Performing femininity: Comparing self-presentation on childcare and sugar dating platforms

IF 4.6 1区文学 Q1 COMMUNICATION

New Media & Society Pub Date : 2026-05-07 DOI:10.1177/14614448261446587

Elief Vandevenne, Margherita Di Cicco

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The platformization of feminized labor such as childcare and sugar dating introduces new mechanisms for reproducing gender inequalities. On platforms like Babysits and Seeking, visibility determines access to jobs, requiring workers to strategically curate their self-presentation. Drawing on a thematic content analysis of 800 worker biographies from Brussels and Milan, this article examines how workers navigate gendered platform affordances through digital self-branding. We identify three strategies: (1) constructing an authentic self to cultivate trust and credibility, (2) leveraging transitional life stages (e.g. studying, migration) to signal both affordability and aspiration, and (3) adopting stereotypical feminine traits to align with platform logics and user expectations. We argue that self-branding functions as a gendered survival strategy in feminized digital labor markets, employed by workers to reframe reproductive labor as skilled, complex, and capability-intensive. It converts relational, emotional, and gendered performances into client-recognized value, while managing platform incentives and reputational risks.

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表现女性气质：比较在育儿和糖约会平台上的自我表现

育儿和糖约会等女性化劳动的平台化引入了再现性别不平等的新机制。在像Babysits和Seeking这样的平台上，能见度决定了获得工作的机会，这就要求员工有策略地策划自己的自我展示。通过对来自布鲁塞尔和米兰的800名员工传记的主题内容分析，本文研究了员工如何通过数字自我品牌来驾驭性别化的平台。我们确定了三种策略：(1)构建真实的自我以培养信任和可信度；(2)利用过渡阶段（如学习、移民）来表明负担能力和愿望；(3)采用刻板的女性特征来与平台逻辑和用户期望保持一致。我们认为，在女性化的数字劳动力市场中，自我品牌是一种性别化的生存策略，被工人用来将生殖劳动重新定义为熟练、复杂和能力密集型的劳动。它将关系、情感和性别绩效转化为客户认可的价值，同时管理平台激励和声誉风险。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

New Media & Society COMMUNICATION-

CiteScore

12.70

自引率

8.00%

发文量

274

期刊介绍： New Media & Society engages in critical discussions of the key issues arising from the scale and speed of new media development, drawing on a wide range of disciplinary perspectives and on both theoretical and empirical research. The journal includes contributions on: -the individual and the social, the cultural and the political dimensions of new media -the global and local dimensions of the relationship between media and social change -contemporary as well as historical developments -the implications and impacts of, as well as the determinants and obstacles to, media change the relationship between theory, policy and practice.