Consumption practices are an important indicator of masculine and feminine self-presentation. Not only material commodities, but also cultural activities and preferences are chosen to express certain symbolic meanings. In other words, people may consume particular products for their sign-value (for what they signify) rather than use-value (usefulness) qualities (Baudrillard’s, 1981). At the same time, individuals are not passive receivers of cultural information but play an active role in their self-creation project by adopting meanings that are adequate to their personal beliefs (Giddens, 1991). They have an ability to reflect and critically assess cultural concepts and modify them according to personal tastes. This part of the study focuses upon participants’ Cultural Self, their cultural preferences and consumption choices. People engage with symbolic consumption to sustain desirable connections with others and to mark their group identity (Wattanasuwan, 2005). Similarly, in the context of this paper, consumption choices are understood through this lens of communication system that reflects participants’ desired masculine identities.

Users, by revealing on Facebook profiles their cultural preferences such as favourite books, movies, music or sport, construct and sustain their sense of self. People make consumption choices that reflect and sustain particular symbolic meanings and cultural tastes. Thus, investigating these personal interests allows tracing hegemonic concepts that contribute to creation and validation of people’s gender identities.

This paper focuses upon experiences of being a man and highlights a need to recognise a plurality of masculinities. Each person has his very own understanding of reality that is influenced by self-reflexivity as well as external factors such as age, class, ethnicity, sexuality or cultural influences. Consequently, treating gender in totalising terms appears to be an irrational practice. This investigation exposes new meanings and a complexity in symbolic patterns of gender consumption where questioning common assumptions about gender by making them unnatural and strange can challenge people’s experiences and expectations. The awkward notion of masculinity is produced in two ways: by promoting hegemonic ideologies and by its accidental and careless entering into the lives of young people. Thus, this paper might be a stimulus for academics, teachers and students to unlearn stereotypical thinking and to grasp an alternative understanding of gender ideologies in order to negotiate homogeneous facets of masculinity. This process of unlearning what is familiar becomes an important aspect of developing new perspectives and knowledge. Many people do not see beyond the gender matrix, ignoring the possibility of differentiation and variation. Nowadays, people have to be encouraged to explore and critically think about alternative masculinities because treating gender in monolithic and totalising terms distorts understanding of social relations and self-identity.

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