Getting it on online

John Edward Campbell Getting It On Online Cyberspace, Gay Male Sexuality, and Embodied Identity Pre-publication REVIEWS, COMMENTARIES, EVALUATIONS ohn Edward Campbell’s Getting It “J On Online invites us to rethink some of the core methodological and theoretical questions that have concerned cyberculture studies over the past decade, including the status of online ethnography, the nature of ‘virtual communities,’ and the absence or centrality of the body to our cyber-identities This book offers startling insight into the construction of gay male sexuality, taking an approach that is theoretically informed but never loses sight of the real- ity of participants’ experiences—online and offline Campbell’s own role as an active participant in the online communities being discussed allows him to share an incredible degree of intimacy with the people who choose to hang out at these ‘virtual gay bars.’ Campbell writes cautiously, carefully, avoiding easy generalizations, capturing the richness and complexity of this online culture Few other ethnographers have captured gay men speaking with this degree of frankness and openness about their bodies, their desires, their fantasies, and their fears This book marks the debut of an important new talent in the field of media and cultural studies.” Henry Jenkins, PhD Director, Comparative Media, John E Burchard Chair in the Humanities, Massachusetts Institute of Technology More pre-publication REVIEWS, COMMENTARIES, EVALUATIONS ampbell’s work puts to rest awk“C ward and untenable assertions about disembodiment in cyberspace Like tastes and practices Gay masculinities are admirably diversified and deconstructed, and the book contributes sharp methodological and ethical insights to the burgeoning but under-explored field of virtual ethnography This is queer cyberstudies at its best—fond, critical, and illuminating.” other communicative scenes, cyberspace invites the body in and out, responding to the desires and relationships of those who participate, and bringing offline habits to new forms of mediation Getting It On Online also keeps the sex in queer studies, with a playwright’s sensitivity to sexual dialogue, a social re- Lisa Henderson, PhD searcher’s sensitivity to sexual commu- Associate Professor of Communication, nity, and a lover’s sensitivity to erotic University of Massachusetts at Amherst Harrington Park Press® An Imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc New York • London • Oxford NOTES FOR PROFESSIONAL LIBRARIANS AND LIBRARY USERS This is an original book title published by The Harrington Park Press®, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc Unless otherwise noted in specific chapters with attribution, materials in this book have not been previously published elsewhere in any format or language CONSERVATION AND PRESERVATION NOTES All books published by The Haworth Press, Inc and its imprints are printed on certified pH neutral, acid free book grade paper This paper meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Material, ANSI Z39.48-1984 Getting It On Online Cyberspace, Gay Male Sexuality, and Embodied Identity HAWORTH Gay & Lesbian Studies John P De Cecco, PhD Editor in Chief Male to Male: Sexual Feeling Across the Boundaries of Identity by Edward J Tejirian Straight Talk About Gays in the Workplace, Second Edition by Liz Winfeld and Susan Spielman The Bear Book II: Further Readings in the History and Evolution of a Gay Male Subculture edited by Les Wright Gay Men at Midlife: Age Before Beauty by Alan L Ellis Being Gay and Lesbian in a Catholic High School: Beyond the Uniform by Michael Maher Finding a Lover for Life: A Gay Man’s Guide to Finding a Lasting Relationship by David Price The Man Who Was a Woman and Other Queer Tales from Hindu Lore by Devdutt Pattanaik How Homophobia Hurts Children: Nurturing Diversity at Home, at School, and in the Community by Jean M Baker The Harvey Milk Institute Guide to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Internet Research edited by Alan Ellis, Liz Highleyman, Kevin Schaub, and Melissa White Stories of Gay and Lesbian Immigration: Together Forever? by John Hart From Drags to Riches: The Untold Story of Charles Pierce by John Wallraff Lytton Strachey and the Search for Modern Sexual Identity: The Last Eminent Victorian by Julie Anne Taddeo Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context edited by Vern L Bullough Sons Talk About Their Gay Fathers: Life Curves by Andrew R Gottlieb Restoried Selves: Autobiographies of Queer Asian/Pacific American Activists edited by Kevin K Kumashiro Queer Crips: Disabled Gay Men and Their Stories by Bob Guter and John R Killacky Dirty Young Men and Other Gay Stories by Joseph Itiel Queering Creole Spiritual Traditions: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Participation in African-Inspired Traditions in the Americas by Randy P Conner with David Hatfield Sparks How It Feels to Have a Gay or Lesbian Parent: A Book by Kids for Kids of All Ages by Judith E Snow Getting It On Online: Cyberspace, Gay Male Sexuality, and Embodied Identity by John Edward Campbell Getting It On Online Cyberspace, Gay Male Sexuality, and Embodied Identity John Edward Campbell First published 2004 by Harrington Park Press® Published 2014 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY, 10017, USA Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2004 by John Edward Campbell All rights reserved No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, microfilm, and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher Cover design by Marylouise E Doyle Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Campbell, John Edward Getting it on online : cyberspace, gay male sexuality, and embodied identity / John Edward Campbell p cm Includes bibliographical references and index Gay men—Computer network resources Computer sex Dating (Social customs)— Computer network resources Body image Internet—Social aspects Online chat groups I Title HQ75.14.C36 2004 025.04'086'642—dc21 2003012259 ISBN 13: 978-1-560-23431-9 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978-1-560-23432-6 (pbk) To the memory of my grandmother, Naomi O Campbell, for her unyielding love and for asking, “Johnny, what exactly is a drag queen?” ABOUT THE AUTHOR John Edward Campbell, MA, is a doctoral candidate at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania Working under the rubric of cultural studies, he examines how people incorporate new communication technologies into their everyday lives His research has been published in the International Journal of Cultural Studies, the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, and the Electronic Journal of Communication Malinowski, B (1922) Argonauts of the Western 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(1997a) A concise history of self-identifying bears In L Wright (Ed.), The bear book: Readings in the history and evolution of a gay male subculture (pp 21-40) Binghamton, NY: Harrington Park Press Wright, L (1997b) Theoretical bears In L Wright (Ed.), The bear book: Readings in the history and evolution of a gay male subculture (pp 1-17) Binghamton, NY: Harrington Park Press Wright, L (2003) The Nashoba Lexicon Available at Accessed September 1, 2003 This page intentionally left blank Index Page numbers followed by the letter “f” indicate figures Academic distance, maintaining, 39 “Acceptance,” 101 “Achieved legitimacy,” 83 Action figures, 162 Action films, 159 Adonis complex, 163 Advocate, The, 165 Affleck, Ben, 159 Alexander, Jon, 11 America Online (AOL), 15, 55, 180 Anderson, Benedict, 53, 184 Anonymity, and handle use, 48, 49, 55, 90-99 Antisocial, flaming as, 89-90 AOL, 15, 55, 180 Argyle, Katie, 45, 46, 112 ARPANET, Artful achievement, body as, 127 Articulation, theory of, Atkinson, Paul, 46, 187 Balsamo, Anne, 72, 147 Barbie doll, 162 Bartle, Richard, 36 Baym, Nancy, 9, 89, 95 Bear movement, 130 Beauty hierarchy, cyberspace, 168-175 Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women, The, 157 “Beefy,” 118-119 Beemyn, Brett, 54, 56 Bell, David, 41, 85-86 “Belly Contest,” 138, 139f “Belonging,” 101 “Big,” used as body term, 114 Big_Wolf and artful achievement, bodybuilder’s body as, 127 and big men, 114, 135 and the media’s image of gay men, 164-165, 166 and sexual identity, exploring, 107-108 and whiteness, presumption of, 80 Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, Bisexuality, 76-78 Bodily transcendence, Body, the, 5, 6, 111-113 cyberbody, 113-121 desirable, 121 emancipation from, 185-190 as object of achievement, 121 as object of symbolic exchange, 119 quantification of, 122 seeing, importance of, 181 as statistical information, 120, 121-126 terms used to speak of, 114-119 virtual body bending, 124-125 Body one/body two distinction, 13 Body hair, 130-131, 158-159 absence of, 161 Bodybuilders, 72, 120-121, 126-130 See also Body, the; Msclfreak; PECS and hustling, 108 Bracketing, 42 Bradshaw, Chris, 90 Braziel, Jana Evans, 159 Britannic and belonging, 102 and big men, 114 and the chub, 133 and friendly flirtation, 46 and the muscle man, role of, 143 and presumption of gayness, 74 view of channels, 191 and Younghung, 155 British Cultural Studies: An Introduction, 21 Brothers Karamazov, The, 151 Brown, Laurence, 133, 166, 171 Bruckman, Amy, 63 Bulletin board system (BBS), 30 Burke, Edmund, 177 Butler, Judith and compulsory order, 70-71 and constructedness of gender, 149 and mind/body dualism, 45 and performativity, 69 and sexuality, 144 and “types,” 168 and unfortunate grammar, 150 Califia, Pat, 16, 83 Camp, use of and online gay bashing, 88, 89 Carnival strongmen, 161 Channel, 55 definition of, 23 flooding a, 47 #gayboston, 23, 26, 28 #gaychub, 6, 27 chub, 126, 132, 133-135, 137 gay-identified, 27-28 #gaymuscle, 1, 6, 27, 28 and bodybuilders, 72, 120-121, 126-130 See also Body, the; Msclfreak; PECS policing masculinity, 79-79 “supermale image,” 169-175 Channel (continued) #gaymusclebears, 6, 27 musclebear, 126, 130-134 as great good place, 110 moderators, 95 profile of, 58-62 public, 35 tab use, 32, 33f Characters, interaction through, 36 Chauncey, G and anonymity, 96 and camp, 89 and gay/lesbian bars, 105 and sexual practices versus sexual identity, 76 and sites for gay men to congregate, New York, 54 Chub, 126, 132, 133-135 Web sites, 137 Chub art, 138 “Chubby chaser,” 171 Cities of the Plain, ix Closet, in the, 55, 96 Clynes, Manfred, 146 Comic-book masculinity, 72 “Components,” body, 119 Computer-mediated communication, xi Connell, R.W., 65 Correll, Shelley, 15 Cross-dressing, 63, 68 Cubs, 126 “Cue,” social, 49 Cultural artifacts, Culturally constructed, sex as, 144-145 Curtis, Pavel, 84 Cyberbody, 113-121 Cyberqueer spaces, 191 Cyberrevolution, 10 Cyberspace, 190-192 beauty hierarchies in, 168-175 fieldwork in, 186 See also Fieldwork insider/outsider duality in, 38-44 as social phenomenon, 12 Cyborg, 14, 146-149 “Cyborg Manifesto,” 146 DALnet, 30 Dalvenjah, 30 Danet, Brenda and anonymity, 48, 55 and online cross-dressing, 63, 68 Davis, Madeline D., 54, 83, 105 Davis, Warren, 138 de Certeau, Michel, Defense of Marriage Act (1996), 82 Del Rio, Jack, 160 Dery, Mark, 89 Désert, Jean-Ulrick, 89 Disembodiment, 112 Dostoevsky, Fyodor Mikhailovich, 151 Dotson, Edisol Wayne, 159-161 Drifting, 108 Dyer, Richard, 80, 159 Effeminism, 68 EFnet (Eris Free network), 30, 31 Ellipses, use of, 50 E-mail, 180 Emoticons, 46 “Encourager,” 136, 137 Erotic exploration, online, 82-90, 135-145 Erotic folk art, 138 Ethnography, See also Fieldwork virtual, 51-52, 186 Ethos, 124 Facial hair, 130-131, 159 Fantasy personae MUDs, 37 Younghung, 151-154 Fat, as body term, 115, 133, 171 See also Chub Fat discrimination, 159 Fat identity, 138, 140 Fat phobia, 159 Fear, as visceral experience, 13 “Feeder,” 136, 137 Femme-Butch factor, 122 Fieldwork and academic distance, maintaining, 39 and bracketing, 42 conducting through the ether, 44-47 in cyberspace, 186 and insider/outsider duality, 38-44 participant observation, 24-25, 40 and preconceived ideas, 38 and “real scientific aims,” 38 Finnish university network (Funet), 30 Fitness magazines, 159-160 “Flaming,” 89-90 Flooding a channel, 47 Forward slash mark, 32 Foucault, Michel, 16, 17, 136, 144, 188-189 Freak, the, 148, 173 Freakish male masculinity, 128, 143, 147 Freaky, as body term, 115-117 Freenet, Ottawa, 90 Friendships, online, 101, 102 Funet (Finnish university network), 30 Fussell, Sam, 148, 173 “Gainer art,” 137-138 “Gainer community,” 138 “Gaining,” 135-141 illustrations of, 139f Web sites, 137 Gaither, Billy Jack, 83 Gay bar, 73-82, 105 historical context, 53-54 patronizing, anxiety and, 97-99 virtual, entering, 57-58 Gay bashing, 96-97 See also Online gay bashing “Gay experience,” 56 Gay identity, presumed, 74-75 Gay male beauty myth, 19, 156, 157-163 #gayboston, 23, 26, 28 #gaychub, 6, 27 chub, 126, 132, 133-135, 137 Gay-identified channels, list of, 27-28 #gaymuscle, 1, 6, 27, 28 and bodybuilders, 72, 120-121, 126-130 See also Body, the; Msclfreak; PECS policing masculinity, 78-79 “supermale image,” 169-175 #gaymusclebears, 6, 27 musclebear, 126, 130-134 Geertz, Clifford, 186 Gender artificiality of, 70 constructedness of, 149 unidentified, 62 virtual gender bending, 63 G.I Joe, 162 Gibson, William, 1, Giles, Patrick, 171 Glamour bear, 169 Goffman, Erving, 37, 49 Great good place, channels as, 110 Gross, Larry, 184 Grosz, Elizabeth, 45, 174, 175 Gut, body term, 113, 138 Hair, 130-131, 158-159 laser removal of, 161 Hakken, David, 186 Halperin, David, 129 Hammersley, Martyn, 46, 187 Handle, online, 48 and anonymity, 48, 49, 55 Bennoe, 51, 94, 131 Big-boy, 22, 24 BigJoe, 177-179 BIGrGUY, 73, 137, 165 BiGuy28, 78, 79 Big_Wolf See Big_Wolf BluCollar, 59, 60, 74-75, 101, 134 Britannic See Britannic Brutus, 1, 88 CMBigDog, 138 connoting male identity, 69 cutslover, 79 Handle, online (continued) cwilbur, 87 GremlinBear, 75, 92-93, 104, 133, 181 Gymrat, 84 IrishCrop, 76-77 JB26, 91 JohnnyQuest, 23, 24 Lifter-NY, 117 Mad_Hatter, 103-104, 131 Mage78, 60, 73, 78, 98, 131, 132 Masculin, 66, 67, 75-76, 132-133, 134 Msclfreak See Msclfreak NCLifter, 1, 2, PECS See PECS PHLguy (PHLguy28), 53, 77, 92, 96, 108-109 Plutarch, 1, 2, 3, prime-evil, 88 Quixote, 57 SFBigCub, 66-67, 74, 131, 133, 166 Smilee, TechnoBear, 40, 41, 67-68, 86-87, 140, 142 TexMuscle, 128 Top_Bear, 93, 164, 175 Umgawa See Umgawa uniqueness of, 91 use of another’s, 93 WorkOut, 106, 131, 134, 141, 169 Younghung See Younghung Haraway, Donna, 146 Hard Fat, 138 Hawking, Stephen, 147 Hebdige, Dick, Hegemonic masculinity, 65 Height, 123 See also Stats Hillis, Ken, 181 Hine, Christine, 51 Homophobia, 85 “Huge,” as body term, 114 Hustling, bodybuilders and, 108 Hypermasculinity, 64-65 ICUII, 181 Ihde, Don, 13 Imagined Communities, 53 Inponderabilia of actual life, 25 Insider, researcher as, 183-184 Insider/outsider duality, cyberspace, 38-44 Instant messaging (IM), 179 Instrument-centered perspective, Interactants, 57 See also Handle, online andrewm, 42-43 false self-description, 61 gender, unidentified, 62 meeting in person, 61-62 profile of, 58-59 reactions to media’s image of gay men, 163-168 sexuality, unidentified, 62 trading pictures online, 62 Internet Relay Chat communities (IRC), xi, 15 and the channel, 34, 55 See also Channel demise of, 177-181 future of, 179-181 #gayboston, 23, 26, 28 #gaychub, 6, 27 chub, 126, 132, 133-135, 137 #gaymuscle, 1, 6, 27, 28 and bodybuilders, 72, 120-121, 126-130 See also Body, the; Msclfreak; PECS policing masculinity, 79-79 “supermale image,” 169-175 #gaymusclebears, 6, 27 musclebear, 126, 130-134 history of, 29-38 reasons for use of, 99-110 Invited guest, 34 IRC See Internet Relay Chat communities iSpQ VideoChat, 181 Jacobson, David, 49 Jenkins, Henry, 7, 39 Job site, logging on to IRC at, 60 Kauffman, Bette, 39 Kendall, Lori and class background, 60 and MUDs, 36, 38, 80 and offline encounters, 61 and sociological work on cyberspace, 100 Kennedy, Elizabeth Lapovsky, 54, 83, 105 “Kick” from channel, 57 Klein, Alan and comic-book masculinity, 72 and homophobia, 85 and hustling, 108 and language, 121 and lifestyle, bodybuilding as a, 128 and terms for the body, 114, 120 Kline, Nathan, 146 “Lack of choice,” 164 “Lag,” 107 LambdaMOO, 38 Language, role of in bodybuilding, 121 Laser hair removal, 161 Lawrence v Texas, 82 Leather men, 126 Leaves of Grass, 111 LeBesco, Kathleen, 138, 140, 159 Lewin, Sanford, 156 Life on the Screen, 44 Lifestyle, bodybuilding as, 128 Lindsay, Cecile, 115, 147 List feature, 27 Locke, Philip, 158-159 Luciano, Lynne, 162 Lurking, x, 26, 122 Malinowski, Bronislaw, 24-25, 38 Marginalization, virtual environments, 171-172 Markham, Annette and control in cyberspace, 97 and LambdaMOO, 38 and online interviews, 42, 187 Marvin, Carolyn, Masculinity, 63-73 policing, 78-79 Materialist-constructionist perspective, 45 Matson, Gary, 83 McRobbie, Angela, Media, and the gay male beauty myth, 157-163 reactions to, 163-168 Message of the day, 31 Miller, Daniel, 186 Mind/body dualism, 45 mIRC, Web site, 21 Moffet, Frédéric, 138 Mohr, Richard, 161 Mondo 2000, 10 Morphed pictures, 117, 118f Moses, Robert, 35 Mosher, Jerry, 165, 166, 171 Mowder, Winfield, 83 Msclfreak and belonging, 101 and big men, 114, 116-117, 120, 172 definition of a chub, 133 the freak, 173-174 and gender identification, 66 professional bodybuilder, 71, 72, 128, 129 and video chat services, Internet, 181, 182f MUDs (multiuser dungeons), 18, 35-38, 55 Muff Diva Index (MDI), 122 Muscle & Fitness, 160 Muscle dysmorphia, 172-173 Muscle man role, 143, 148 Muscle worship, 141-145 illustration of, 144f Musclebear, 126, 130-134 MuscleMag International, 160 Muscular body versus corpulent body, 132 Name, use of real, 49 Native, avoiding use of term, 185 “Natural,” the body and, 112, 174, 188, 192 Naturalness, 150 musclebears, 130-132 Nestle, Joan, xi NetMeeting, 42 Net-split, 32 Neuromancer, New York, sites for gay men to congregate, 54 Nguyen, Dan Thu, 11 Nickname See Handle, online “Nicks,” 91-94 See also Handle, online NORDUnet, 30 “Normal,” 188, 192 Obesity, as body term, 115 O’Brien, Jodi, 63 Offline body versus online self, 45 Offline discussion and sex, dissatisfaction with, 17 Oikarinen, Jarkko, 29-30 Oldenburg, Ray, 109-110 Olivardia, Roberto, 162-163, 169, 172-173 Online chat rooms, 190-192 Online disembodiment thesis, 5, 10, 11 Online gay bashing, 57, 86, 90 and use of camp, 88, 89 Online nickname See Handle, online Online self versus offline body, 112 Operator privileges, 34 Participant observation, 24-25, 40 Partner, loss of, 104 “Parts,” body, 119 PECS, 4, 151, 180 as a bodybuilder, 28, 29, 71, 72, 127, 130 and gender identification, 70 and offline meetings, 61 and online handles, 91-92 and presumption of gayness, 74 People Magazine, 159 “Performativity,” 69 Pharmacological drug use, 162 Phillips, Katharine, 162-163, 169, 172-173 Physical-world anonymity, 96 Physical-world isolation, 104 Physique magazines, 162 Pictures, trading online, 62 “Pig Out,” 138, 139f pIRCh (Polargeek’s Internet Relay Chat Hack), 32 Plant, Sadie, 10 Players, and MUDs, 37 “Playful expressivity,” 63 Pope, Harrison, 162-163, 169, 172-173 Pornography, gay male, 161 Power, productive capacity of, 149 “Preconceived ideas,” fieldworker, 38 Private chats, 90-99 Proust, M., ix Public channels, 35 Public spaces, visibility of gays and lesbians in, 85-86 Quantification of the body, 122 Quantitative measurement, 119 Queer havens, 83 See also Virtual havens Queer scholarship, 56 Race, 79-82 Radway, Janice, “Real scientific aims,” 38 Reflexivity, 185 Reid, Elizabeth and the channel, 32 and handles, 91, 95 and virtual gender bending, 63, 96 Repressive hypothesis, 16 Rheingold, Howard, 109-110 Rielly, Tom, x-xi “Ripped,” 118 Role-playing, 37 Roles, blurring of, 40 Rosenbaum-Tamari, Yehudit, 48, 55 Ruedenberg-Wright, Lucia, 48, 55 Runnalls, Vern, 160 Safety, perception of, 82, 84 Sappho, 15, 122 Schaap, Frank, 36, 38, 71 Schlessinger, Laura, 82 Schwarzenegger, Arnold, 173 Self-discovery, 109 Self-identification as gay, 26 Self-image, 116 Sex as culturally constructed, 144-145 as theme of conversation, 65 “Sexiest Man Alive 2002,” 159 Sexual differences, location of, 71 Sexual discussion, explicit, 26-27 Sexual experimentation, online, 55 Sexual practice versus sexual identity, 75-76 Sexual practices gaining, 135-141 illustrations of, 139f muscle worship, 141-145 illustration of, 144f Sexuality, unidentified, 62 Shareware, 32 Shaw, David F., 15, 73 Shepard, Matthew, 83 Shields, Rob, 45, 46, 112 Silverstone, Roger, 8-9 Sirius, R U., 10 Slater, Don, 186 Statistical information, body as, 120, 121-126 Stats, 120, 121-126 Steroid use, 162 Stone, A R., 111, 147 Stud role, 154, 155 “Supermale image,” 169-175 Swedlund, Alan, 162 Tabs, on channels, 32, 33f Television, fat males in prime-time, 165 Textual representations, 46 Theory of power, 188 “Third place,” online space as, 109 Thorpe, Roey, 83 Trailing periods, use of, 50 Trobriand Island, 24 Trubshaw, Roy, 36 Truman, Will, 166, 167 Turkle, Sherry, 37, 44, 186 Turner, Graeme, 21 Twinks, 126, 130 “Types,” 125-126 bodybuilder, 126-130 chub, 126, 132, 133-135, 137 musclebear, 126, 130-134 Typography, online, 50 Umgawa and channel names, 34 founder of #gaymuscle, 102-103 and freakiness, 116 and offline meetings, 60-61 and racial identity, 81 and tension underlying interview, 40, 41 and virtual body bending, 124-125 Undernet (underground network), 30 “Unfortunate grammar,” 150 Urla, Jacqueline, 162 Usenet newsgroups, 55 Vacuum pumping, 173 Valentine, Gill, 41, 85-86 Video chat services, Internet, 181 Virginity, age at loss of, 65 Virtual body bending, 124-125 Younghung, 151-156 Virtual communities, 109 Virtual ethnography, 47, 109, 186 Virtual gay bar, 53-56 and anonymity, 48, 49, 55, 90-99 channels, profile of, 58-62 entering, 57-58 interactants, profile of, 58-59 and masculinity, 63-73 and private chats, 90-99 as real community, 99-110 reasons for visiting, 73-82 and safety, perception of, 82, 84 Virtual gender bending, 63 Virtual havens, 99-110 Virtual party, 55 Visceral responses, 13 Vitriolic online exchanges, 89 “Voice,” online, 50 Wakeford, Nina, 122, 191-192 Warren, Patricia Nell, xi Waugh, Tom, 143, 161 Wendt, George, 26 Weston, Kath, and anthropology, gay and lesbian studies within, 183 and nativeness, 185 and the role of the researcher, 38, 39, 41 White, 159 Whiteness, presumption of, 79-82 Whitman, Walt, 111 Wiegers, Yvonne, 66 Will & Grace, 166 Willis, Paul, 7, Winner, Langdon, 35 Wolf, Naomi, 156, 157, 164 Wolfe, Maxine, 82 Woodland, Randal, 15 Worshipee role, 143 Worshiper role, 142 Wright, Les, 130, 138, 158 Younghung, 59, 181 and beefy, as body term, 118 description of bodybuilders, 127 desire to expand social circle, 101 Younghung (continued) friendly flirtation, 46 and gaining, 136-137 and #gaymuscle, 170 and marginalization, 172 and the media’s image of gay men, 167 and patronizing a gay bar, anxiety over, 97-98 presumption of gayness, 74 and sexual identity, 176 and stats, 121-122 and virtual body bending, 151-156 SPECIAL 25%-OFF DISCOUNT! 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Campbell Getting It On Online Cyberspace, Gay Male Sexuality, and Embodied Identity Pre-publication REVIEWS, COMMENTARIES, EVALUATIONS ohn Edward Campbell’s Getting It “J On Online invites us... by Judith E Snow Getting It On Online: Cyberspace, Gay Male Sexuality, and Embodied Identity by John Edward Campbell Getting It On Online Cyberspace, Gay Male Sexuality, and Embodied Identity John... habits to new forms of mediation Getting It On Online also keeps the sex in queer studies, with a playwright’s sensitivity to sexual dialogue, a social re- Lisa Henderson, PhD searcher’s sensitivity