heterosexual masculinity in finnish online dating ads

25
HETEROSEXUAL MASCULINITY IN FINNISH ONLINE DATING ADS A.M. Holappa Emerging ideas in masculinity research – Masculinity studies in the North. 4th - 6th June 2014, at the University of Iceland, Reykjavik.

Upload: anne-holappa

Post on 18-Dec-2014

78 views

Category:

Internet


0 download

DESCRIPTION

Presentation given @ Emerging ideas in masculinity research conference, Reykjavik 6th June 2014

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

HETEROSEXUAL MASCULINITY IN FINNISH ONLINE DATING ADS

A.M. HolappaEmerging ideas in masculinity research – Masculinity studies in the

North. 4th - 6th June 2014, at the University of Iceland, Reykjavik.

Page 2: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

BACKROUND INFORMATION

Phd student, digital culture, University of Turku

Working title: The heterosexual relationship schema in Finnish online dating ads

LOOKING FOR: shared cultural knowledge concerning romantic male-female relationships in online dating ads in dating services site

Page 3: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

RESEARCH QUESTION TODAY

How Finnish men represent themselves?

What kind of variety of the ideal heterosexual male partner representations could be found in online dating service?

Page 4: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

THE RESEARCH DATA 

The research data contained

a)920 semi-structured online dating ad texts, collected in 2012 and

b)600 online dating ad profile pictures collected in January 2014

Both men (60%) and women (40%)

Page 5: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

THE RESEARCH DATA 

Data was limited to dating advertisements where heterosexual True Love was sought

->

heterosexuality is a choice made by the company seeker

man looking for a woman

woman looking for a man

Page 6: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads
Page 7: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

• Are there differences between men and women?

Yes there are. Women use more adjectives to describe their looks, men use exact measures• Are there similarities between men and women?

Yes there are. Amount of adjectives used• Are there differences among men and among women?

Yes there are. Some women seek safety, some equality and some man who is capable of letting the woman take the lead.• Are the similarities or differences masculine or feminine features?

Harder question: what are the definitions of masculine and feminine?

Page 8: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

MASCULINITY

Wikipedia: Masculinity is a set of qualities, characteristics or roles generally considered typical of, or appropriate to, a man.

There exist several masculinities in a culture at the same time.

Nowadays we all agree that masculinity and femininity are culturally specific and historically conditioned.

(Buchbinder 2013)

Page 9: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

STEREOTYPES

Stereotypes are everyday thinking and then hardly useful in academic research, many think.

But they are useful if the research is concentrated in everyman´s own constructions of their own masculinity.

Stereotypes being well known are at least one influence in those constructions.

Usually the masculine features are seen opposite to women´s.

Page 10: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

Stereotypes of (Western) masculinityPhysical strength

Power (successful/wealthy)

Control of emotions

Calm, stable and able to defense him/his community

Excellent heterosexual lover

Independent in every way

Stereotypes of Finnish maleNot (too) emotional (unless drunk)

Having sisu/guts/being brave

Tough/(possible) violent

(Sipilä 1994; Lahti 1994, Jokinen 2000)

Page 11: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

FACT BEHIND STEREOTYPES

Evolutionary perspective: the emphasis is on physical and genetic fitness, because passing on good genetic material is the main goal

Men want women to be young and healthy for reproductive purposes (the looks)

Women are interested in men capable of parental investment (wealth)

David Buss 1994

Page 12: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

RESEARCH : TEXT 

Textual data in open text field was broke down in pieces.

Expressions or key words, specially adjectives most repeated were categorized by thematic choices.

If looking the male expressions against the masculine stereotypes: how identical are men´s descriptions with those?

Page 13: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

TEXT RESEARCH RESULTS: EXPRESSIONS

117 different adjectives including minor variations

85 adjectives 90 adjectives

+ 35 descriptions for physical looks

+ 6 different categories for hobbies

+ descriptive expressions for profession, working life, age etc

altogether about 200 expressions

Page 14: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

TOP 5 MALE DESCRIPTIONS OF THEMSELVES

Page 15: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

RESULTS: THE ADJECTIVES

There were some adjectives

1.only referring to men with the word itself being not gendered,

2. adjectives not referring to women but only to men with more traditional tone of masculinity, and

3. adjectives that were never referring to male but only to female.

Page 16: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

NOT GENDERED ADJECTIVES ONLY REFERRING TO MEN

Healthy (terve)

Decent (kunnollinen)

Polite / Well-mannered / Gentleman

(kohtelias, hyväkäytöksinen, herrasmiesmäinen)

Safe (turvallinen)

Charismatic (karismaattinen)

Experienced (kokenut)

Able to commit (sitoutuva)

Soft (pehmo)

Page 17: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

(MASCULINE) ADJECTIVES REFERRING ONLY TO MEN

Wealthy but in the other hand:

you can be anything

it does not matter what you do

I hope working isn´t everything in your life

Muscular / athletic

Handsome

Page 18: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

ADJECTIVES REFERRING ONLY TO FEMALE

Flexible (joustava)

Gentle (lempeä)

Creative (luova)

Perky (pirtsakka)

Modest (vaatimaton)

Page 19: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

NOT GENDERED ADJECTIVES REFERRING TO BOTH FEMALES AND MALES

Young/youngish

Sporty

Social

Open

Like to have conversations

Relaxed / Easy-going

Page 20: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

RESULTS AND A CONCLUSION

There were similarities with common stereotypes: active, muscular and active man was wanted (physical strenght)

Some women wanted wealthy man (power, success, independent)

These gender differences also goes with the evolutionary point of view.

Page 21: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

RESULTS AND A CONCLUSION

Stereotypes NOT found in the research data:

Control of emotions, emotional toughness, calmness BUT the opposite: open, social, talkative

New (unexpected) attention given to downshifting ideology and soft values.

Page 22: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

RESULTS AND A CONCLUSION

Also being excellent heterosexual lover did NOT come up but the reason might be the “romantic context”

When talking about romantic relationship, there is often more emphasis on emotion rather than on physical intimacy and that shows in the vocabulary.

Page 23: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

FROM HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY TO DIVERSITY OF MEN

The cultural values of life are present in online dating ads.

The variety of the ideal heterosexual male partner representations is found in online dating service.

Page 24: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

REFERENCES

Buss, David 1994: The evolution of desire: Strategies of Human Mating.

Buchbinder, David 2013: Studying men and masculinities. London: Routledge

Jokinen, Arto 2000: Panssaroitu maskuliinisuus. Mies, väkivalta ja kulttuuri. Tampere :Tampere

University Press.

Lahti, Martti 1994: Kotia kohti. Vammaisuus ja maskuliinisuus elokuvassa Tapaus Henry. Teoksessa: Miestä rakennetaan, maskuliinisuuksia puretaan. Tampere: Vastapaino, 207-226.

Sipilä, Jorma 1994: Miestutkimus – säröjä hegemonisessa maskuliinisuudessa. In Miestä rakennetaan, maskuliinisuuksia puretaan. Ed. Jorma Sipilä & Arto Tiihonen. Tampere: Vastapaino, p. 17-36.

Page 25: Heterosexual masculinity in Finnish online dating ads

THANK YOU! ÞAKKA ÞÉR!

[email protected]