It’s been a while since I diary-posted here but all of the interesting discussion about online hate-words about women, women bloggers, women on the Internet, etc., make me want to finally post what may be seen as a controversial idea.
I think women, basically, have been trying to use the Internet in a very ineffective way. In fact I think women who hang around the blogs, or have a blog of their own, could do worse than to adopt gender-neutral handles and to use the marvelous new “blind” medium of the Internet to their fullest advantage.
If the men who run these sites are pissing you off, then “disappear.” Make them GUESS about who the women are and what they want. Why should women (and other minorities, for that matter) openly reveal their numbers when they don’t have to, on the Internet? Screw that, I say. And in fact there may already be many many minorities online who are doing just that (and people assume they’re white guys).
I actually did not set out to deliberately choose a gender-neutral handle, but it has been interesting to consider the advantages of one. I have realized that my gender-neutral handle probably has helped me circumvent an unconscious bias that male (perhaps even female) readers have about what a woman has to say.
So that’s the perhaps controversial kernel of my proposition: That women and minorities should stop trying to be “accepted” by the big bloggers, and instead should use the peculiar advantages of the Internet — it’s a “blind” medium — to their especial and subversive advantage in order to drive discussion of real-world issues to where they should be in this day and age.
Keep them guessing, ladies.
when I first started posting under my username, there were a lot of people who were sure I was a drag queen.
Any idea how a “gender-neutral” woman is supposed to talk about the political implications of “his” abortion online and publicly?
How about motherhood and engaging in any discussion of the politics of hospital versus home birth?
How about talking about “his” breast cancer?
Or “his” rape?
So as long as we don’t talk overtly about our firsthand experiences of anything with feminist implications, we can “just” pass as guys.
Yeah, that’ll work.
I am open about my work in the provision of abortion care when writing about the ways in which reproductive justice is threatened by the political machinations of the Christian right. But when they criticize something I’ve written (couldn’t expect to have many fans on that side of the religious divide), they often assume I’m a man.
Even Judie Brown, head of the American Life League, saw this piece from Talk to Action (The Church Lady Speaks) and jumped directly to the conclusion that it was written by a man (and a man who was a Planned Parenthood operative, at that — maybe because I compared her to Dana Carvey ;-).
Your proposition is an interesting one, but I’m not really on board with it.
To me, it seems that hiding my gender is playing into the paradigm that says women’s voices are deserving of less attention or respect.
I appreciate your thinking creatively, however. (I was going to say thinking out side the box, but given the nature of this diary I was afraid that could be interpreted as a bad pun.)
Well, the guys running the blogs and tending the political money machine aren’t inclined to listen to women’s stories about abortion and rape anyway, are they?
Keep in mind, this concept is strictly about online discourse. Women can and should speak loudly and freely about their personal experiences in real life. Open confrontation is always going to be a necessary thing, in real life.
But the Internet is not quite real life. It is a place where people speak in writing and where you do not show your face (unless of course you are video conferencing).
To me, it seems that hiding my gender is playing into the paradigm that says women’s voices are deserving of less attention or respect.
Yes, but that’s where the Internet is being mis-used by women. It’s not as if women’s struggles don’t continue in the work world, or in real-life politics in the form of open confrontation, but this is the Internet we’re talking about. If women use the Internet in a sneaky, subversive way — because they can, because it’s a blind medium — they ARE taking matters into their own hands. That’s empowerment, not “playing into a paradigm.”
It’s just that I see so many women — well-meaning, strong women — wasting their time on the Internet trying to be noticed, to be accepted, to be tolerated, to be respected, and trying to force chauvinists to wear pink for a day. I say forget that part. Make the online chauvinists eat it; don’t play by their rules; SUBVERT their rules if you can gain some sort of real-world advantage that way. Don’t buy into the nonsense that the Internet can be some new, more democratic, more civil virtual society, and then dutifully try to “work hard and play by the rules” – IF you have reason to suspect that the “rules” are rigged. (Not all women think so)
And the same goes for any minorities, not just women.
Use the Internet to change the real world into a better place for women and other disadvantaged groups… by any means necessary. If that means masking your gender in this artificial arena, that option should be on the table as well.
Saying “I am woman” isn’t necessarily always the right way to fight. The Internet offers a unique opportunity for minorities to manipulate the modern-day political system. But you’re not going to manipulate it by hoping the chauvinists will notice you and be nice to you.