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The following article examines how celebrities and viewers negotiate the sexualization of women and men on Buzzfeed’s ‘celebrities reading thirst tweets’ videos. In 2017, Buzzfeed, a well-known entertainment company, began a new YouTube video series in which celebrities, predominantly cishet, white men, read and react to thirst tweets (sexually explicit, sometimes humorous messages) posted about them. Because the emergence of the series overlapped with that of the #MeToo movement, the videos offer an insight into the ways in which celebrities and fans negotiate sex, sexualization, consent, and harassment during a transformative time. Through the scraping and thematic analysis of 90,963 comments from the Buzzfeed YouTube channel, this paper found differences between the ways in which male and female celebrities are expected to negotiate sexual advances where men are supposed to be flattered, and women – hesitant. Any breaches in such social scripts are met with ridicule, belittlement and critique. In particular, this article demonstrates how viewers use the discourse of ‘double standards’ against both men and women. The importance of this study lies in its call for attention to overlapping processes accruing in society, the sexualization of culture and #MeToo, and the ways in which they are negotiated through stardom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a rigorous conceptualisation of an undeveloped sociological concept: conditional belonging. It implements and develops conditional belonging in the setting of everyday life by examining female fans of science fiction. Based on 30 in-depth interviews with female fans of Doctor Who and Star Wars, this study defines conditional belonging as a liminal state in which new members are constructed as a threatening 'other' and required to demonstrate conformity to the community. Having to align with values established by veteran members disrupts the ability of those who conditionally belong to perceive their identities as authentic. Conditional belonging is explored in offline and online settings, exposing the tactics used online by female fans to ensure their belonging. Through demonstrating the ways in which conditional belonging is cultivated and enforced, this article contributes to a nuanced understanding of belonging, not as a binary condition, but a multi-layered, complex one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This protocol outlines a mixed-methods study to explore the dynamics of intimacy on dating apps before, during and after the crisis years of COVID-19 in the UK; how these influenced/were influenced by different gendered and sexual cultures of relating; and their impact on personal resilience, viral risk, and wellbeing. The project examines diverse gendered and sexual cultures, examining the experiences of heterosexuals and LGBT+ communities. Through a two-stage approach involving a UK-wide quantitative survey and in-depth qualitative interviews, the study explores how dating app practices influence resilience, viral risk, and intimate norms. The project aims to generate knowledge about how app-based services can be harnessed to support the social and emotional needs of diverse gendered and sexual groups during and after COVID-19 providing valuable insights into strategies for personal resilience in the face of viral risk and social during periods of social distancing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an exploration into feminist female fans' reactions to the first female Doctor (Doctor Who's protagonist). After 55 years of male actors, the 13th Doctor became a woman in 2017. The announcement was met with a backlash, especially from male fans. Unlike previous studies on controversial casting, which focused on the negative commentators, this study sheds light on the supporters who defend the casting while being personally attacked. This research is based on 22 semi-structured in-depth interviews with self-identified feminist female fans of Doctor Who, a minority in a fandom that is perceived as male-dominated. Interviews were conducted after the announcement and before the airing of the new series. This timing provided the opportunity for participants to project their expectations onto the new Doctor. The findings reveal ambivalent reactions: interviewees avidly defended the casting and considered it an important step towards gender equality, both in popular culture and outside of it. However, they also wished the female Doctor would maintain masculine characteristics. This article offers first-hand accounts of feminist female fans who feel excluded from their fan community and the object of their fandom, and the tactics they employ to defend themselves and the new female leading character. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cosmopolitanism, which is often defined as openness to other cultures and individuals, is significant for understanding processes of stratification in contemporary, globalised societies that are home to increasingly diverse populations. In this paper, we broaden the perspective on cosmopolitanism to include cultural, interpersonal, and political dimensions. We test the associations between these types of cosmopolitanism and three types of correlates: socio-demographic characteristics, personal exposure to other cultures, and exposure to other cultures via various media. We analyse data from nine European countries that differ in the characteristics of their population, cultural traditions, and political models. Results indicate that differences between respondents in the nine countries are better explained by individual characteristics than by country characteristics. Furthermore, it is mainly personal and mediated exposure to other cultures, rather than socio-demographic variables, that play a significant role in influencing respondents' cosmopolitan tendencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a critical analysis of representations of loneliness and singlehood, embodied in the narrative of the ‘old maid’s’ lonely death. The study contributes to a complex understanding of single women and the resignification of emotions conventionally ascribed to this category. By bridging the gap between two rarely linked bodies of knowledge – singlehood and the sociology of emotions – the authors do not ask what loneliness is, but, following Sara Ahmed’s work, rather what loneliness does. To this end, this article employs a content analysis of versatile media texts, focusing on the acclaimed television series Six Feet Under, a polysemic text which juxtaposes both conservative and subversive meanings. The study contributes both to the vibrant discussion of social emotions as well as to the existing critical scholarship about singlehood, and seeks to challenge the limited set of representations attached to single women, and hegemonic ideals of family and solitary life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article engages with destigmatization strategies among women fans. Contrary to a contemporary disposition among scholars that presents fandom as a legitimate and mainstream phenomenon, this article demonstrates how women fans are still stigmatized as childish, obsessive, and uncritical. In particular, I focus on Twilight and Harry Potter women fans and suggest boundary work as a main destigmatization strategy among them. Based on 15 in-depth interviews with Israeli women fans between the ages of 18 and 30, three main distinctions to establish boundaries were detected: between fans and nonfans, between "obsessive" and "normal" fans, and between fans and "appreciators." Through this analysis I work to expose an existing stigma regarding female-dominated fandoms and provide an in-depth analysis of their boundary work mechanisms through specific lenses of gender and age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine how young adults who are consumers of K‐Pop in three culturally diverse cities (Paris, Philadelphia, and Manchester) reshape their symbolic boundaries to face social challenges. Analyzing data from 132 interviews, we show how young adults mainly confront social exclusion in Paris, fight racism in Philadelphia and deal with xenophobia in Manchester. Although K‐Pop adds to the dynamics of exclusion due to being perceived as culturally foreign, our participants use K‐Pop as a resource to reshape social boundaries towards new forms of inclusion. They do this by relying on K‐Pop as a cultural product that promotes inclusion, and on their affiliation with the K‐Pop community on a local and global level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]