Young people's gender and identity work in a Swedish Internet community

One of the most popular Swedish online meeting places is the community portal Lunarstorm, which is visited above all by young people. During the last years, media has described how teenage girls have been contacted at Lunarstorm and lured into sexual activities. This in turn has led to further discussions on the way teenagers present themselves online. The adolescence is a time to explore identity and to find out who one really is. The way to an independent identity goes through experimenting, and it is important to find places where this can be done away from the surveillance of the adult generation. Here, online meeting places may have an important part to fill. This paper is a presentation of a research project (2005-2007) that sets out to study what role Lunarstorm plays in the identity work of young Swedes. It presents the methodological and theoretical points of departure, and summarizes the main findings of the project.