TY - JOUR
T1 - Flirting with categories
T2 - Pursuing intimacy by invoking and negotiating gendered sexual scripts
AU - Andersen, Elisabeth Muth
PY - 2024/7/15
Y1 - 2024/7/15
N2 - This study explores flirting practices in Danish Tinder chats, focusing on how users employ social categories to pursue intimacy. Drawing on membership categorization analysis and the small story paradigm, and engaging with sexual script theory, it is demonstrated how participants invoke and negotiate standardized relational pairs (SRPs) to playfully position themselves and their potential partners. The research reveals that users creatively deploy asymmetrical SRPs, such as prince-princess, doctor-patient or serviceperson-hotel guest, as metaphorical devices to introduce and explore romantic or sexual scenarios. These practices allow users to navigate the challenges of self-presentation and relationship-building in online dating contexts, balancing humor, creativity, and sexual innuendo. The study demonstrates how participants simultaneously reproduce and challenge traditional gender roles and sexual scripts through their interactions. By examining these micro-level linguistic practices, we gain insight into the broader sociocultural norms and expectations surrounding online dating and intimate relationships in a Danish context.
AB - This study explores flirting practices in Danish Tinder chats, focusing on how users employ social categories to pursue intimacy. Drawing on membership categorization analysis and the small story paradigm, and engaging with sexual script theory, it is demonstrated how participants invoke and negotiate standardized relational pairs (SRPs) to playfully position themselves and their potential partners. The research reveals that users creatively deploy asymmetrical SRPs, such as prince-princess, doctor-patient or serviceperson-hotel guest, as metaphorical devices to introduce and explore romantic or sexual scenarios. These practices allow users to navigate the challenges of self-presentation and relationship-building in online dating contexts, balancing humor, creativity, and sexual innuendo. The study demonstrates how participants simultaneously reproduce and challenge traditional gender roles and sexual scripts through their interactions. By examining these micro-level linguistic practices, we gain insight into the broader sociocultural norms and expectations surrounding online dating and intimate relationships in a Danish context.
KW - flirting
KW - online dating
KW - sexual scripts
KW - metaphors
KW - gender roles
KW - membership categorization analysis
M3 - Tidsskriftartikel
SN - 2211-3770
JO - Journal of Language and Sexuality
JF - Journal of Language and Sexuality
ER -