Webbing Global * Identities
I continue to plow through stacks of literature, and came across this fascinating article called, "Under the Rainbow Flag: Webbing Global Gay Identities," (by Bettina, et al., International Journal of Sexuality and Gender Studies, 2002) which presents a "cultural symbol analysis and visual imagery content analysis" of a number of GLBT web sites.
Really interesting article in a number of ways. I'm struck by the similarities-- and differences -- between the WS-groups I'm looking at, and the GLBT groups in the article, as both are using the Web to shape identities across national boundaries. Here's an excerpt:
"“Certainly, strong thematic similarities and value orientations become apparent among these sites, most notably an enthusiastic embrace of new electronic technologies to link individuals and to bring them out of the isolation of closeted lives into a network of others like them. The loneliness of GLBT lives; the frustration of lacking local, national, or transnational queer histories; and the need for safe, reliable information to make GLBT lives simpler and safer are long-standing themes in GLBT literatures and oral histories around the globe. The ways that GLBT individuals engineer and design the Web sites used in this analysis reflect these needs. Linking individuals for potential dyadic relationships, for group-based political advocacy, or for resources purposes appears a primary aim of these sites. Together, these sites also manifest the existence of a global queer space. Although these sites reveal strong differences – in colors, in language used, in themes, in Web design, and so forth – they also constitute a globally linked space created and maintained by sexual minority members of various national backgrounds. These linkages exist in the form of actual electronic connections, joint symbols (e.g., rainbow flag), joint language (e.g., local adaptations or homonyms of ‘gay’), exchange of news items, and global activism campaigns (e.g., an Internet user in the United States can case a ‘vote’ on a German GLBT Web site). Images of GLBT people from across the world, the strongest antidote to the invisibility of sexual minority members, can be retrieved with a few keyboard strokes.”
Setting aside for a moment the nasty "loneliness" comment in this passage, it would be fairly easy to substitute WS here for GLBT. Of course, making such a substitution reveals the subtle way that the authors assume GLBT-folks connecting via the web is a Very Good Thing(tm), not an assumption one is likely to share about WS-folks connecting via the web.
What does all this mean? From my perspective, it means that there are some abstractions to be made about identity-formation on the web among marginalized groups.
Really interesting article in a number of ways. I'm struck by the similarities-- and differences -- between the WS-groups I'm looking at, and the GLBT groups in the article, as both are using the Web to shape identities across national boundaries. Here's an excerpt:
"“Certainly, strong thematic similarities and value orientations become apparent among these sites, most notably an enthusiastic embrace of new electronic technologies to link individuals and to bring them out of the isolation of closeted lives into a network of others like them. The loneliness of GLBT lives; the frustration of lacking local, national, or transnational queer histories; and the need for safe, reliable information to make GLBT lives simpler and safer are long-standing themes in GLBT literatures and oral histories around the globe. The ways that GLBT individuals engineer and design the Web sites used in this analysis reflect these needs. Linking individuals for potential dyadic relationships, for group-based political advocacy, or for resources purposes appears a primary aim of these sites. Together, these sites also manifest the existence of a global queer space. Although these sites reveal strong differences – in colors, in language used, in themes, in Web design, and so forth – they also constitute a globally linked space created and maintained by sexual minority members of various national backgrounds. These linkages exist in the form of actual electronic connections, joint symbols (e.g., rainbow flag), joint language (e.g., local adaptations or homonyms of ‘gay’), exchange of news items, and global activism campaigns (e.g., an Internet user in the United States can case a ‘vote’ on a German GLBT Web site). Images of GLBT people from across the world, the strongest antidote to the invisibility of sexual minority members, can be retrieved with a few keyboard strokes.”
Setting aside for a moment the nasty "loneliness" comment in this passage, it would be fairly easy to substitute WS here for GLBT. Of course, making such a substitution reveals the subtle way that the authors assume GLBT-folks connecting via the web is a Very Good Thing(tm), not an assumption one is likely to share about WS-folks connecting via the web.
What does all this mean? From my perspective, it means that there are some abstractions to be made about identity-formation on the web among marginalized groups.
posted by Jessie Daniels at
5:01 PM
