Romeo and Juliet of the Virtual World: Visual Gender Identity of the Most Remarkable Youngsters in Estonian Dating Website Rate.

Date

2006

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Murdoch University

Abstract

Description

Portal Rate, the most popular website in Estonia, is meant mostly for young people aged 13-30. Rate is known as a dating website where people can post a short description of themselves and photos, so that other Rate users could give comments and rate their looks. Content analysis involving elements of Kress and van Leeuwen` s (1996) and Bell` s (2001) method of ‘reading images’ was carried out to find out how Estonian youngsters present themselves on the dating website. The paper deals with the following questions: How do the most remarkable youngsters in Rate look and act on the photos? What kind of qualities does one need to have in order to become popular in Rate? Are gender-specific or gender-neutral ways used for presenting the selves in the virtual world?

Keywords

noored, internet, identiteet, visuaalne analüüs, sooline identiteet, virtuaalne identiteet, youngs, identity, gender identity

Citation