The anonymity of the Internet creates an especially interesting phenomenon. Like a never ending masquerade ball, any user can behave exactly how they please. MacKinnon makes an interesting point that culturally constructed phenomena such as gender, sexual relations, communities, or in his case, rape, can be changed, avoided, or otherwise manipulated any way a user or community of users see fit.
What are the results of this ability to construct any social situation anonymously? Is the Internet an utopia where anything is possible and all social evils can be eliminated simply by constructing it that way? Probably not. Hegemonized ideology is next to impossible to eliminate; especially when the users of the Internet propagate common thought anonymously in a virtual world. It is the very anonymity that could help to break down current hegemony that supports it. People who have socially unacceptable beliefs (i.e. racism, sexual deviation, white supremacy, drug use, etc) can comfortably discuss these beliefs and create communities around them without any chance of being discovered as social deviants. Any unsuspecting online user might stumble upon these "comfort" groups and find their own comfort quickly stripped from them for their own social status. Also, the members of these groups may choose to leave their anonymity behind and meet IRL, organizing socially unacceptable behavior.
But let's turn to the subject of gender bending. This particular IRL socially unacceptable behavior is overwhelmingly prevalent online. A woman could switch genders to gain power while a man could switch for sexual exploits. Thanks to the text-based format of the Internet, anyone could be anyone. Fantastic.
****relevant link****
on issues of entitlement:
i posted a picture of myself online and someone took the image and turned it into a lolcat. that's really cool! since i put it up, they're completely entitled to it.
check it out!
this link should work
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1 comment:
It’s an Interesting thought that the anonymity of the Internet enables people with socially unacceptable beliefs to comfortably discuss their viewpoints. This is so true. It must be very comforting for them to be able to speak freely without worrying about judgment being placed upon them. Like you said, it allows them to find other people who share their views, and talk about subjects that they normally won’t converse about out in society.
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