In Text as Mask: Gender, Play, and Performance on the Internet by Brenda Danet there are many concepts that I would never have even thought of. One being that people are using cyberspace, IRC’s (internet relay chats) & MUD’s as an area to play around with gender and sexuality. In everyday life (in public that is) it is very difficult to mask your gender because of the fact that gender is “the culturally established correlates of sex” (Danet, pg 131). On the web it is very easy for one to say that they are a male when in reality they are a female. This gives the person room to say what they want with out feeling like they are being judged because of their sexuality.
Previously this was happening in the movies and in the end of the movie the rest of the characters would always find out that the man or woman who was playing the opposite sex is not who they say they are. Such movies are M. Butterfly, The Crying Game, and a more well known movie, Mrs. Doubtfire are a few examples of this. On cyberspace if the person doesn’t want to be found out they don’t have to be, they enjoy the ability to speak freely. Ways in which they are making this possible is choosing gender neutral nicknames in chat rooms so that they are unidentifiable to other people in the chat rooms.
There are still many questions that researchers are concerned about as this is such a new territory for many people. I know I hadn’t ever heard of this or would ever think of this. Some of the questions have to do with why people are so interested in being gender neutral on the internet, or when does textual crossdresssing succeed and when does it break down and why? (Danet, 148) Topics and questions that I think will come out in the near future have to do with when is the person classified or will they classify themselves as a transgender?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I think that the idea of text as a mask is fascinating. People are different online than who they really are. It's not 100% certain that others will agree, but I know that I am a lot more comfortable saying whatever I want knowing that no one will know my true identity. I don't know why it is. I know that I am not dumb, and that what I have to say for the most part is of value, but it's just the way that I feel. I don't think that I would use text to hide my gender though. I understand why some people do, like the women in the political chat rooms, but nothing that I participate in really calls for such a need. I think for me, it's more of a shyness issue.
Post a Comment