Article:

My body Style(s) – Formen der bildlichen Identität im Studivz

Young users of virtual social networks are expected to increasingly exhibit themselves in the internet. Media reports in newspapers or television are criticizing this behavior. The article attempts to discover possible aspects of public exhibition in virtual communities and to analyse how a new body image is constructed via photographic self-portraits in virtual photo albums. Based on the semiotics of C. S. Peirce and considerations on photography by Roland Barthes, the article will show that digital self-portraits are not only maintaining the authenticity of the user, but are completing the information on his individual identity. Consequently, the young member constructs a self-contained, virtual body by exposing his photographs. Finally, it will be revealed by examining the emo subculture, how corporal construction of a virtual self is contributing to an individual, subcultural identity.