Abstract

A significant part of interpersonal communication increasingly takes place in new media environments as face-to-face interaction decreases. Accordingly, representation becomes more and more mediated inasmuch as new media allow their users to substantially convey their self-image and the imagery of their values and perceptions. New media interaction is, for an important portion of their users, a tool for creating, shaping, communicating, and sharing self-image. The images transferred in new media convey messages about gender whether they are directly intended by the user or not. The purpose of the article is to examine the images of masculinity conveyed by new media users who post in the Turkish language and to analyze these images as they infer the gendered worldview of patriarchal culture. Concordantly, one hundred photographs are chosen through random sampling of the visual material posted on the social network Instagram under the hashtag “#adamgibiadam” (a common expression in the Turkish language that literally translates to “a man like a man,” meaning “man’s man” or “manly man”). The visual material and their textual components are analyzed through the method of critical hermeneutic reading. The findings of the article compile gender-based images and offer a glance into the perceptions of masculinity in Turkish society.