‘Potency is important for a real man’: Affective Readings of Shame and Performance Anxiety in Spam Selling Viagra and other Sexuopharmaceuticals

Viagra is a popular topic in spam, but contrary to Pfizer's official marketing of Viagra, little attention has been directed at how the content spam plays into gendered discourse on masculinity and men's sexual performances. This not surprising, if we consider mostly treated as nuisance digital infrastructures. Yet, studies have demonstrated spammers build on, reflect transmit gender ideologies (e.g. Mullany 2004 ; Paasonen 2009 Yu 2014 ). In present paper, contribute insights existing examine promote other sexuopharmaceuticals. Taking our point departure an online archive ( Guenter 2010 ), combine qualitative quantitative methods analyse textual emails. Using TagSpheres models, produced overview most frequent relevant terms which further subject analysis. Drawing Sara Ahmed (2004) , engage affective reading selected emails, generated by randomised samples. analysis, argue that attempt move possible consumers away from legal sale emphasising shame anxiety related procuring While moves consumer methods, invoked encourage envision hypermasculine future, virility everlasting. We discuss findings relation masculinity, arguing capitalise communication- pharmaceutical technologies, whilst taking advertising their ‘functional extremes’ Brunton 2019 : xiv).