This blog post is in response to a reading by Ellison,
Heino, & Gibbs for Gender & Sexuality course at La Trobe University in
Melbourne, Australia with instructor Margret Mayhew.
Source: Ellison, N, Heino R & Gibbs J 2006, ‘Managing
Impressions Online: Self-Presentation Processes in the Online Dating
Environment’, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, vol.11, pp.415-441.
In this study, researchers look into how participants on
online dating sites present themselves in order to find a significant other.
The information gathered was given through telephone interviews about the
online dating experiences and perceptions of thirty-four participants of a
popular online dating site. According to the abstract of the study, the results
suggest "that participants attended small cues online, mediated the
tension between impression management pressures and the desire to present an
authentic sense of through tactics such as creating a profile that reflected
their "idea self" and attempted to establish the veracity of their
identity claims.
I think that the common theoretical perspective in sociology called
symbolic interactionism, I can be used to analyse the data presented in this study. This
theory explores how subjective meanings behind what people may impose on things
that we interact with in everyday life such as people’s behaviour, events, and
even objects. To my understanding, this basically means that individuals in
society interpret each other’s self-presentation or behaviour and these
interpretations form the social constructions of our society.
To me this idea is demonstrated in the reading because
online participants attempt to attract desirable partners based off of how they
see themselves in the future and how they want they want the viewer to interpret them online.
I believe that they (the participants) do this by portraying possessed traits
that society has constructed as desirable by a future mate.
I think the idea of trying to seem attractive or desirable
by conforming to the suggested constructions of society is common thing that a
lot of online daters do, to trap, I mean meet someone who is attractive, successful, and the ultimate "good catch."
Since we’re on the topic of online dating, here’s a funny
youtube video on “the top 10 dating tips for women.” Check it out for laughs and give your opinions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay9gh0Y92pQ
