gay Male Body; Chapter 7 Digital Cruising: Mobile and Locative Technologies in Gay Male Subculture; Chapter 8 Conclusion: Some Final Thoughts on Gay Men’s Digital Culture;

O autorze

Sharif Mowlabocus is a lecturer in Digital Media at the University of Sussex, UK