Race,gender,and self-presentation in teen profile photographs

Abstract

This study analyzes how teens represent themselves through their profile photographs on a popular nonymous chat site. Using visual content analysis methods, we analyzed 400 profile photographs, controlling for the self-reported gender and the apparent race of the photographic subject. The analysis finds significant differences in gaze, posture, dress, and distance from the camera according to gender and race, although racial differences are stronger for boys than for girls. To a surprising extent, the findings mirror previous findings of gender and race differences in face-to-face interaction, suggesting that the teens construe their profile images as invitations to interact with others online. At the same time, their photo choices reproduce culturally dominant ideologies of gender and race as reinforced by mass media images.

Keywords

Dress gaze gender interpersonal distance photographs race self-presentation sexualization teenagers

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aiello

Jones

(1971) Field study of the proxemic behavior of young school children in three subcultural groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 19(3): 351–356.

Bauer

(1973) Personal space: a study of Blacks and Whites. Sociometry 36(3): 402–408.

Baym

Zhang

Lin

(2004) Social interactions across media. New Media & Society 6(3): 299–318.

Bell

(2001) Content analysis of visual images. In: Van Leeuwen

Jewitt

(eds) Handbook of Visual Analysis. London: SAGE, pp. 10–34.

Botta

(2000) The mirror of television. A comparison of Black and White adolescents’ body image. Journal of Communication 3: 144–159.

Bruzzese

(2012) On the job: how to enhance your online image. USA Today, 14 October. Available at: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/bruzzese/2012/10/08/on-the-job-perceived-attractiveness/1618743/ (accessed 10 November 2012).

Danet

(1998) Text as mask: gender and identity on the Internet. In: Jones

(ed.) Cybersociety 2.0. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, pp. 129–158.

Dixon

Linz

(2000) Overrepresentation and underrepresentation of African Americans and Latinos as lawbreakers on television news. Journal of Communication 50: 131–154.

Duggan

Brenner

(2013) The demographics of social media users - 2012. Pew Internet and American Life Project. Available at: http://pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2013/PIP_SocialMediaUsers.pdf (accessed 5 December 2013).

10.

Durham

(2008) The Lolita Effect: The Media Sexualization of Young Girls and What We Can Do About It. Woodstock, NY and New York: The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers Inc.

11.

Erikson

(1968) Identity: Youth and Crisis. Oxford: W. W. Norton & Company.

12.

Festinger

(1954) A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations 7: 117–140.

13.

Finn

(2011) A portrait of who uses social networks in the US (and how social media affects our lives). Search Engine Land, 16 June. Available at: http://searchengineland.com/a-portrait-of-who-uses-social-networks-in-the-u-s-and-how-social-media-affects-our-lives-81653 (accessed 8 December 2013).

14.

Frith

Shaw

Cheng

(2005) The construction of beauty: a cross-cultural analysis of women’s magazine advertising. Journal of Communication 55(1): 56–70.

15.

Goffman

(1959) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Penguin Books.

16.

Goffman

(1979) Gender Advertisements. London: Macmillan.

17.

Grasmuck

Martin

Zhao

(2009) Ethno-racial displays on Facebook. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 15: 158–188.

18.

Greenwood

Lippman

(2010) Gender and media: content, uses, and impact. In: Chrisler

McCreary

(eds) Handbook of Gender Research in Psychology, vol. 2. New York: Springer, pp. 643–699.

19.

Hall

West

McIntyre

(2012) Female self-sexualization in MySpace.com personal profile photographs. Sexuality & Culture 16: 1–16.

20.

Herring

(2003) Gender and power in online communication. In: Holmes

Meyerhoff

(eds) The Handbook of Language and Gender. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, pp. 202–228.

21.

Kapidzic

(2011) The influence of personality and internalization of media ideals on Facebook image selection. Masters’ Thesis, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN.

22.

Kapidzic

Herring

(2011) Gender, communication, and self-presentation in teen chatrooms revisited: have patterns changed? Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 17: 39–59.

23.

Kitwana

(2002) The Hip Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture. New York: Basic Books.

24.

Kornblum

(2006) Adults question MySpace’s safety. USA Today, 8 January. Available at: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-01-08-myspace-sidebar_x.htm (accessed 6 December 2013).

25.

Kress

Van Leeuwen

(1996) Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. New York: Routledge.

26.

LaFrance

Mayo

(1976) Racial differences in gaze behavior during conversations: two systematic observational studies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 33(5): 547–552.

27.

Leit

Pope

Jr Gray

(2001) Cultural expectations of muscularity in men: the evolution of Playgirl centerfolds. International Journal of Eating Disorders 29: 90–93.

28.

Madden

Lenhart

Cortesi

. (2013) Teens, social media, and privacy. Pew Internet and American Life Project. Available at: http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media/Files/Reports/2013/PIP_TeensSocialMediaandPrivacy.pdf (accessed 5 December 2013).

29.

Majors

Billson

(1992) Cool Pose: The Dilemmas of Black Manhood in America. New York: Touchstone.

30.

Manago

Graham

Greenfield

. (2008) Self-presentation and gender on MySpace. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 29(6): 446–458.

31.

Nakamura

(1995) Race in/for cyberspace: identity tourism and racial passing on the Internet. Works and Days 25/26 13(1–2): 181–193.

32.

Nakamura

(2002) Head-hunting on the Internet: identity tourism, avatars, and racial passing in textual and graphic chat spaces. In: Nakamura

(ed.) Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet. New York: Routledge, pp. 31–60.

33.

Nowatzki

Morry

(2009) Women’s intentions regarding, and acceptance of, self-sexualizing behavior. Psychology of Women Quarterly 33: 95–107.

34.

Omi

Winant

(1994) Racial Formations in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s. New York: Routledge.

35.

Paasonen

(2011) Online pornography: ubiquitous and effaced. In: Consalvo

Ess

(eds) The Handbook of Internet Research. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 424–439.

36.

Parker

Nichter

. (1995) Body image and weight concerns among African American and White adolescent females: differences that make a difference. Human Organization 54: 103–114.

37.

Prentice

Miller

(2007) Psychological essentialism of human categories. Current Directions in Psychological Science 16: 202–206.

38.

Reichert

Carpenter

(2004) An update on sex in magazine advertising: 1983 to 2003. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 81(4): 823–837.

39.

Sabina

Wolak

Finkelhor

(2008) The nature and dynamics of Internet pornography exposure for youth. CyberPsychology & Behavior 11(6): 555–560.

40.

Siibak

(2009) Constructing the self through the photo selection – visual impression management on social networking websites. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace 3(1): article 1. Available at: http://cyberpsychology.eu/view.php?cisloclanku=2009061501&;article=1 (accessed 5 December 2013).

41.

Siibak

(2010) Constructing masculinity on a social networking website. The case-study of visual self-presentations of young men on the profile images of SNS Rate. Young 18(4): 403–425.

42.

Simpson

Gangestad

Nations

(1996) Sociosexuality and relationship initiation: an ethological perspective of nonverbal behavior. In: Fletcher

GJO

Fitness

(eds) Knowledge Structures in Close Relationships: A Social Psychological Approach. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, pp. 121–146.

43.

Soley

Reid

(1988) Taking it off: are models in magazine ads wearing less? Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 65(4): 960–966.

44.

Strano

(2008) User descriptions and interpretations of self-presentation through Facebook profile images. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace 2(2): article 5. Available at: http://cyberpsychology.eu/view.php?cisloclanku=2008110402&;article=5 (accessed 5 December 2013).

45.

Tang

Quertermous

Rodriguez

. (2005) Genetic structure, self-identified race/ethnicity, and confounding in case-control association studies. American Journal of Human Genetics 76(2): 268–275.

46.

Walther

(1996) Computer-mediated communication: impersonal, interpersonal, and hyperpersonal interaction. Communication Research 23(1): 1–43.

47.

Walther

Slovacek

Tidwell

(2001) Is a picture worth a thousand words? Communication Research 28(1): 105–134.

48.

Walther

Van Der Heide

Kim

. (2008) The role of friends’ behavior on evaluations of individuals’ Facebook profiles: are we known by the company we keep? Human Communication Research 34: 28–49.

49.

Ward

Hansbrough

Walker

(2005) Contributions of music video exposure to Black adolescents’ gender and sexual schemas. Journal of Adolescent Research 20: 143–166.

50.

Whitty

(2008) Revealing the “real” me, searching for the “actual” you: presentations of self on an Internet dating site. Computers in Human Behavior 24: 1707–1723.

51.

Willem

Araüna

Crescenzi

. (2012) Girls on Fotolog: reproduction of gender stereotypes or identity play? Interactions: Studies in Communication & Culture 2(3): 225–242.

52.

Yee

Bailenson

Urbanek

. (2007) The unbearable likeness of being digital: the persistence of nonverbal social norms in online virtual environments. CyberPsychology & Behavior 10: 115–121.

53.

Zhao

Grasmuck

Martin

(2008) Identity construction on Facebook: digital empowerment in anchored relationships. Computers in Human Behavior 24: 1816–1836.