A booty of booties: men accumulating capital by homosocial porn exchange on WhatsApp

ABSTRACT

Much of the research on the changing landscape of internet pornography (Porn 2.0) has neglected the societal implications of the distribution and consumption of pornography within homosocial male-only online communities. The present study uses in-depth interviews to examine how Israeli men who partake in homosocial pornography exchange on WhatsApp groups of their own creation capitalize on their activity and its uses, and what sort of capital they suppose they are accumulating. The article portrays how the users’ engagement translates into Bourdieuian capital accumulation. Results indicate that participants benefit from such activity on three main levels, which were conceptualized according to Bourdieu’s field theory, as forms of non-economic capital: social, symbolic, and cultural. We argue that pornographic activity on WhatsApp potentially grants participants a desirable aura of heterosexual masculinity. Such premium is of special importance in the machoistic and militaristic Israeli society, which encourages hegemonic masculinity.

KEYWORDS:

• WhatsApp
• habitus–capital theory
• homosociality
• Porn 2.0
• sexting

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Most respondents defined themselves as heterosexual, with the exception of two who defined themselves as gay men. Although both heterosexual and gay participants were interviewed, in the present article we addressed only findings that have emerged in interactions between heterosexual men.

2 The names of the participants have been replaced by pseudonyms of their choice.

3 The question of owning pornographic content and its translation into symbolic assets is discussed in the earlier sub-section focusing on symbolic capital.

4 The criteria include rarity and exclusivity, particular creative features (e.g. surprise, provocation, humour), gossip-related content (e.g. celebrity porn), and reality porn (rhetoric of documentation and authenticity).

5 The notion of porn as currency and the value assigned to pornographic content and genres by WhatsApp users will be elaborated in a separate article.

6 All respondents self-identified as having at least four of these five demographic characteristics.