Gossip, drama, and technology: how South Asian American young women negotiate gender on and offline

Gossip, defined as evaluative talk about a third party, is a powerful tool for establishing in- and out-group norms and determining belonging. Drama, a form of gossip that is evolving in online spaces, is the process of fighting back against gossip and rumors designed to isolate and ostracise. While literature commonly portrays women as victims or perpetrators of gossip and drama, it rarely examines the potential for evaluative talk as a form of resistance. This article presents a case study of how one young Bangladeshi-American woman uses both gossip and drama to both resist oppressive gender norms and to reinforce her ideas about gender, faith, and culture. Drawing on ethnographic interview data, the paper seeks to elucidate how young women use social network sites like Facebook to negotiate gendered norms associated with individual and collective identity in immigrant communities.