Finding Identity Within Online Communities: A Cyber-Ethnography of FTM YouTubers
Date
2016
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Producer
Director
Performer
Choreographer
Costume Designer
Music
Videographer
Lighting Designer
Set Designer
Crew Member
Funder
Rehearsal Director
Concert Coordinator
Advisor
Moderator
Panelist
Alternative Title
Department
Haverford College. Department of Anthropology
Type
Thesis
Original Format
Running Time
File Format
Place of Publication
Date Span
Copyright Date
Award
Language
eng
Note
Table of Contents
Terms of Use
Rights Holder
Access Restrictions
Open Access
Terms of Use
Tripod URL
Identifier
Abstract
This thesis examines FtM (female to male) transgender YouTubers, their relationships with Internet platforms, with each other, with their bodies, and with mass media. Exploring content uploaded by trans YouTubers, as well as interviews with three YouTubers (Liam Rutz, Chase Ross and Charles Thomy), this thesis examines how the unprecedented modes of presenting and viewing the body through digital self-representation and online community legitimize trans identities. Topics of community, narrative, (self-)representation/archival, vernacular, binaries, accessibility, legitimization, the gendered body in cyberspace, and cyber/auto-ethnography are explored through ethnographic data as well as literature. Findings suggest that self-representational digital media makes trans bodies, identities, and life experiences accessible to both trans and cis individuals.