Digital Traces of Sexualities: Understanding the Salience of Sexual Identity through Disclosure on Social Media
The authors analyze the expression of sexualities in the contemporary United States using data about disclosure on social media. Through the Facebook advertising platform, the authors collect aggregate counts encompassing 200 million Facebook users, 28 percent of whom disclose sexuality-related info...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2021-07-01
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| Series: | Socius |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231211029499 |
| _version_ | 1818934350897479680 |
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| author | Connor Gilroy Ridhi Kashyap |
| author_facet | Connor Gilroy Ridhi Kashyap |
| author_sort | Connor Gilroy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The authors analyze the expression of sexualities in the contemporary United States using data about disclosure on social media. Through the Facebook advertising platform, the authors collect aggregate counts encompassing 200 million Facebook users, 28 percent of whom disclose sexuality-related information. Stratifying by age, gender, and relationship status, the authors show how these attributes structure the propensity to disclose different sexual identities. There is a large generational difference; younger social media users share their sexualities at high rates, while for older cohorts marital status substitutes for sexual identity. Consistent with gendered expectations, women more often express a bisexual interest in men and women; men are more explicit about their heterosexuality. The authors interpret these variations in sexuality disclosure on social media to reflect the salience of sexual identity, intersected at times with availability. This study contributes to the sociology of sexuality with a quantitative analysis, using novel digital data, of how sexuality is signaled socially. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T05:02:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-33b17fe6b53d4a22b220a15f11b1287b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2378-0231 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T05:02:53Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Socius |
| spelling | doaj.art-33b17fe6b53d4a22b220a15f11b1287b2022-12-21T19:52:29ZengSAGE PublishingSocius2378-02312021-07-01710.1177/23780231211029499Digital Traces of Sexualities: Understanding the Salience of Sexual Identity through Disclosure on Social MediaConnor Gilroy0Ridhi Kashyap1University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USAUniversity of Oxford, Oxford, UKThe authors analyze the expression of sexualities in the contemporary United States using data about disclosure on social media. Through the Facebook advertising platform, the authors collect aggregate counts encompassing 200 million Facebook users, 28 percent of whom disclose sexuality-related information. Stratifying by age, gender, and relationship status, the authors show how these attributes structure the propensity to disclose different sexual identities. There is a large generational difference; younger social media users share their sexualities at high rates, while for older cohorts marital status substitutes for sexual identity. Consistent with gendered expectations, women more often express a bisexual interest in men and women; men are more explicit about their heterosexuality. The authors interpret these variations in sexuality disclosure on social media to reflect the salience of sexual identity, intersected at times with availability. This study contributes to the sociology of sexuality with a quantitative analysis, using novel digital data, of how sexuality is signaled socially.https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231211029499 |
| spellingShingle | Connor Gilroy Ridhi Kashyap Digital Traces of Sexualities: Understanding the Salience of Sexual Identity through Disclosure on Social Media Socius |
| title | Digital Traces of Sexualities: Understanding the Salience of Sexual Identity through Disclosure on Social Media |
| title_full | Digital Traces of Sexualities: Understanding the Salience of Sexual Identity through Disclosure on Social Media |
| title_fullStr | Digital Traces of Sexualities: Understanding the Salience of Sexual Identity through Disclosure on Social Media |
| title_full_unstemmed | Digital Traces of Sexualities: Understanding the Salience of Sexual Identity through Disclosure on Social Media |
| title_short | Digital Traces of Sexualities: Understanding the Salience of Sexual Identity through Disclosure on Social Media |
| title_sort | digital traces of sexualities understanding the salience of sexual identity through disclosure on social media |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231211029499 |
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