Das margens do rio à tela do celular: Iracemas do Século XXI e suas experiências na busca amorosa online em Fortaleza/CE

Abstract

This thesis examines the narratives of young women living in the city of Fortaleza, Ceará—aged between 18 and 25—regarding their uses, perceptions, and experiences in the online search for partners through the dating application Tinder, and how, from the collected accounts, we can access their desires, anxieties, dilemmas, contradictions, and ways of loving and being loved in contemporary times. Popularized in Brazil in the mid-2010s, dating apps have reshaped the ways in which the search for a potential romantic partner takes place, adding complexity to this pursuit and offering analytical elements that are relevant to Sociology. Unlike most studies on the topic, this thesis seeks to deepen the understanding of the local context in which women make use of these media, drawing on literature on origin myths, family, and patriarchy in Ceará. Methodologically, the researcher entered the universe of Tinder and, through it, began interactions with the interlocutors during the year 2020, maintaining frequent contact with them until mid-2023. Based on the research findings, the thesis problematization was constructed, beginning with the contextualization of the interlocutors, in which a reference to Iracema—José de Alencar’s character—was developed, considering the multiple references to her that shape both the urban and symbolic spaces of the city. Beyond her sexualization, Iracema crystallizes a model of femininity associated with surrender and sacrifice, elements that constitute gender technologies (LAURETIS, 1984) marked by renunciation and devotion to the other. We present Iracema as a living myth (ELIADE, 1972) connected to “prescriptions” of what it means to be a woman—especially a Northeastern woman—particularly regarding what they should desire and how they should love, within a national and local context shaped by patriarchy. Problematizing this history is essential for understanding how these affective pedagogies—crafted in the intertwining of enchantment and pain—shape the emotions, expectations, and modes of loving among these young women. Finally, it was observed that the interlocutors occupy a kind of in-between space: they aspire to more horizontal romantic relationships—an aspiration that emerges from internal conversations in which they seek to understand both their own trajectories and those of the people close to them—yet they are still influenced by an emotional culture that holds the romantic partner as an ideal. In a violently patriarchal culture, they continue to accept practices that place them in situations of vulnerability.