Gaydar culture : gay men, technology and embodiment in the Digital Age

Popular culture has recognized urban gay men's use of the Web over the last ten years, with gay Internet dating and Net-cruising featuring as narrative devices in hit television shows. Yet to date, the relationship between urban gay male culture and digital media technologies has received only limited critical attention. Gaydar Culture explores the integration of specific techno-cultural practices within contemporary gay male sub-culture. Taking British gay culture as its primary interest, the book locates its critical discussion within the wider global context of a proliferating model of Western 'metropolitan' gay male culture. Making use of a series of case studies in the development of a theoretical framework through which past, present and future practices of digital immersion can be understood and critiqued; this book constitutes a timely intervention into the fields of digital media studies, cultural studies and the study of gender and sexuality. La 4e de couverture indique : "Popular culture has recognised urban gay men's use of the Web over the last ten years, with gay Internet dating and Net-cruising featuring as narrative devices in hit television shows. Yet to date, the relationship between urban gay culture and digital media technologies has received only limited attention. Gaydar Culture explores the integration of specific techno-cultural practices within contemporary gay male sub-culture. Taking British gay culture as its primary interest, the book locates its critical discussion within the wider global context of a proliferating model of Western 'metropolitan' gay male culture. Focusing primarily on web-based forms and practices in order to address the key issues of sexual and gender identity, with a secondary emphasis on the attending themes of sexual practice and sexual risk, its principal concern is the impact that increasing levels of digital 'immersion' or 'integration' is having on these aspects of 'mainstream' gay male culture. Making use of a series of case studies in the development of a theoretical framework through which past, present and future practices of digital immersion can be understood and critiqued, this book constitutes a timely intervention into the fields of digital media studies, cultural studies and the study of gender and sexuality." 1. Introductions : the personal, the political and the perverse -- 2. Contexts and frameworks : British gay male subculture, 1984 and beyond -- 3. Cybercarnality : identifying a critical pathway through gay men's digital culture -- 4. 'From the web comes a man' : profiles, identity and embodiment in gay dating/sex websites -- 5. Cruising the cybercottage -- 6. Bareback sex online : knowledge, desire and the gay male body -- 7. Digital cruising : mobidle and locative technologies in gay male subculture -- 8. Conclusion : some final thoughts on gay men's digital culture.