Sexualities, technologies, and the teaching of writing: A critical overview

In this introduction to a special issue of Computers and Composition, the authors critically review current literature on computer-assisted writing pedagogies that grapple with issues of sexuality. Although this body of work is small, it points to provocative ways to develop our students’ critical and rhetorical sensibilities about the constructions of sexuality in our culture. Further, such work innovatively addresses the place of networked communication technologies in the interrogation of such constructions. The authors conclude with both an introduction of the work in this special issue that addresses the intersection of sexuality studies and computer-assisted writing studies and with a call for additional work in this field.     

In Face on Facebook: Brooklyn's Drag Community and Sociotechnical Practices of Online Communication

Recently, Brooklyn has seen an explosion of drag culture, with dozens of performers taking the stage in any given week. Social media plays a vital role for members of this community, simultaneously allowing self‐promotion and community solidarity. Drawing on focus group interviews, we analyze the communication practices of Brooklyn's drag performers, examining both the advantages and drawbacks of social media platforms. Using conceptual frameworks of faceted identity and relational labor, our discussion focuses on affordances and constraints of multifaceted identity in online contexts and theories of seamful design. We contend that by analyzing online communication practices of drag performers, it becomes possible to identify gaps between embedded ideologies of mainstream social media technologies and the localized values of outsider communities.     

The Internet’s impact on sexuality: A critical review of 15 years of research

The body of empirical research on Internet sexuality has grown steadily since 1993. The following paper provides an overview of the current state of research in this field in its full thematic breadth, addressing six areas of online sexuality: Pornography, sex shops, sex work, sex education, sex contacts, and sexual subcultures. Key research results are presented concerning Internet sexuality’s forms of manifestation, participant groups, opportunities, and risks. This paper shows that sexually related online activities have become routine in recent years for large segments of the population in the Western world. Internet sexuality also takes somewhat different forms based on the age, gender, and sexual orientation of the individual. Academic studies to date have focused overwhelmingly on the possible negative effects of Internet sexuality. By contrast, little research has been conducted on potential benefits. Consequently, a surprising number of gaps are evident in the scholarship on Internet sexuality.     

Gender differences and the effects of perceived internet privacy on self-reports of sexual behavior and sociosexuality

The use of the Internet for conducting research has found that the level of anonymity intrinsic to web-based surveys is useful in deterring various participant biases. Though, concerns about Internet privacy could interfere with the effects of perceived anonymity and influence how a person responds. In this study, participants were asked to take an Internet survey and then were randomly assigned to conditions with varying degrees of implied privacy in which they answered questions about their desire for casual sex (sociosexuality) and their lifetime sexual partners. Only in the condition without any threat to the participant’s anonymity was there no difference between men and women’s reports of their sexual behavior. However, in every condition men reported having a significantly higher sociosexuality than women. Findings are consistent with both the biologic and gender-biased explanations in differences of self-report for sexual information. Implications for social constraints and Internet based research are discussed.     

Organizing Sexuality: Silencing and the Push–Pull Process of Co-sexuality in the Workplace

How human beings think about, talk about, and organize around sexuality is changing. Growing social legitimization for sexual minority relationships and a more fluid social understanding of sexual identities has shifted how we bound “normal” sexuality. In the workplace, these shifting norms affect employees of all sexual identities who must make sense of new policies and complex daily practices. This paper introduces the concept of co-sexuality, the push-and-pull process of communicatively organizing around sexuality. Using this concept, we take a grounded theory approach to exploring how employees of various sexualities and in different occupations understand “normal” sexuality and subsequently organize around it. Ultimately, participants described being silenced or silencing another to maintain sexual “norms” at work.     

Sexualized behaviors on Facebook

Currently, social networks are places where young people socialize and develop their digital identities. One of the most common risky behaviors among young people is sexualized behavior, which is promoted in social networks due to an interface that makes content exchange easier, for example, by sharing pictures, messages, videos, etc. This study's aim is to analyze the sexualized behaviors displayed by adolescents and young people on their Facebook profiles and the factors that allow for their distribution over social networks. In order to achieve this objective, a content analysis was performed over the course of 12 months using 100 profiles of teenagers and adolescents in Spain between 14 and 21 years of age. The results revealed differences in gender for these types of behaviors, and vulnerability factors were found to be part of this problem. The self presentation in the digital egocentrism and digital narcissism strengthen sexualized behaviors. Selfies represent a particular way of communicating with others and are responsible for most of the sexualized behaviors.Finally, avoiding the creation and/or diffusion of sexualized behaviors is highly important, and there is an urgent need to educate young people so they can learn how to manage their virtual media.     

Cybersex in the “Net generation”: Online sexual activities among Spanish adolescents

The internet offers several opportunities to explore sexuality among adolescents. However, some studies have also revealed problematic effects of cybersex in earlier stages. Despite this, few studies analyze the online sexual behavior among adolescents, even less in Spain where there is very little data. For this reason, our aim is to examine the use of internet for sexual purposes among Spanish adolescents, including gender differences. Three hundred and twenty-two adolescents completed an ad-hoc questionnaire and the Spanish version of the Internet Sex Screening Test. In general, boys report more cybersex than girls do, for example, in masturbating while the Internet (60.6% of boys and 7.3% of girls). In addition, internet sex interferes with lifestyles more frequently in boys (12.7% of them) than in girls (4.7% of them). Moreover, according to linear regression, variables such as general pornography use or oral sex seem to be connected to cybersex for both groups, while same-sex behaviors are more associated with cybersex for boys and masturbation for girls. Therefore, these findings support the existence of cybersex among Spanish adolescents (ranging from 3.1% to 60.6% in boys and 0%–11.5% in girls for some online sexual activities), including certain problematic behaviors (8.6% of boys show a risk profile), and the relevance of gender in its analysis. These results should be considered in prevention and support strategies.