Face It: the Impact of Gender on Social Media Images Essay

Social websites like Facebook enable users to upload ego-created digital images it is therefore of bet to see how sex is performed in this domain. A panel used a literature review of pictorial features associated with sexual activity traits, and a sample of Facebook pictures to assess sexual activity stereotypes usher in in Facebook images. Traits emerging in greater prominence in pictures of males included active, dominant, and independent. Those prominent with female users included attractive and dependent. These findings generally conform to sex stereotypes found in prior look into and extend the research regarding stereotypical sexual activity traits debunked in professional media depictions to egotism-importance-selected cordial media displays. They in like manner extend the research on gender differences in whim manage handst generally, in both inter personalized communication and social media, to include gender-specific traits that ar part of young mens and wome ns impression management. Keywords Facebook sex activity Display Impression Management Role Theory Social MediaJessica Rose (B.A., Villanova University, 2011) is a merchandising and communications professional in the Greater Philadelphia Area. Susan Mackey-Kallis (Ph.D., Penn resign University, 1986) is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Villanova University. Len Shyles (Ph.D., Ohio State University, 1981) is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Villanova University. Kelly Barry (B.A., Villanova University, 2011) is a marketing and communications professional in the Greater New York area. Danielle Biagini (B.A., Villanova University, 2011) is a marketing and communications professional in the Greater San Diego area. Colleen Hart (B.A., Villanova University, 2011) is a student at the University of North Carolina School of Law. Lauren Jack (B.A., Villanova University, 2011) is a marketing and communications professional in the Greate r New York area. The authors would like to thank Dr. Jesse Frey of the Mathematics Department of Villanova University for his armed service in creating the tables presented in this article. Correspondence Susan Mackey-Kallis, Department of Communication, 800 E. Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, PA 19085 E-mail susan.mackey-kallisvillanova.edu ISSN 0146-3373 print/1746-4102 online 2012 Eastern Communication Association DOI 10.1080/01463373.2012.725005The primality of gender embodiment has animated fresh debates in media studies round the relationship among gender re presentations in media, gendered bodies in virtual space, and gender as performance. With the emergence of social media websites, such as Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace, users maintain an online course of prove that allows them to communicate widely, to virtually manage another(prenominal)s impressions of them, and to even express gendered identities in cyberspace. With over 500 million active users as of 2011 (http/ /www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics), Facebook dominates the social media market. Offering a highly interactive platform, Facebook users give the axe leave comments on their friends walls, provide status updates and picture shows, and can even access one a nonher wire slightly through Facebook Mobile. As of 2010, users worn-out(a) over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook (http//www.facebook.com/ press/info.php?statistics), oft updating their Facebook visibilitys to add relationships to their friends lists.One well-known feature of Facebook is the users profile picture, displayed in the upper left-hand corner of each users homepage. Intended to be the first thing seen, it is arguably one of the most beta features of the users Facebook page. The profile picture killers friends, acquaintances and even potential employers a firstimpression of the users appearance and, perhaps, their character. Therefore, the meat of users Facebook profile pictures is an important ob ject of sketch for researchers interested in how people practice impression management. According to role theory, people follow unwritten social and cultural rules and norms as they behave in ways that are different and predictable depending on their respective social identities and the situations they find themselves in (Biddle, 1986, p. 68).Gender identity and gender roles are a meaning(a) part of everyday life and, according to Goffman, are existingly constituted through social interaction (1976). Gender shapes how people make sense of themselves and their social relationships. However, as Wood nones, What gender means depends heavily on cultural values and practices a cultures definitions of masculinity and femininity shape expectations about how individual men and women should communicate and how individuals communicate establishes gender that, in turn, influences cultural views (Wood, 2009, p. 20). Gender display, as a continuous communication loop, is defined by social cl ub and expressed by individuals as they interact while shaping evolving social expectations regarding gender.In contemporary media and culture, womens and mens social desirability and gender have much been defined in terms of their bodies. For women, this has often involved comparing themselves to and even replicating the thin ideal (presented in modern mass media in spite of the looming specter of anorexia and bulimia), altering their bodies to heighten perceived sexuality or youthfulness (through cosmetic surgery, exercise or eating), or conforming to traditional definitions of femininity including qualities such as submissiveness or sentimentality (through dress, cosmetics, style, etc.). For men, gender-based definitions of success frequently revolve around presenting or developing their bodies as strong, youthful, active, and physically dominant. The evolution of social media (such as Facebook) and online digital gaming environments (such as massive, multiple online games MMO s) now offer venues where individuals can consciously self-select and present virtual versions of themselves that can either conform with, challenge, or defy societal expectations and media presentations.Digital formats, on the one hand, represent exciting possibilities for individuals who can explore the freedom of presenting a physical self that might differ from the one they present or perform in everyday life or from socially-defined expectations. As Rettberg argues, our fascination with creating digital self- enactments is indicative of our collective coming of age where we as a culture are discovering that we have voices online and can express ourselves rather than simply accepting the mass medias views of the globe (2009, p. 453). On the other hand, digital formats may simply offer a chance to replicate cultural and mass media normative versions of the individual, specifically as they relate to gender. Since how people present and perform their bodies in virtual spaces offe r specific impressions, many of which relate to gender, one objective of the current study is to examine how gender portrayals manifest themselves in self-selected social media displays.Specifically, can social media website content help us understand more about gender roles and the way people present themselves in the virtual social world? Do the ways they manage their images reinforce vivacious gendered stereotypes? Because social networks such as Facebook are relatively recent phenomena, the content of self-presentation profile pictures has not been examine in great depth. Extant literature supports the idea of expected gender roles unique to males and females (Goffman, 1976 Lauzen, Dozier, & Horan, 2008 Wanta & Legett, 1989 Williams & scoop up, 1990) and the idea that society advocates these roles through various media (Bell & Milic, 2002 Hancock & Toma, 2009), with both males and females pleasing in impression management in order to control their public image (Dominick, 199 9 Jones, 1997 Leary, 1996).Witmer and Katzman (1997) argued that females may display more emotional graphics than males while communication on the Internet. Extant literature, however, only reveals one study that has examined gender differences in self-selected portraits in self-posed photographs (mill, 1984) and one study that has examined gender differences in Facebook profile pictures (Strano, 2008). Stranos study, guidance exclusively on gender difference in impression management, found that women engage in management more than men (Strano, 2008). In a related to area of literature, self-presentation in computer-mediated communication (CMC), some studies suggest a great deal of gender-swapping on the Internet (Bruckman, 1993 Roberts & Parks, 1999 Witmer & Katzman, 1997) with some estimates as high as 60% (Roberts & Parks, 1999), and with males gender-swapping more than females (Bruckman, 1993 Suler, 1999).The fantastical and fantasy-based nature of many gaming environments, h owever, and the anonymous nature of most CMC in general might suggest that the freedom to reinvent oneself not only in terms of gender but also race, ethnicity, and other variables is much broader than in Facebook profile pictures. Facebook friends, who may know the person in original life, recognize a photograph as a self-selected presentation but, researchers argue, most likely do not assume that the profile picture reflects gigantic diversity or photo retouching. The current study, therefore, makes a unique contribution by investigating whether self-selected Facebook profile pictures exhibit stereotypical gender roles consistent with traits emerging from existing research.Literature Review Gender Roles Some researchers suggest that gender differences result from a variety of factors including socialization and biology as such, gender roles are often manifested through communication and culture (Goffman, 1976 Lauzen et al., 2008 Wanta & Legett, 1989 Williams & Best, 1990 Wood, 2009). West and Zimmerman (1987) claim gendering is a routine interaction of everyday life. Both gender role and gender display rivet on behavioral aspects of being a man and a woman (p. 127). They use Goffmans (1976) account of gender display to suggest gender is also constituted through interaction. Says Goffman, If gender can be defined as the culturally established correlates of sex (whether in consequence of biology or learning), then gender display refers to conventionalized portrayals of these correlates (1976, p. 69). Goffman cites sports as a framework to explain masculine tendencies, claiming that the male gender is categorically viewed as aggressive, strong, and competitive. In agreement, West and Zimmerman (1987) assert that Doing gender is unavoidable . . . because of the social consequences of sex-category membership this includes the allocation of power and resources not only in the domestic, economic, and political domains but also in the broad region of interpers onal relations (p. 145).As men and women tend to assume proper societal gender roles, associated behaviors are viewed as cultural markers that indicate norms of social interaction. Williams and Best (1990) searched for gender stereotypes among respondents from 25 nations worldwide. Participants were presented with a list of 300 character traits and instructed to indicate whether the trait was more frequently associated with men than with women, more frequently associated with women than with men, or not differentially associated with the two sexes. Table 1 presents results for the traits most commonly associated with men and women and indicates the traits isolated for this analysis. Gender Roles in the Media Society often promotes gender role markers as social norms through photographs and other visual displays used in advertising. Wanta and Legett (1989) studied the media images of male and female athletes of the 1987 Wimbledon Tennis Tournament, concluding that men and women were visualized differently in terms of emotion, dominance, and power.Goffman (1976) accounts for these traits in his research of magazine and newspaper photography, finding women to be pictured in more submissive positions while men are depicted in more elevated positions. Based on Goffmans inquiries, Wanta and Legett (1989) hypothesized that female tennis players would be shown more often in positions implying helplessness than male tennis players. Goffmans (1976) studies of power within photographs asserted that the more dominant a persons face was (i.e., the more full-front, direct-to-camera orientation of the face, and the greater the percentage of photo space taken up by the face), the more power was held and=or portrayed by the person pictured. Wanta and Legett used these ideas to predict that the photographs of female tennis players would emphasis more on the players bodies, while male tennis players would have more concentrated images of their faces. However, the majority of Wanta and Legetts (1989) hypotheses remained unsubstantiated their gender stereotypes were not confirmed. In fact, other portrayals often emerged.They cerebrate that the photographer was trying to break gender stereotypes. In contrast to the work of Wanta and Legett, the research conducted in the current study does not curse on images shot by professional photographers. Rather, the present analysis is based on self-selected and, almost exclusively, self-created Facebook profile pictures. Gender roles, present in everyday interaction, are also enacted on television. Lauzen and colleagues (2008) examined gender roles enacted by men and women on television.Using a stratified random sample of 124 prime-time television series airing on six broadcast networks during the 200506 seasons, they looked at the rates at which men and women fell into categorically different social roles. Taking a category scheme develop by earlier research, Lauzen and colleagues defined social roles as the th ings people do in daily life (see Eagly & Steffan, 1984, p. 735). These roles vary from childcare and household chores to workplace activities. done a content analysis, they found male characters on prime-time television were more likely to inhabit work roles, including blue collar, white collar, and extracurricular activities, while women were portrayed in more interpersonal roles involving romance, friendship, and family.Similarly, in their content analysis of 827 Australian magazine advertisements from 199798 to determine the presence of stereotypical gender roles, Bell and Milic (2002) concluded that Males were more frequently shown in narrative ways (as actors) than females, and this is true of both groups and individuals. Women were more likely than men to behave (or to express emotion) (p. 215). Their findings suggest stereotypical gender traits of men and women consistent with those of Williams and Best (1990) and consistent with Goffmans (1976) analysis of advertising whic h found that women were more likely to be portrayed performing submissive or appeasing gestures such as head or body canting, bending one knee inward (bashful knee-bend), smiling, clowning, and acting less seriously and were often portrayed as being under the physical care and protection of a man (as cited in Bell and Milic, 2002, p. 205).Ragan (1982) breakd gender differences in 1,296 portrait photos from high school and university yearbooks, concluding there are gender differences females smiled more than males, smiled more expansively than males, tilted their heads at greater angles than males, faced the camera less directly than males, and wore glasses less frequently than males. While this research identifies gender differences, it was limited by an influential factor Photographers posed the subjects (Ragan, 1982). In hopes of accounting for this limitation, Mills (1984) conducted a study in which 34 men and 34 women were asked to present themselves as typical college students in pictures. Mills findings reinforced the suggestion that females smile more, and smile more expansively, than males. Gender stereotypes also abound in video games.Female characters are represented as highly sexualized while male characters possess hyperbolise strength, are hypermasculine, aggressive, and, with the exception of showing hostility, lack emotion. They are also less likely to display helping or nurturing qualities (Robinson, Callister, Clark, & Phillips, 2008). One study found that the central role for male characters was competitor while females central roles were victim, damsel in distress, or evil obstacle for the hero to overcome (Heintz-Knowles et al., 2001). The findings of these video game content analyses have remained fairly consistent over time and have also been shown to be perceived by audiences (Robinson et al., 2008).Based on the work from several decades of research on gender roles from the fields of advertising, television, photography, digital gaming studies, and cultural studies, it is apparent that masculinity often implies strength, ambition, and independence, whereas femininity implies physical attractiveness, reverence, and sentimentality (Wood, 2009). The rapid growth of digital media invites researchers interested in the cultural impact of gender to investigate this alternative outlet for self-presentation. This study provides a natural extension of such work in investigation of gender differences in self-selected Facebook profile pictures. Self-Presentation Goffman (1959) argued that individuals were concerned with self-presentation during all social encounters. This is because, among other reasons, impressions impact the opinions of others regardless of an individuals intentions. Burr (2002) claims J. Rose et al.The other people making up our audience can, by their own conduct, either legitimate or reject our claim to be a certain benign of person, and Goffman (1959) argues that this is done by carefully monitoring th e match or mismatch between what we give (the things we say or do to create an impression) and what we give off (the body language, our general demeanorthe communicative aspects of our conduct that are harder for us to control and manipulate). The creation and maintenance of impressions is therefore a two-way street (2002, p. 73).Hence, for Goffman (1959), the presentation of self in everyday life and the roles maintained are pertinent to everyday interaction. People constantly play characters to avoid embarrassment and to fit-in with social norms. Gender role, then, focuses on the collectivity of logical, behavioral, cognitive, and emotional responses to social situations (Burr, 2002). Most self-presentation studies have examined the concept only in face-to-face communication (Goffman, 1959 Leary 1996). Recent studies (Oh, 2004 Cho, 2006) about self-presentation in personal websites analyze only the styles and not gender display specifically. Similar to face-to-face contexts, indiv iduals do make choices about gender-related impressions over the Internet. A number of studies, for example, have demonstrated extensive gender-swapping in avatar creation for online gaming and in text-based CMC (Bruckman, 1993 Roberts & Parks, 1999 Suler, 1999).In these virtual environments, physical identity markers are not apparent and, as a result, the self is more fluid and changeable (Gergen, 1991) and offers increased opportunities for strategic self-presentation (Walther, 1993 Walther, Anderson, & Park, 1994). Gender is often one of the variables that communicators can consciously shape in these mediated environments (Roberts & Parks, 1999 Bruckman, 1993 Wilbur, 1996). Some researchers have gone so far as to argue that the computer-mediated environment is a gender-bending world (Witmer & Katzman, 1997). Modern gaming environments, in particular, allow gamers to design or consider avatars, their virtual self in the gaming world, that possess a variety of differing characteri stics such as height, weight, age, gender, dress, and profession. In these environments, the avatar becomes inextricably linked to their performance of self and engagement in a virtual community (Taylor, 1999, p. 438).Despite the above cited studies of gender-swapping and self-presentation in CMC, no researchers have examined the extent to which social media users ascribe to gender stereotypes in their presentation of self on the Internet. Samp, Wittenberg, and Gillett (2003) examined the extent to which gender schematic individuals (individuals with either strong masculine or feminine gender orientations versus androgynous orientations) and individuals who were high (versus low) self-monitoring engaged in gender-swapping on the Internet. The researchers in this study used self-report data from Internet users about their online gender-swapping behavior generally.The researchers in the current study, by contrast, provide a content analysis of actual Facebook profile pictures in terms of the presence or absence of gender stereotypes and do not focus on gender swapping. Hancock and Tomas 2009 study of profile pictures on online dating websites created and posted with the intention of creating relationships comes closest to the focus of the current study. In line with Goffmans (1959) suggestion that self-presentation is the process of packaging and redact the self in order to create a certain impression for an audience, Hancock and Toma (2009) examined the impact of gender on self-presentation and social desirability. They found that both women and men edit their profiles to create a better self-presentation through self-enhancement (Hancock & Toma, 2009). Some participate in selective self-presentation, an even more controlled act of impression management in which images are changed or distorted, often leading to further inaccuracy portrayed by the profile (Hancock & Toma, 2009).Having the ability to select or specifically change or display particular points of interest, the users can greatly affect the impression made of them (Hancock & Toma, 2009). Both men and women on the online dating social network use selective self-presentation to their receipts to give the impression of being more desirable to their audiences. Hancock and Toma (2009) suggest men and women can control their self-presentation through social networks (i.e., online dating sites). Such sites pay one segment of social networks Facebook is another. Realizing stereotypical gender roles are present in society, Dominick (1999) studied how men and women presented themselves on personal homepages. Dominick (1999) coded 500 randomly sampled personal homepages based on demographic and personal information, creative expressions, and photographs. He used Jones (1997) five strategies of image device ingratiation (statements of modesty, familiarity, and humor) competence (statements of abilities and achievements) intimidation (statements of anger and unpleasantness) type (acts of moral superiority) and supplication (images of helplessness, while acting self-deprecating Dominick, 1999).He concluded that females released more information than males while both males and females were equally likely to have photographs on their pages. Womens photographs tended to be more sentimental in nature, while mens more often were joke images and images that made them seem more fit and capable. He concluded that A personal web page can be viewed as a carefully constructed selfpresentation (Dominick, 1999, p. 647). Dominick asserted that the concept of impression construction exposes the different strategies men and women use to present themselves through images and information to gain a higher level of likeability, respect, and power in society (1999). Jones (1997) noted that individuals touch to be liked and accepted, resulting in social rewards such as friendship, social support, companionship, romance, and social status.Because smiling is associated with being liked and competent, Jones (1997) correlates gestures with the ingratiation and competence strategies of image construction. As Facebook was not founded until 2004, Dominicks (1999) study is expanded upon in this study (http//www.facebook.com/press/info.php?factsheet). Buffardi and Campbell (2008) studied whether photographs from a variety of social networks are self-promoting. They state, Self-promoting connoted persuading others about ones own positive traits (p. 1307) and define physical attractiveness as the degree to which an individual appears self-promoting and vain in a photograph. While not examining gender differences in self-promotion per se, the researchers did examine how sexy and modest . . . the individual in the main photo appeared to be (Buffardi & Campbell, 2008, p. 1307).