ITALIAN YOUNG PEOPLE AND MASCULINITIES IN THE SOCIAL MEDIA

Abstract

Social media represent spaces where boys and girls can experiment with their identity by working on the processes of self-presentation and impression management. Based on a qualitative research that involved 36 Italian males aged from 14 to 18 years old, the chapter focuses on how masculine identity is produced, reproduced, and performed by boys in social media. The analysis suggests that social media can be seen as spaces where boys build and perform gender, frequently in contraposition to the idea they have about girls and what they retain as female characteristics.