Stefanie Duguay, Jean Burgess, and Ben Light Digital Media Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology Draft working paper for the Digital Intimate Publics Symposium, 19-20 November 2015, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia Abstract This paper focuses on images of sexual desire that shape digital intimate publics of same-sex attracted women through related hashtags on social media platforms. While previous research has focused on same-sex attracted men’s use of digital technology to perform sexuality, studies of same-sex attracted women are sparse, focused on older technologies, and complicated by debates around gendered power relations. This is investigated by examining sexual content organised through hashtags related to same-sex attracted women (e.g., #lesbian, #gaygirl) on Instagram and Vine. Textual and visual analysis of user-generated content is paired with walkthroughs interrogating these platforms’ design, activity flows and features, identifying mediators that shape performances of sexual desire. Preliminary analysis shows that performances on Instagram can be divided into four categories: pornography and advertisements; memes, animations, and popular media; images of idealised ‘lesbians’; and personal selfies and sexy photos. On Vine, popular media and idealised lesbians are represented in fan mash-ups of YouTube celebrities while the majority of sexual performances involve sensual lip dubs and dancing to rap and hip hop music. Each platform provides unique affordances for these performances, such as Instagram’s filters and Vine’s audio track tools, as well as shared affordances like co-hashtags. Further analysis will allow for a better understanding of these multiple components of performances of sexual desire, presenting a view of Instagram and Vine’s digital intimate publics relating to same-sex attracted women.

1. Bikini selfies and suggestive lip dubs:
Examining queer women’s
performances of sexual desire in
digital media
Stefanie Duguay, PhD Candidate @Dugstef
Professor Jean Burgess @jeanburgess
Professor Ben Light @doggyb
Digital Intimate Publics Symposium
19-20 November 2015
University of Queensland
Digital Media Research Centre

2. Let’s talk about sex
Focus:
• Images of sexual desire that shape the
digital intimate publics of same-sex
attracted women on social media
platforms
• What content is attached to same-sex
attracted women’s hashtags (e.g. #lesbian,
#gaygirl) on Instagram and Vine?

3. Technology-facilitated LGBTQ publics
• Early tech – phones, videotext,
Usenet
• Same-sex attracted men’s digital
publics
• Sex, relationships, and friendship
• What about women?
• BBS, chat rooms
Digital Media Research Centre
Image from Doug’sArtGallery.com

4. LGBTQ+ networked publics
• Networked public =
• networked tech
• imagined audiences
• platformization
• Imagined audiences &
communities
• Trans people’s vlogs;
• ‘Coming out’ videos;
• Tumblr’s asexual counterpublic
Digital Media Research Centre

5. Networked tech & Platformization
• Social Shaping of Technology
& Actor Network Theory
• Platform affordances and
constraints
• Shaped by politics and
economies
• Embedded and enrolled in
platform design, software,
and algorithms
Digital Media Research Centre
Image via Facebook

6. Digital Media Research Centre
Mediated performances of female
sexual desire
• Same-sex attracted women
as an intimate public -
addressing performances of
sexual desire to an imagined
audience?
• Radical feminism & gendered
power relations
• Contradictions of post-
feminism
• Queer possibilities
Image from Lost Girl via Bilerico

7. • Owned by Twitter
• 6.5 second videos
Digital Media Research Centre

8. • Owned by Facebook
• Photos & 15-second
video
• Emerging research:
• User content
• Platform features
• User interactions
with the platform
Digital Media Research Centre

9. Method I: Walkthrough
• Interdisciplinary (ANT, HCI,
political economy) and
vernacular step-by-step ‘how to’
procedures
(Burgess, Light & Duguay, 2015)
• User interface
• Functions and features
• Textual content and tone
• Aesthetics and symbolism
• Identifying mediators of
performances of sexual desire
Digital Media Research Centre

10. Method II: User-generated content analysis
1 Instagram Scraper
3 days of collection
22 diverse hashtags
20(ish) images per scrape
422 Instagram images
Digital Media Research Centre
0 automated Vine tools
3 widely-used hashtags
10 Vines collected per #
50 collected previously
80 Vines
Telling people about my day job?
Priceless!
+

11. a) Porn and sexual services
• Businesses
• Mainstream hashtags
• Male audience, heterosexy tropes
Digital Media Research Centre
Sexual desire on Instagram
#lesbian #les
#girlswholikegirls

12. Sexual desire on Instagram
b) Memes, animations
and popular media
• Mostly teen accounts
• Cross-posted from
Tumblr
• Addressed to fan and
youth audiences
Digital Media Research Centre
#lgbt #loveislove #hellagay #lesbiancouple

13. c) Images of idealised
lesbians
• Teenagers and
pseudonymous
accounts
• Lesbian stereotypes &
fashion
• Feminine, resembling
mainstream media
• Addressed to oneself?
Digital Media Research Centre
#lesbiancouple, #lesbianlove
Sexual desire on Instagram
Image from MTV

14. d) Personal selfies and sexy
photos
• Full spectrum of sexual
performance, from seductive
gaze to underwear shot
• Broader range of body types,
gender presentation, race,
and age
• Addressed to other women
Digital Media Research Centre
#lezzigram #inkedlesbians
#lipsticklesbian #dykesofinstagram
Sexual desire on Instagram
Image from Autostraddle

15. Sexual desire on Vine
• Fandom + popular media + idealised lesbians
Digital Media Research Centre

16. Sexual desire on Vine
• E.g. https://vine.co/v/iBPqMTEz9IV
• Gazing at the camera, lip syncing, and
dancing
• Produced by individual women;
• Focused on the camera;
• Rap and hip hop;
• Addressed to? Women and/or Vine
communities relating to platform
practices, musical taste, possibly race
and location
Digital Media Research Centre
Co-hashtags: #ttsquad,
#grindonme, #teamuntamed
Image from Glamour

17. Digital Media Research Centre
Mediators of sexual performances
• Instagram
• Filters, photoshopping, delayed
censorship
• Vine
• Music, content channels, rapidly
spreading trends
• Shared
• Captions, emojis, manipulation of
brightness and camera angles,
hashtags (but used differently across
platforms), 3rd party apps (collages,
frames, blurring)
Image from Vine

18. Digital Media Research Centre
So what?
• There are digital intimate publics of same-sex attracted women
performing sexual desire, but these occur within a varied visual
landscape including porn, memes, and media images
• Digital affordances evolve and shift in use across platforms
Next steps?
• Further analysis of visual content, trends, and context
• Interviews with content producers

19. Thanks!
Digital Media Research Centre
Stefanie Duguay, PhD Candidate
stefanie.duguay@qut.edu.au @Dugstef
Professor Jean Burgess
je.burgess@qut.edu.au @jeanburgess
Professor Ben Light
ben.light@qut.edu.au @doggyb
#bne #socialmedia #digitalmethods #UQ #publics
#LGBT #lesbians #bisexual #queergirls #les #dyke
#lipsticklesbian #lesbianfunhouse #inkedlesbians
#instagaygirls #boi #stud #RainbowGang
#LGBTCrew #tbt #followme #follow4follow #lols

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Digital Media Research Centre
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