Author(s): Casey Berger
Mentor(s): Connie Etter
Institution Westminster
This exploratory research is guided by the researcher's personal experience of watching gore from the age of 12 and recently overhearing high schoolers talking about watching suicide videos. This research explores why boys engage with shock and gore content and how it impacts their constructive performances of masculinity in adolescence. Through an analysis of 28 survey responses, this research looks to explore gore-watching as a form of peer bonding, looking to expand and connect research on gore and shock videos into masculinity studies. While some scholars have acknowledged adolescent shock and gore viewing (Hedberg, 2022; Ito et al., 2009; Jones, 2010; Kennedy & Smith, 2013), few have noted it's gendered aspect but have not developed their findings beyond observation (Cottee, 2022; Paasonen, 2017). To my knowledge, this is the first in-depth exploration of this phenomenon. Narratives of gore-watching emerged to show boys engaged with this practice as a form of homosocial bonding, gender role discrepancy alleviation, and desensitization for competition, humor, and rebellion (Neilson et al., 2020; O’Neil 2008). By sharing a chosen trauma, boys were able to relate to one another and prove their masculinity through restricting their emotion and glorifying violence (Murer & Schwarze, 2020). Competition and humor became a way to prove maturity through desensitization. To have no reaction or find gore videos funny became a way to be more manly than others or to share insider humor. Boys rebelled by watching these videos, engaging in gore as forbidden content to feel more mature and go against authority figures. By engaging in these hypermasculine compensatory acts, boys were able to perform masculinities to their peers; they were celebrated in their local peer settings by conforming to standards of restrictive emotionality and the glorification of violence. Moreover, this study highlights how these practices are not isolated incidents but are reflective of broader societal norms regarding masculinity and emotional expression, where hypermasculine compensatory behaviors are employed to alleviate feelings of inadequacy and conflict during critical gender role transitions (O’Neil, 2008). As participants navigated their formative years, gore-watching became a strategy to conform to hegemonic standards, with implications for performing masculinity through violence and emotional restriction (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005). This research underscores the necessity for further examination of how digital content consumption influences adolescent identities, particularly in relation to gendered socialization processes and the emotional landscapes of young men (Berger, 2024).