Abstract:
This study investigates identity construction in online (virtual) and offline (visceral)
spaces. Throughout the emphasis is on gay male identity construction. Specifically, the
article explores how performance theory can be used to read persona construction in
online webcam environments. The mediatory role of online technologies is considered
in this regard. In turn, Rian Terblanche’s installation-performance owner’s MANual to
conSEXtualisation is used to discuss how a performance located in a designated
physical space demonstrates how such online persona constructions are indicative of
constantly shifting subject–object positions, often culminating in what this study refers
to as the pornstarification of the persona. This investigation is primarily informed by
the work of Turkle and Benedetti, and establishes a link between Turkle’s notion of
the distributed self and Benedetti’s notion of the expanded self as one way to allow
online and offline spaces to conceptually speak to one another around gay male
identity.
