Internet Culture and Gender

Since we were discussing about cyber feminism these past weeks, I found interesting to make a post about this phenomenon which I particularly have noticed that it has been increasing in a website that I frequent a lot.

Many of you have probably heard or even form part of the 9gag community. But for those who don’t “9GAG is the funniest yet simplest platform for you to publish or collect funs”, as the website describes itself. The way this website works is any member can create a post (supposed to be funny) and then submit it. There are 3 categories VOTE, TRENDING and HOT (according to popularity) so the post starts in the VOTE page and the rest of the community votes if it’s funny enough to get to TRENDING and finally HOT.

I first started visiting this website last summer when a friend (female) recommended me; she said it was very funny and quite addictive as well so I decided to take a look. I felt immediately attracted and identified with a lot of the jokes posted on the website and ever since I’ve been frequenting it at least once a day, more or less. At first I couldn’t help noticing that it seemed to be more boys than girls in this community, because there were a lot of male jokes (related with typical problems that boys can experience), posts about women belonging to the kitchen (as a sexist joke), complaining about women or about not having a girlfriend were very popular among the community.  Also there were very often posts about how girls on 9gag were just a myth, since it is considered sort of like a “geek” website. This is very interesting because we can see one more time the construction of “masculinity” through technology, as in the articles we read in class, and somehow being geek is more of a boy’s thing, even the stereotype of a “geek” is directly related with men, you would never describe a geek person as a female, even if there are a lot (self-proclaimed even) geek girls.

After a while posts with the picture of a girl and some kind of note (about loving 9gag for

example) began to appear, as a way to prove that there were, in fact, girls that visited 9gag just as much as boys. The first pictures that appeared were somehow in a sexy way (as we can appreciate in the picture in the right), I can only assume to catch the attention of the voters (mostly men) and get to HOT page. These pictures generated a lot of different reactions among the 9gag male and female users, positive and negative from both sides, but mainly negative as most people thought that was not the place for that kind of post, but instead it should be something funny.

I’m going to be honest and tell you that I have never written a blog before. Now I come to think of it, I do not even know anyone who blogs regularly about their daily lives, travel blogs excluded. Being someone who clearly doesn’t know a lot about blogging, I started to google the word ‘blog’ and came across something interesting about the word blog which I would like to share with you.

Ever wondered where the word ‘blog’ came from? I think we all know that the word blog is short for weblog, a word introduced by a guy named Jorn Barger to describe the process of ‘logging the web’. I started wondering why we call it a blog when the word weblog is clearly constructed of the words ‘web’ and ‘log’. After some more research I came to find that a guy named Peter Merholz jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog on his own blog. This short term caught on and since then the word weblog has been abbreviated to blog.

After stumbling about this little fact about the word blogging, I started to randomly visit some blogs to see what people in general would blog about and a thing I noticed while surfing for blogs, is that women blog more often than men. Nothing new there. What I observed too though, is that when men blog it is a more pragmatic blog, i.e. a travel blog to keep everyone updated at once. I spent some time looking around a blogging website set up just for men (http://www.blokesontheblog.co.uk) and noticed that besides blogging for practical reasons, blogs by men tend to be more about ‘educated’ subjects, like work issues, politics and finance. And sports. Blogging about and discussing sports on the internet seems a domain dominated by men. Also, what came to mind is that the men’s blog usually go with a lot of humour and self-mockery, which makes them amusing to read.

As opposed to men’s blogs, women’s blogs about their daily lives seem less focused to me.  What I mean is that men usually pick one subject or situation and write a blog about that while women’s blogs tend to be more of a general description of their day or a situation, often lacking a good point or conclusion. I think this might be what annoys me most in reading women’s blogs. There is no point, no punch line, no good oneliner to close it off.

Not wanting to be associated with pointless girls might be one of the reasons I don’t keep a blog.

Who are you? How are you presenting yourself?

Key questions where people consciously or unconsciously deal with every day. However in the current society can the ‘real identity’ be a lot different from the way you might profile yourself online. Due to the anonymity and the disembodied online environment the internet has become a place where people can shape and reinvent new identities. No matter how you profile yourself, this will be a continuous process influenced by the interactions with the online social environment.

Some say that this environment provides the opportunity for people to express one’s hidden true selves, others state that the internet is a place where people can pretend. I can personally agree with both statements to some extend. In my opinion it might depend on the level of anonymity in a social network to what extent people can reshape their identity. However the most important reason is probably the way you want or don’t want to profile yourself in a public environment.

Take Facebook for example, users provide a lot of personal information on this medium and try to present the real self. However, is this really the real self? Can we say that we are not influenced by the way society thinks we are? What about sense of belonging? And more importantly, aren’t we influenced by the fact that Facebook is a public environment? I think that I can speak for all of us that we try to filter the personal information available online and therefore indirectly influence our online identity.

This seems to be different in blogging. The perceived anonymity of the online world might be the reason for this. Bloggers can hide their identity and write at a distance from their readers. I used perceived anonymity, because a lot of bloggers do (un)consciously reveal personal information. They use blogs as a way of self-expression in a form of personal entries which are an extension of the real world. Why would authors choose to share their personal information in such an environment? I would think that anonymity would make bloggers feel more comfortable while revealing this type of personal or intimate information. Do they actually believe they can be private online?

This is even more the case for blogs written by females. Their blogs tend to contain more personal experiences, whereas men more often write about facts. Their blogs about sports, careers, politics or games are usually less intimate. However, this is not necessarily because they want to hide their identity but mostly because of interest.

No matter what gender we are of what kind of social media we use.. aren’t we all just seeking for representations of who we are, as well as a confirmation of those representations by our “friends”?

I thought about this word and I thought about Feminism. What is the aim and what is the way they go to reach this aim? Who is fighting for what kind of rights? And what role does the internet play?

Cyberfeminism seems to me like a comeback for the “common” Feminism since this term is tainted with stereotypes and negative images. Cyberfeminism makes use of the new technology though and so there is a whole new space and target group for the movement online. Cyberfeminists see the modern technologies as a key to the new social and economic reorganization that seems to affect the position of women in a positive way.

But I asked myself what kind of women does it really affect, who participates? To be part of the movement, a woman has to have both internet and computer access, knowledge how to use a computer and the internet and she even has to have the ability to write. That excludes a lot of women and because of that fact one can guess who is a part of the Cyberfeminism: white, privileged critics.

Also the term “Cyberfeminism” is already a paradoxical term: since a big issue is that every woman is different and unique, why is there then a common term that makes the diversity more and more invisible? When there are different trends of it, how can Cyberfeminism NOT be repressive?

Certainly it is a positive effect that women can intercommunicate and work on one aim but I think even on the internet, there are still too many stereotyped female role models. The internet is not a free medium and the social attributions of the “real” world are still partly valid, even if they are altered and weakened. Nevertheless, the cyberspace is a virtual world, where unprecedented opportunities to produce and obtain the most incredible visions are possible.

BUT related to this fact, there is another big benefit in the cyberspace. Whoever is sitting in front of a computer, is connected to the virtual world and produces a reality with his/her words. And this reality meets other people on the internet and becomes something like a “virtual reality”. An important fact at this, is that this reality can also be an experiment. It is not about “plain” gender switching, everyone can experiment with his/her gender roles, because it is less dangerous and less complicated in the virtual world. That opens new doors and possibilities, because there are totally new creations of identity possible and in the end the gender would not really be recognizable. A life career can be a mix of a lot of life careers, because there is a freedom of identity construction and the usual permitted and demanded forms and names (e.g. account names, profile names, etc.) do not count anymore.

So in the end, I think that cyberfeminism is not against persons or ideologies but against structures. They search for alternative ways and an escape for the power structures online. That is why I think cyberfeminism does not work with usual ways of “rebellion” but with arts and irony. Because it is not a conventional movement, it has to change and adapt all the new technologies and developments in a short time. And I think art is a “voice” that can handle the quick change and still convey the main message.

What is the role of a feminist blog? Do these blogs exists to simply educate followers or can they also be used to create social change?

One of the more popular blogs that comes to mind is Lipstick Feminists on tumblr (click here for another entry discussing gender and tumblr). Under the description of Lipsticks Feminists, it states:

This is a feminist blog focusing on current events, pop culture, queer and race issues, and sex. We smash patriarchy and the gender binary here.

Lipstick Feminists covers a lot of different topics in politics, media, and everyday life. Some of the entries address more subtle forms of inequality whereas other entries tackle more obvious forms of inequality. An example of a subtle form can be seen in some of the more recent blog posts. Recently, some of these posts have been discussing inequality in regard to the block-buster hit movie, The Hunger Games. One post in particular examines critics’ discussions of the physique of the lead actor and actress . Before reading this entry, one may not see the inequality that exists, but after examining these posts it becomes more evident that, yes, inequality likely does exist in regard to this popular movie.

Some entries take on a more serious undertone and address issues such as sexual assault and rape. For example, one blog entry begins with multiple pictures of the same woman with different writing on her face in each picture. In one picture, the writing says, “You’re just over-reacting;” while another states, “Short skirt. Tits out. What do you expect?” This entry (although reblogged from another user) is tagged as Rape, Rape Culture, and Victim Blaming and attempts to address the common misconceptions about rape (i.e. it is the victim’s fault rather than the perpetrator’s).

One thing that is particularly fascinating about this blog is that it works to end the myth that feminists believe that all men are misogynistic and sexist. On March 22^nd, the video Shit Men Say To Men Who Say Shit to Women on the Street was reblogged from another user (see here). The video title is pretty self-explanatory in that it addresses street harassment and the role that men can play in ending this harassment. The part that resonates the most is the quote at the end of the post – “Men can smash patriarchy too.”

For the past two years that I have been on tumblr, I have been following Lipstick Feminists. I can only truly speak subjectively about this, but the context that is discussed has really opened my eyes to a lot of issues that are not typically discussed in other forms of media. Before following this blog, I identified as a feminist and that was all. I would occasionally cite material that I had learned in some of my gender and psychology courses, but that was as far as my knowledge went. After a couple years of following this blog, I believe I am more well-versed on gender issues and am able to identify myself as a third-wave feminist who can honestly say that I care about achieving equality and social change (and have taken action on those beliefs).

That is why I believe blogs like this are so important. Not only have I, as well as many others, learned more about feminism as a whole, but many people have been able to learn more about the current events that occur that involve the feminist movement as a whole. With this knowledge, people like myself have been able to re-direct their thinking and dedicate their time to help end inequality. Ultimately, I really do believe that a blog like this can be used to educate and empower women and men to strive for social change and equality.

Rule 30 of the internet states, among other things, that there are no girls on the internet. The thing with the rules of the internet is that these rules are not dictated by one internet leader, but these rules are norms that someone has put in writing. The history of this particular rule begins in the time when the internet was new and slow. Different sites such as this claims that in those days the internet was a complicated thing, and not a lot of women, and not a lot of men either, had the time and interest to use it. Then somehow the rule didn’t change when the internet did.

Many others have also thought about this rule, for example this woman who have experienced the rule hands on. She also says that the assumption of not being any girls on the internet has influenced her offline life. The interesting thing about this rule is the fact that it seems to only apply to certain formus, chats and online games. I doubt anyone would point to rule 30 on facebook, twitter or a blog. So in reality everybody knows there are girls on the internet, but certain people might want to believe there not being any. Why would they want to believe this? Perhaps the internet is seen as “alone time” and a place to get in touch with other men who is also having “alone time”. That could be why men don’t want to believe in girls on the internet.

When being asked to write a blog post, my first reaction was “What?! When was my last blogging?”

Blogging, is somehow being an “old fashion” terms now when everyone just enjoy using facebook and twitter. Before the prevalence of Facebook, people used to blog a lot. And everybody should at least have a Xanga and keep track on others’ Xanga by subscribing it. I don’t know if everybody know this blog host but it used to very famous in Hong Kong. People mostly kept saying what they did on that day and sometimes writing some poems about their emotion, love and life. However, when Facebook come, everybody switched from Xanga to Facebook. Apart from the benefit of creating the social network not only in the real life but also in virtual world, short status seems to be easier and readable comparing with blogs. Also, Facebook somehow is more effective to show who you are than blogging.

After reading this article Gender Differences: Men vs. Women on Facebook , I have few question coming up: Does girls Facebook more than boys? Does gender a reason for different kind of Facebook behaviour? Does Facebook being a tool to promote yourself and attract somebody else?

In the article, the author stated girls have more post on wall than boys. It’s easily result in girls talk more than boys. Is it really true? In my observation, it’s true to some extent. Girls are more likely to share their feelings with others on facebook. They like to show where they’ve been and what they did with the “Check In” function. But boys are also active on facebook in other ways. For example, they like to share others’ post, picture, songs, videos etc and comment on it. They specifically like to share pictures contain jokes from 9gag.com (constructed by Hong Kong people) to show how humorous they are. Also, they love to comment on political issues. I must admit that boys do it much more than girls.

Facebook is multi-functional. It’s an identity, a mirror of yourself in this virtual world. Make you being visible all the time. It allows you to describe yourself in detail, for example, interest, music,hobbies etc. Through showing your communication with others like photos and wall post, people get to know you more. That’s why I said Facebook is much more reflecting yourself than blogging. In other words, it’s  a tool to for you to attract others’ “eyeball”.  As the article said, some women even check  up on their ex on facebook. I must admit that some girls really do so, even for me. But I don’t think things go too extreme. Sometimes, people are just curious about the life of their ex without him/her. Facebook is undoubtedly a good way to know one’s relationship status. Some girls may even show their photos of daily life more on Facebook to tell everyone that she is still well without men, at the same time, declaring she is single and well available. Will boys do so? Yes, but in other ways. For example, post some music , say something encouraging , click “attending” on more party event etc.

Boys and Girls may have certain difference Facebook behaviour but somehow they have the same goal.

We’ve been talking about blogging during the lectures and I started to think why people actually blog. The main idea of course, is to share thoughts, ideas and opinions but blogging can also be used as a “tool” to affect other people’s views or to advertise something. The Internet provides a new space to share these kinds of things, and enables millions of people to see the texts and material that a blogger posts.

But why is blogging so popular nowadays? As a non-blogger it’s hard for me to see the reasons for the growing appeal of blogging. Maybe it’s the opportunity to be heard or just a way to express ones point of view on life. This depends surely on the blogger and maybe on the sex as well. I’m definite that I’d get a lot of different answers if I asked a group of bloggers why do they actually blog. For example female fashion bloggers would probably say that they want to give advice and to be seen whereas male bloggers would want to share opinions. This, however, is a stereotypical assumption.

There’s a variety of blogs and every blogger has their own subject and motivation for writing. Blogs can for example concern hobbies, political ideas, music, religious views, fashion, travelling, arts etc. The list is endless and I’ve even come across a blog that dealt with cheating – so everything is possible in the world of blogging. The common assumption is that blogs are gendered; we expect female bloggers to have a fashion blog or a diary-like blog that reveals their dreams and hopes and tells about their lives in general. Male bloggers, however, are expected to blog about sports, computer games and that kind of things.

It is true that blogs seem to be gendered, but how can we know? Writing online is so anonymous that it’s hard to tell if a blog is written by a man or a woman. Even though a blog would contain a lot of pictures of the hypothetical writer, you’d never know if the writer really is who she or he claims to be. One exception, however, is if the blogger has become a celebrity because of the blogging –then you’d know (for example Perez Hilton). Regardless of the gender-related expectations of blogging, there are some exceptions as well: for example a boy blogging about fashion or a girl writing a blog about gaming. Refreshing, isn’t it!?

I’ve never been into blogging but I do read other peoples blogs. I just don’t want to have a blog because it’s just a strange thought for me that for example people that I don’t know would be able to read my thoughts and ideas and then comment on them. Plus I’d probably be the worst blogger ever, because I’d never remember to write anything. I think it’s just better for me to stick to Facebook and write a couple of short statuses per week and share them with people I know. That’s more natural for me –the whole world won’t see my ideas. Maybe I’m a different kind of girl because I don’t want to blog?