I’ve been wanting to do something with gender and online life for a while now. The idea of mis/representation, self-construction, and performance fascinates me, especially in respect to that slippery question of gender. I’d love to perform a little semi-experiment and sign up to wiki (or something) with 3 accounts: one somehow coded female, one male, and one “neutral” – and see what happens. I’d probably need 3 different isp addresses, though, wouldn’t I? Perhaps different forums, just to see what sort of commentary/reception I’d get based on a friggin’ username. That fascinates me – I tend not to participate in forums and whatnot, but I’ve heard tell of feminine sounding monikers getting sexist reception, and I wonder if that’s still the case, and if so where? (that of course would have nothing to do with a wiki article, but I find it a cool idea)
Are there different “areas” of the internet that are coded for gender? I’m not talking about sites that explicitly concern themselves with a gender issue (eg feminist blogs or something) but things that ideally should not give two hoots about what’s between the user’s legs. (in meatspace or cyberspace, leaving room for those ubersophisticated personae some create)
Some of the sources I’ve found so far concern gender rep and gaming, which looks interesting, but I’m not sure how much time I have to delve into gamer cultures. And yet “gender representation online” is far too general. I’m terribly amused by the salon.com Broadsheet comment threads (it’s like Doritos and fritos all in one!). Seeing the battling of misogyny, indifference, feminisms, etc and *performed* stances (eg, acting like a d**che just to annoy people, instead of it being indicative of an actual opinion^).
I’m not sure if that last point could result in anything valid – the performance and receptions of gender in spaces that ostensibly represent free exchanges of thought and opinion, unhampered by social problems…but in are reality prey to them just as much as face to face exchanges.
Another idea would be the presence of 3rd-wave feminism online. I’m interested in feminst history, and now-story, if you pardon the cuteness….there’s a plethora of blogs, sites, for a(e?) and more for the 3rd waver and beyond. I haven’t read any scholarship in this area *yet* but I’ve been throwing the idea around. Sounds like it might need some more direction, though, and I’d welcome suggestions if this sounds like a valid area.
^some of us call this playing devil’s advocate. I go for the gusto, instead.
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4 comments:
I would like to hear how your trip to Mexico went. I would also like to hear your findings on what happens with the 3 isp names. Good topic.
sue
hey sue! it went well - you can see the adventures under "zomblog" up on the right hand side of my blog...
i dunno if the 3 diff isp's will work...i may try it some day, but now i'm seriously considering something a little less labor intensive, given my workload and pesky thing called life which always seems to pop up when i have a good idea ;)
I'm guessing you're back from your trip. You'll have to tell me about it.
"Are there different “areas” of the internet that are coded for gender?"
I think so. During my -brief- investigation of anonymous porn tracking on 4chan, it came to my attention that the majority of people taking place in conversations were sexually frustrated guys.
you can relive the magic - check "zomblog" on the links area if you want to supplement my yammering :)
i figured porn posts would be a more male-oriented area (not to be sexist, but well...eh). and that's a whole 'nother can of worms - but dont' get me started on the interplay of genders and titillating material.
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