Vision and Intimacy

One emerging form of communication discussed in the present article is the use of visual self-representation as a tool for symbolic interaction between young people on the Internet. Using examples of difference and similarity in young women’s and men’s visual self-representation, the article offers an interpretation of these practices, pointing towards both new visual conventions and references to pre-existing media representations, thus revealing a process of hypervisuality. In this process of transformation, the involvement of new technologies, such as webcam aesthetics and its form of intimacy and authenticity, produces specific visual conventions within the frame of pre-existing media imagery, when the self is presented in online communication.