technoculture314-09

On the Internet, most people feel curious to know whether the person they met is male or female. Gender issues on the Internet space are not disappeared. I should say, the biggest charming aspect about the virtual world probably lies in its anonymity, on one side this invisibility provides protection to its users; on the other side, in a certain level several relevant problems like gender roles or gender conflicts also reflected in cyberspace. In creating an online persona, race, color, age, and other visual features will form stereotypes, for example once you type your age is 35, all expectations about you will base on typical stereotypes about a 35 middle age man/woman. Since users could not see someone’s face on the Internet, what you can only see is someone’s words, so the use of language is essential in buiding first impression. For many different reasons, you will select your words, and soon under the situation with some audiences around, you will adjust your language or even the manner of it. Within cyberspace, the anonymity allows an possibility to erasure an “physical body”of ourselves, therefore, what left on the internet is purely “information”. In particular gender, completely turned into pure ficition, and disconnected from the limits of “real”. Internet is often presented as a disembodied medium, a space in which bodies have ceased to matter. Even though our bodies are intimately related to who we are, how we experience ourselves, the dream of transcending this body and achieving immortality persists and is now being remapped in virtual worlds. Under this virtual world, there is potential possibilities to challenge cultural limits, at least stop making sense the usualy way.