One of the topics often discussed in this course is the development of femininity and masculinity on the internet, specifically on social media typed websites, blogs and in chat room settings.\u00a0 Many times on blogging sites such as Tumblr and Blogspot, bloggers are able to change the design of their background to suit their personal liking. Some will choose to design their own using a template and changing around the color scheme to meet their personal needs. My blog, which I like to keep private (I have disable searching for the blog on the internet via search engines. The only people that can read it are those whom I have given the link to.) is a travel themed blog, so I have tried to keep with that theme and use one of the templates that blogspot provides for me. Many times the usage of certain colors or images can give away a person\u2019s gender, or can lead the reader to assume a certain gender. For example if a pink and purple background comes up with an image of a kitten or a puppy, most readers are going to assume the writer is a female. Also, lighter shades of blues and greens may lead the reader to believe that the writer is a female. Darker colors such as red, navy blues and deep greens may lead the reader to believe that they are reading a male\u2019s blog. For example, here are links to two different blogs. Both of them are celebrity based blogs the first a male the second a female.<\/p>\n
1.) http:\/\/mrtrohman.tumblr.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n 2.) http:\/\/hellogiggles.com<\/a><\/p>\n The second blog, hellogiggles.com, is a blog that Zooey Dechanel (an American actress, seen in the tv show New Girl on Fox as well as the movie 500 Days of Summer) is credited with helping to start. I stumbled upon this blog through reading an article about Zooey (http:\/\/omg.yahoo.com\/blogs\/aline\/zooey-deschanel-bullied-being-chubby-kid-013328376.html<\/a> ). Zooey is a great role model for girls: she\u2019s strong, she\u2019s smart and embraces who she is and she\u2019s also very feminine. The main page of hellogiggles.com lead me to this article: http:\/\/hellogiggles.com\/being-feminine-doesnt-make-me-weak<\/a>. \u00a0The article brings up an excellent point about everyday life that I think can also relate to the world of the internet in regards to building gender in a profile, specifically in my personal reaction to the article we will have read for class \u201cOh No! I\u2019m a Nerd.\u201d<\/p>\n In the article for class, the author discusses how not many women were on the MUD site she studied and that the men tried to make themselves seem masculine amongst a group of men who were seen as not masculine by the society around them. In actuality there may have been women on that website that were using tactics to downplay their femininity so they would not seem weaker to the men on the site. Unfortunately, women have been viewed in societies as weaker than men. This is something that is changing around the world, however is historically built into the past of many cultures and is still at the forefront of others.<\/p>\n If we take a look at some of the more influential women in society today, many of them have tried to make themselves more like men in their field of work, which has helped gain them success in the work place. Hilary Clinton, former First Lady of the United States and current Secretary of State, is rarely seen in a skirt or dress. Same with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. Their outfits are not men’s suits however they are usually viewed in a woman\u2019s PANT suit.<\/p>\n The hellogiggles article proves that dressing femininely and portraying a feminine appearance doesn\u2019t make you weak. It does lead to a bigger surprise when you do something which has a more masculine association, such as lifting heavy boxes or talking politics, or even designing your blog\u2019s background. So maybe add a touch of femininity to a professional blog about architecture or politics if you\u2019re a girl. It may even make someone take you more seriously because after viewing a background they get one idea and then after reading your posts have another about you and what you have to offer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the topics often discussed in this course is the development of femininity and masculinity on the internet, specifically on social media typed websites, blogs and in chat room settings.\u00a0 Many times on blogging sites such as Tumblr and … Continue reading