Masculine Bodies, Selfies, and the (Re)configurations of Intimacy

Abstract

This article is part of a research about the use of selfies in two different apps, Grindr and Instagram. We are interested in exploring how selfies relate to masculine bodies and produce different negotiations of intimacy. Selfies are personal, bodily centered, and highly visible. Understanding their production can contribute to the discussion on the digital exposure of intimacy and on the (self) management of masculine bodies. We consider selfies as discursive media that merge the visual and the discursive. Through their practice, users actively negotiate their masculine bodies and their intimacies and question and/or affirm hegemonies. Based on visual analysis and qualitative data obtained from observation and structured interviews, our results point out to the active production of selfies in relation to the different apps and to different styles of bodies that (in)visibilize different body parts and/or emotional traits. Selfies (re)present hegemonic, resistant, and emergent bodies with different understandings of intimacy.