This article is centred on a case study of the ‘Totally Straight’ (r/TotallyStraight) ‘subreddit’ on social media site reddit. r/TotallyStraight serves as a web forum for sharing gay pornography amongst men who identity as straight. I draw on a small-scale study of the r/TotallyStraight subreddit, conducted over a period of three months. Analysis reveals that while r/TotallyStraight is largely used as a forum for sharing porn depicting men, it also serves as a space for affirmation and sharing personal narratives related to contested ‘mostly straight’ sexual identities. The moderators of the subreddit, and the users themselves, foster a supportive, non-judgemental discourse. It is argued that this phenomenon could be representative of broader cultural shifts towards less rigidly defined sexual identities.

References

Albury, K ( 2014 ) Porn and sex education, porn as sex education . Porn Studies 1(1–2): 172 – 181 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Albury, K, Crawford, K ( 2012 ) Sexting, consent and young people’s ethics: Beyond Megan’s Story . Continuum 26(3): 463 – 473 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Anderson, E, McCormack, M ( 2014 ) Cuddling and spooning: Heteromasculinity and homosocial tactility among student-athletes . Men and Masculinities 18(2): 214 – 230 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals

Baym, N ( 2010 ) Personal Connections in the Digital Age, Cambridge : Polity .

Google Scholar

Bidgood J (2013) Body of missing student at Brown is discovered. New York Times. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/26/us/sunil-tripathi-student-at-brown-is-found-dead.html?hpand_r=0 (accessed 24 February 2015).

Google Scholar

boyd, d ( 2006 ) Friends, friendsters, and MySpace top 8: Writing community into being on social network sites . First Monday 11(12): 1 – 19 .

Google Scholar Crossref

boyd, d ( 2011 ) Social network sites as networked publics: Affordances, dynamics, and implications . In: Papacharissi, Z (ed.) A Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites, New York : Routledge , pp. 39 – 58 .

Google Scholar

boyd, d, Ellison, NB ( 2008 ) Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship . Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13(1): 210 – 230 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Cassidy EM (2013) Gay men, social media and self-presentation: Managing identities in Gaydar, Facebook and beyond. PhD thesis, Queensland University of Technology, Australia.

Google Scholar

Dobson, AS ( 2012 ) ‘Individuality is everything’: ‘Autonomous’ femininity in MySpace mottos and self-descriptions . Continuum 26(3): 371 – 383 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Emerson R (2012) Reddit blackout over SOPA, PIPA: Site to protest by going dark on January 18. Huffington Post. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/11/reddit-blackout-sopa-pipa-protest_n_1198740.html (accessed 24 February 2015).

Google Scholar

Hanckel, B, Morris, A ( 2014 ) Finding community and contesting heteronormativity: Queer young people’s engagement in an Australian online community . Journal of Youth Studies 17(7): 872 – 886 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Hodkinson, P ( 2006 ) Subcultural blogging: Online journals and group involvement among UK goths . In: Bruns, A, Jacobs, J (eds) Uses of Blogs, Oxford : Peter Lang , pp. 187 – 198 .

Google Scholar

Kohut A (2013) The global divide on homosexuality: Greater acceptance in more secular and affluent countries. Report, Pew Research Centre, US. Available at: http://www.pewglobal.org/files/2013/06/Pew-Global-Attitudes-Homosexuality-Report-FINAL-JUNE-4-2013.pdf (accessed 22 November 2016).

Google Scholar

Kolawole E (2012) President Obama’s reddit AMA: Top five most awesome questions. The Washington Post. Available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/post/president-obamas-reddit-ama-top-five-most-awesome-questions/2012/08/29/d3f2c1aa-f21a-11e1-adc6-87dfa8eff430_blog.html (accessed 24 February 2015).

Google Scholar

Lang N (2015) The rise of ‘mostly straight’ dudes – why men’s sex lives are more complicated than you think. Daily Dot. Available at: http://www.dailydot.com/opinion/mostly-straight-men-sexual-fluidity/ (accessed 4 March 2015).

Google Scholar

Light, B ( 2007 ) Introducing masculinity studies to information systems research: the case of Gaydar . European Journal of Information Systems 16(5): 658 – 665 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Light, B, Fletcher, G, Adam, A ( 2008 ) Gay men, Gaydar and the commodification of difference . Information Technology and People 21(3): 300 – 314 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Lincoln, S, Robards, B ( 2014 ) 10 years of Facebook . New Media and Society 16(7): 1047 – 1050 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals

Livingstone, S ( 2008 ) Taking risky opportunities in youthful content creation: Teenagers’ use of social networking sites for intimacy, privacy and self-expression . New Media and Society 10(3): 393 – 411 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Maffesoli M (1996) The Time of the Tribes: The Decline of Individualism in Mass Society, trans. Smith D. London: Sage.

Google Scholar

Marwick, AE, boyd, d ( 2011 ) I tweet honestly, I tweet passionately: Twitter users, context collapse, and the imagined audience . New Media and Society 13(1): 114 – 133 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

McKee, A ( 2014 ) Humanities and social scientific research methods in porn studies . Porn Studies 1(1-2): 53 – 63 .

Google Scholar Crossref

McKee, A, Albury, K, Lumby, C ( 2008 ) The Porn Report, Melbourne : Melbourne University Press .

Google Scholar

Morris, M, Anderson, E ( 2015 ) ‘Charlie is so cool like’: Authenticity, popularity and inclusive masculinity on YouTube . Sociology 49(6): 1200 – 1217 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Mowlabocus, S, Harbottle, J, Witzel, C ( 2014 ) What we can’t see? Understanding the representations and meanings of UAI, barebacking, and semen exchange in gay male pornography . Journal of Homosexuality 61(10): 1462 – 1480 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Mustanski, B, Lyons, T, Garcia, SC ( 2010 ) Internet use and sexual health of young men who have sex with men: A mixed-methods study . Archives of Sexual Behavior 40(2): 289 – 300 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

My Husband's Not Gay (2015) Hot Snakes Media, TLC.

Google Scholar

Plummer, K ( 1995 ) Telling sexual stories in a late modern world . Studies in Symbolic Interaction 18: 101 – 120 .

Google Scholar

Raynes-Goldie, K ( 2010 ) Aliases, creeping, and wall cleaning: Understanding privacy in the age of Facebook . First Monday 15(1): 1 – 7 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Reddit.com (2015) About Reddit. Available at: http://www.reddit.com/about (accessed 24 February 2015).

Google Scholar

Reynolds, R ( 2008 ) Imagining gay life in the internet age or why I don’t internet date . International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society 6(1): 2 – 13 .

Google Scholar

Robards, B, Bennett, A ( 2011 ) MyTribe: Post-subcultural manifestations of belonging on social network sites . Sociology 45(2): 303 – 317 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Roth, Y ( 2014 ) Locating the ‘scruff guy’: Theorizing body and space in gay geosocial media . International Journal of Communication 8: 2113 – 2133 .

Google Scholar

Russell, ST ( 2002 ) Queer in America: Citizenship for sexual minority youth . Applied Developmental Science 6(4): 258 – 263 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Savin-Williams, RC, Vrangalova, Z ( 2013 ) Mostly heterosexual as a distinct sexual orientation group: A systematic review of the empirical evidence . Developmental Review 33(1): 58 – 88 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Shaw, F, Burgess, J, Crawford, K ( 2013 ) Sharing news, making sense, saying thanks: Patterns of talk on Twitter during the Queensland floods . Australian Journal of Communication 40(1): 23 – 39 .

Google Scholar

Stardust, Z ( 2014 ) ‘Fisting is not permitted’: Criminal intimacies, queer sexualities and feminist porn in the Australian legal context . Porn Studies 1(3): 242 – 259 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Stephansen, HC, Couldry, N ( 2014 ) Understanding micro-processes of community building and mutual learning on Twitter: A ‘small data’ approach . Information, Communication and Society 17(10): 1212 – 1227 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Taylor, Y, Falconer, E, Snowdon, R ( 2014 ) Queer youth, Facebook and faith: Facebook methodologies and online identities . New Media and Society 16(7): 1138 – 1153 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Van der Nagel, E ( 2013 ) Faceless bodies: Negotiating technological and cultural codes on reddit gonewild . Scan: Journal of Media Arts Culture 10(2): 1 – 10 .

Google Scholar