Who's who in whoville
I found myself getting way too engaged with Meez. Not only did I make a character opposite from myself I also made a character that is very similar to myself. For the character opposite myself I tried to model him after an active strong older male. I toyed with his looks and setting many times, he was a sports fan, a hippy, but I ultimately decided to have him be a snowboarder. I did this because I’m not a fan of either winter or winter sports, the though of snowboarding makes me cringe. As I played around with this guy’s looks I found myself creating a story for him. Who is he? What kind of job does he have? What are his likes and dislikes? I think that he is a macho guy, so I think he would prone to “flaming” in online conversations. In Cyberliteracy, Gurak says that “flaming is often a male style of communication” (p. 72). A classic flame would be “assertive, sarcastic, and rood to boot” (Gurak, p. 73). After reading Gurak I found it very interesting to read the following quote in Turkle: “In other words, for Case, if you are assertive as a man, it is coded as ‘being a bastard.’ If you are assertive as a woman, it is coded as ‘modern and together.’” It really made me think, if I as a woman make sarcastic strong remarks, but if a guy does it he’s a “bastard!” I’m really enjoying contemplating gender roles online.
Comments
I found your comment on the different ways that assertiveness is viewed by people of the opposite gender very interesting. I also found Turkle's quote to be very interesting. I think that the difference occurs because women have and are still trying to have a voice in society. So, if they sound assertive, that means that they are confident and strong which are two characteristics that were mainly found in men over the course of history. I think that it's just a transition of how men and women used to communicate and the way that they are currently communicating. I really think that flaming is more of a men's type of communication because men are encouraged to be assertive and competitive. Women, on the other hand, are usually taught to be indirect, polite, and nurturing. So I think that the flaming style of communication really stems down to the ways in which people are taught to express themselves.
Posted by: Natalya Goncharova | February 9, 2007 12:42 PM
I agree to about the gener roles. It is for certain that when women get too opinionated, they often get branded as the architypical bitch.
Posted by: Slet0056 | February 10, 2007 02:07 PM
I agree to about the gener roles. It is for certain that when women get too opinionated, they often get branded as the architypical bitch.
Posted by: Slet0056 | February 10, 2007 02:08 PM
I liked your quote “In other words, for Case, if you are assertive as a man, it is coded as ‘being a bastard.’ If you are assertive as a woman, it is coded as ‘modern and together.’”
This is quite a change from decades past when the world viewed women who wore red lipstick and spoke up for themselves as loose, uneducated, and deviants.
Perhaps woman are gaining respect online (opposed to what Gurak writes about).
People can't attach stereotypes to others so easily if they can't actually see the person, but can only read their words. However- creating an avatar gives others the opportunity to 'judge' that person based on how they look and how they represent themselves. Skip any imagery and we're back with just words- unbiased- raceless- ageless- genderless words.
Good post.
Julie
Posted by: Julie Swenson | February 11, 2007 07:11 PM