Showcase of desire: a study of search profiles of same-sex partners on website Manhunt.net in the cities of São Carlos and Araraquara

• Grant number: 12/22798-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2013
• Effective date (End): February 28, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology
• Principal Investigator: Richard Miskolci Escudeiro
• Grantee: Rodrigo Casaut Melhado
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This Project proposes a study of the profiles with pictures of the dating (?) network Manhunt.net users of the cities of Araraquara and Sao Carlos, upstate Sao Paulo. These cities were selected once they are close to each other and possess an urban dynamics of exchanging agents, id est, they form a social circuit. The research seeks, throughout pictures and profile descriptions, to analyze which gender, generational, social class, masculinity conceptions, and bodybuilding factors are present in this "love" market, in the Manhunt.net network context. The digital media converts the private self into a public self, that presents itself to an anonymous audience, and because of this, these profiles are considered an intimate performance. This project's goal is to understand the procedures involved in the construction of online profiles, as well as the values and gender conventions, sexuality, and other social markers of differences triggered by this process. To support these arguments, this project makes use of Brazilian studies on sexuality, queer theory, and recent searches about the use of digital media. (AU)