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Article published In: Journal of Language and Sexuality
Vol. 9:2 (2020) ► pp.179–201

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“Thaz how u kno ur dum”

Jock identity and orthographic play on a male erotic hypnosis messageboard

 | SUNY New Paltz, USA
Published online: 7 September 2020
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.19020.cha
Abstract
This study analyzes language use among a group of gay men who participate on an online messageboard (OnYourKnees), focused on the attainment of a ‘dumb jock’ identity. Posters align with a series of qualities that largely conform to ideologies of American jock masculinity, but at the same time satirize those ideologies: in particular, many posters view as an integral quality of dumb-jock identity ‘dumbness:’ an unwillingness/inability to engage in scholarly/academic pursuits. The repeated citationality of dumbness as a positive quality creates a distinct identity-type that posters link with erotic desire. Orthographic variation contributes to the attainment and recognition of a jock identity: posters who identify as jocks are more likely to display non-standard American English spelling than those who do not. This study thus highlights the importance of orthographic variation in maintaining distinct identities among local communities, especially in a space where traditional ideologies of masculinity are recontextualized.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Conceptions of identity
  • 3.Hegemonic masculinity and jock identities
  • 4.Discussion of corpus and the practice of OnYourKnees
  • 5.Jock identity and dumbness on OnYourKnees
  • 6.Jocks and dumbness in orthography
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (47)
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Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Chambers, Eric
2022. “You’re in the Gym to BUILD IT BIG, Not Have Social Hour”: Performing Dumb-Jock Masculinity on a Male Erotic Hypnosis Messageboard. In Digital Orality, ► pp. 219 ff. DOI logo
Cutler, Cecelia, May Ahmar & Soubeika Bahri
2022. Introduction: The Oralization of Digital Written Communication. In Digital Orality, ► pp. 3 ff. DOI logo

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