The Hashtag Paradox: Identity, Community, and the Imperative to Name the Sexual Self

• In Event: 498 - Regular Session. Sociology of Sexuality: Identity and the Discursive Construction of Sexuality

Abstract

By combining poststructuralist and symbolic interactionist approaches to the self, this analysis demonstrates that while the advent of the internet has freed many individuals from geographical constraints on community formation, the text-based interfaces of online social networks produce a technological imperative to name aspects of the self with words. Captioning photographs on Instagram with sexual identity hashtags (e.g., #lesbian) thus performs paradoxical functions: the hashtag is both a vehicle for the construction of the self within an affirming community and also a tangible manifestation of the social obligation to identify one’s sexuality. While this affirmation is fundamental to the formation of identities among young members of stigmatized sexual minority groups, the discursive deployment of these identities reinforces the imperative to name and account for the sexual self.

Author

• Andrea Herrera, University of Oregon