{"resolved":true,"match_type":"uuid","source_type":"original_book","book_id":"d1c31cd8-6afd-4ea5-b7b0-085c26a4e406","title":"Curation in the Age of Platform Capitalism  The Value of Selection, Narration, and Expertise in New Media Cultures","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9781032023007","requested_by":"printed_page","book":{"source_type":"original_book","book_id":"d1c31cd8-6afd-4ea5-b7b0-085c26a4e406","id":"d1c31cd8-6afd-4ea5-b7b0-085c26a4e406","uuid":"d1c31cd8-6afd-4ea5-b7b0-085c26a4e406","title":"Curation in the Age of Platform Capitalism  The Value of Selection, Narration, and Expertise in New Media Cultures","normalized_title":"curationintheageofplatformcapitalismthevalueofselectionnarrationandexpertiseinnewmediacultures","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9781032023007","isbns":["9781032023007","9781032023014","9781003182801"],"parsed":true,"ai_readable":true,"document_type":"book","page_count":177,"navigation_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/d1c31cd8-6afd-4ea5-b7b0-085c26a4e406","title_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/title/Curation%20in%20the%20Age%20of%20Platform%20Capitalism%20%20The%20Value%20of%20Selection%2C%20Narration%2C%20and%20Expertise%20in%20New%20Media%20Cultures","fixed_page_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/d1c31cd8-6afd-4ea5-b7b0-085c26a4e406/page/{printed_page}","path_api_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/book/d1c31cd8-6afd-4ea5-b7b0-085c26a4e406/page/{printed_page}","read_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/read/d1c31cd8-6afd-4ea5-b7b0-085c26a4e406","page_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/d1c31cd8-6afd-4ea5-b7b0-085c26a4e406/page","search_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/d1c31cd8-6afd-4ea5-b7b0-085c26a4e406/search"},"page":{"printed_page":148,"pdf_page":158,"physical_index":158,"physical_index_base":0,"printed_page_status":"recognized","page_sha256":"82ea79f496ba2653cf675f2bbe5849b2024d006993bd4b1ef9742a89ec53b174"},"chapter":"CURATION IN THE AGE OF PLATFORM CAPITALISM","content":"Furthermore, apart from helping to build one’s career or family, which are the eternal standards of success in capitalist modernity, male coaching promises that by properly curating sexuality and intimacy a man can further have more and better fun. From a miserable nerd, the man can transform into a muscled and desirable entrepreneur, such as Jef Bezos who often acts as a regulatory example. While, as stated in the previous section, indulgence is framed in life coaching cultures as less productive, in male coaching the concept of “fun” is recurrently brought up as it not only promises pleasure fixes, which are in turn expressive of a charming, powerful, and dominant lifestyle, but also “trains” men to approach and relate with women (O’Neill, 2018). This training has a productive side as it can eventually help them to conquer the woman of their dreams (who can then be their wife).17 To fulfil similar demands, dating and flirting coaches have to teach men various tricks. The proper communication style then is broken down into a set of learnable instructions that streamline and rationalize romantic exchange stripping away the contingency or awkward and improvised moments. This is typical of all courses, seminars, bootcamps, and books on men’s dating I came across, which generally purport to teach men “how to approach women […], what to say, how to say it, and […] how to respond to her questions and her tests” (Wayne, 2013: 5). The experience of the instructor as a self-proclaimed master on flirting, dating, and relationships here again certifies that there is a “script that works”, which, if followed, will aford clients with an abundance of dating options.\n\nThe discursive construction of “abundance”, that is to say the maximization of choice, is here a fundamental pillar and can even constitute the end point of the men’s journey. In general, in order to succeed, a man needs to have a lot, not only in terms of money but also in terms of dating; the more the better. The dating apps have drastically inflated the institution (or illusion) of choice, which is a fundamental pillar of liberalism, including, at least in theory, the possibility of sourcing up from an infinite pool of potential partners. As Illouz eloquently puts it,\n\nChoice—sexual, consumer, or emotional—is the chief trope under which the self and the will in liberal polities are organized. To have a modern or late-modern self is to exercise choice and to increase the subjective experience of choice. Choice is the trope of selfhood linking freedom to the economic and emotional realms; it is the main modality of subjectivity in the consumer and sexual realms.\n\n(2021: 27)\n\n148\n\nCultures of Platform Capitalism","previous_page":147,"next_page":149}