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Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the multiple forms of gendered presentability on Indian matrimonial websites. It highlights how gendered marriage identities are constructed at the intersection of self-presentation on matrimonial websites, and self-presentation or self-promotion on Social Networking Services.

Paper long abstract:

The advent and proliferation of matrimonial websites in India has not only initiated new modes of matchmaking but has also raised important questions on how the process of matchmaking, spouse-selection and the arrangement of marriage has been shaped by cyber-technology. This study draws from an ethnographic analysis including intensive case studies, in-depth interviews with working professionals in West Bengal, India who use/have used matrimonial websites to seek spouses to explore the multiple forms of gendered presentability in curating an image of the ‘presentable couple’ through matrimonial advertisements. The digital architecture of select matrimonial websites is such that it reproduces specific forms of socio-normative constructs including shades of skin complexion and body type that culminates in the insidious practise of body shaming, racism, and its intersection with gendered constructions that often transcends the digital realm into the physical realm. It also focuses on how ‘photographs’ on matrimonial profiles are used as a lens for construction of visual optics of presentability and gendered nature of ‘classiness’. Discussions on ‘classiness’ also highlights how gendered expectations can have material consequences. This study initiates discussion on how women relate to marriage via matrimonial websites and the presentation of multiple selves through it. By focusing on the embodied contexts which give rise to these multiple selves, one can supposedly delineate how these multiple selves co-exist to reinforce/challenge normative gendered expectations. Finally, it examines how gendered marriage identities are constructed at the intersection of self-presentation on matrimonial websites, and self-presentation or self-promotion on Social Networking Services.

Keywords: matrimonial website, presentability, gendered identity construction, class, choice, compatibility, social networking services