The Presentation of Gender Identity on Female Travel Blogs

Authors

  • Sidiq Hari Madya Stockholm University, Sweden

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22515/bg.v3i1.1269

Keywords:

blog, female, gender, identity, online, traveller

Abstract

Blogs as a growing online platform came to be seen as a ‘newly ideal’ space for social interaction, identity construction and negotiation. Bloggers became a social actor who showcase and perform their roles and identities online. This paper would attempt to analyse the presentation of gender identities on travel blogs managed and written by female travellers. The research questions raised were “how online technology (travel blogs) become a space for women to perform gender identity online? In performing their identity, how these women may challenge the conception of male domination in “travel world†as presented through their narratives in a travel blog?†Adopting West and Zimmerman’s (1987) concept of doing gender, gender identities would be viewed as something individuals achieve or accomplish through ongoing social interactions (p. 129). The study found that travel blogs have become a space for female travellers to express and extend their identities online. Female identity presented in travel blogs substantially informs the traditionally exclusion of women in travel world. As has also been elaborated, travelling itself can be understood as a gendered phenomenon. Since traveling is gendered, perception of being on the road and the roles played by male and female traveller is different.

References

Azizah, D. R. (2016) The Traveler as Author: Examining Self-presentation and Discourse in the (self) Published Travel Blog. Media, Culture & Society, 38(6): 934-945.

Cohen, E. (2003) Backpacking: Diversity and Change. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Research, 1(2): 95-110.

Cohen, E. (1972) Toward a Sociology of International Tourism. Social Research, 39(1): 164-182

Bosangit, C., McCabe, S. & Hibbert, S. (2009) What is Told in Travel Blogs? Exploring Travel Blogs for Consumer Narrative Analysis. In Höpken, W., Gretzel, U. & Law, R. (Eds.) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2009. New York, SpingerWien.

Doorn, N. v., Zoonen, L. v., Wyatt, S. (2007) Writing from Experience: Presentation of Gender Identity on Weblogs. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 14(2): 143-159.

Goffman, E. (1959) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York, NY: Anchor

Goffman, E. (1979) Gender Advertisement. New York, Harper & Row Publishers.

Hogan, B. (2010) The Presentation of Self in the Age of Social Media: Distinguishing Performances and Exhibitions Online. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 30(6): 377-386.

McGregor, K. (2013) Defining the ‘Authentic’: Identity, Self-presentation and Gender in Web 2.0 Networked Social Media. PhD Thesis, The University of Edinburgh.

Miller, H. (1995) The Presentation of Self in Electronic Life: Goffman on the Internet. Working Paper presented at Embodied Knowledge and Virtual Space Conference Goldsmith’s College, University of London.

Myers, L & Hannam, K. (2008) Women as Backpacker Tourist: A Feminist Analysis of Destination Choice and Social Identities from the UK. In Hannam, K. & Ateljevic, I. (Eds.) Backpacker Tourism: Concepts and Profiles. Clevedon, Channel View Publications.

Richards, G. & Wilson, J. (2004) Widening Perspectives in Backpacker Research. In Richards, G. & Wilson, J. (Eds.) The Global Nomad: Backpacker Travel in Theory and Practice. Channel View Publications, Clevedon

Turkle, S. (1995) Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. London, Phoenix.

Wajcman, J. (2007) From Women and Technology to Gendered Technoscience. Information, Communication & Society, 10(3): 287-298.

West, C. and Zimmerman, D. H. (1987) Doing Gender. Gender and Society, 1(2): 125-151.

Woodward, K. (2015) Gendered Bodies: Gendered Lives. In Robinson, V. & Richardson, D. (Eds.) Introducing Gender and Women’s Studies, 4th edition. London, Palgrave Macmillan.

Downloads

Published

2018-07-16

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2018)

Section

Articles

Citation Check

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.