Sex and Social Media
Sex on and with social media is often construed as deviant, risky, or something only teenagers do because they don’t know better. Yet, academic scholarship has shown that sex on/with social media can allow people to create and playfully experiment with their identities; build meaningful relationships; accept themselves or build communities.
This book brings the multiplicity and richness of sexual practices on, with, and around social media to a curious, intelligent lay reader, and highlights the discrepancy between the media headlines (people fearing it) and what popular Google searches show (people wanting it).
The authors describe how social media has changed and shaped sex; address the common misconceptions about socially mediated sex; explain the spaces where social media sex happens, and the practices that count as social media sex.
Chapters examine the main misconceptions and anxieties pertaining to socially mediated sex; explore how sexual social media practices are part of our identity; look at it as a communal/ group phenomenon; and analyse social media platforms as the intermediaries and infrastructures shaping and constraining sex.
It offers an academically informed, critical but accessible discussion on sex and sexuality on and with social media.
Katrin Tiidenberg, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Social Media and Visual Culture at the Baltic Film, Media, Arts and Communication School of Tallinn University, Estonia.
Emily van der Nagel, PhD, is a Lecturer in Social Media in the School of Media, Film and Journalism at Monash University in Australia.