Critical Annoted Webilography

Discuss some of the issues raised by the Visible Human Project about the embodiment of race, class and gender.


On the Internet, people doesn’t need to show their physical bodies or face to face interaction to others, so there is no characterization of Internet online users’ race, class and gender, and hence to reduce much more discrimination or marginalization between different class, race, sexuality and gender in the virtual world than in the physical world. However, nowadays many websites or forums require people to classify their gender, class and race before doing the registration of the website.
I am going to discuss some reasons about people always think that the embodiment of physical identity in cyberspace is good to us and a problem of showing your race on the net.


Firstly, it should be realized that what the reason of using virtual body and the meaning of virtual body is. In the article, “The Body in Cyberspace: Invented, Morphed, Generated, Dismissed”, written by Roberto Simanowksi stated that the physical body is of no consequence - communication is reduced to the word as body-free representation of the Self. This opportunity to leave the body behind may be felt as liberation since body inscriptions such as age, gender, race and social class can no longer rule communication, though the relation and interdependency between body and Self is certainly not eliminated. However, this disembodiment did not cause people to forget the body. In contrast to the letter and the book, in digital media one can observe the desire to reconnect the Self with its body. [1] Therefore, it could be suggested that there is a desire for bodyness in digital media, a desire for a digital substitution, a need for a virtual body.


T.L.Taylor’s article argued that new forms of embodiment push online users to think about their corporeal bodies, but they sometimes find, or create, an aspect of themselves that was previously unrealized. Ultimately, these moves raise the stakes on what the nature of these spaces are. If I can embody, I can be made deeply real.[2] His statement can explain the popular phenomenon of the embodiment in virtual worlds and most online users don’t think that it is a problem because they still have their freedoms to choose their preference identities, which are different from their inherent physical appearances.


Since the online world provides a choice or users to determine which sex, sexuality preference and sexual characteristics they would like to embody. In each online encounter, a user ultimately has the opportunity to interchange which identity they would like to portray. In the article, “Sexual Identity Online” written by Femke Mason, he pointed out that the apperances of virtual sex with different people, without physicla interaction. In cyberspace, one’s sexual prowess, dysfunctionality, confusion, genitalia and many more aspects, all become blurred and are only defined by the user. Herein again questions of truth are raised, particularly in reference to online dating and virtual sex. Virtual sex allows for a certain freedom of expression, of physical presentation and of experimentation beyond one’s own real-life limits. At its best, it not only complicates but drastically unsettles the division between mind, body and self that has become a comfortable truism in Western metaphysics.[3] Cyber sex can provide a place for users to explore desires which are taboo, embarrassing or dangerous for offline life (bisexually, exhibitionism, group sex and promiscuity.) , and it makes heterosexual women feel safer and more confident in their experimentation with alternative sex practices.


Furthermore, giving a virtual name and reputation are necessary to express some ideas or opinions on the websites, forums and newsgroups and the way to show your identity. In the article, “Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community” written by Kollock, P. and Smith M., they illustrated the use of doing that because Identity plays a key role in motivating people to actively participate in newsgroup discussions. People feel a desire or obligation to help individuals and to contribute to the group. Building reputation and establishing one's online identity provides a great deal of motivation. There are people who expend enormous amounts of energy on a newsgroup: answering questions, quelling arguments, maintaining. Their names - and reputations - are well-known to the readers of the group. In most newsgroups, reputation is enhanced by posting intelligent and interesting comments, while in some others it is enhanced by posting rude flames or snide and cutting observations.[4] Although the rules of conduct are different, the ultimate effect is the same that reputation is enhanced by contributing remarks of the type admired by the group. To the writer seeking to be better known, a clearly recognizable display of identity is especially important.


On the other hand, the embodiement on the online learning platform , without face to face interaction, which can avoid showing embrassment or stressful or nevious to the others. In the article, “Issues of embodiment and risk in online learning”, written by Ray Land, he illustrated an example about the professor’s approving or disapproving response might carry some emotional weight, but it would be much less intimidating to offer a comment and get a reaction from the professor if one had never met the professor and was not in her presence. Online learning’s limitations where embodiment is concerned, namely the absence of face to face learning, can lead to a stunting of students’ learning, curtailing their development to a stage merely of ‘competence’, as opposed to ‘proficiency’ or ‘expertise’.[5]


In addition, it is obvious that the identification of race in some newsgroups may be discriminated by others, seem like in the reality. In the article, “Reading Race Online: Discovering Racial Identity in Usenet Discussions”, written by Byron Burkhalte, he mentioned that each soc.culture newsgroup concerns a particular racial or cultural group around which members organize their participation. One aspect of participation are the subject lines in soc.culture groups which quite often mention a cultural, racial, or ethnic name, term in bringing a topic up for discussion. Even potentially race-neutral topics are made race-relevant in subject lines. For example, an SCAA discussion about women not properly appreciating "men who treat them right" was titled "Sisters please explain." "Sisters" here isbeing an idiomatic reference to African-American women. In this way, the topic is framed as a question to African-Americans. Through the use of such "cultural frames" discussions start with an explicit connection to a specific racial topic.[6] The problem of discrimination of race can be seen on the net, so it should be concerned that whether it is necessary to show the own race in cyberspace or not.


To conclude, cyberspace offer us to create multiple identities freely, the embodiment of race, class and gender really make us to reinforce our virtual preferences, desires to be more real. Indeed, cyberspace protects online users to avoid embarrassment when rejecting someone’s request or someone’s request being rejected, direct physical harm when some argues is hold on the net. Moreover, users can express their opinions or anything they want to say on the net, but they do get a respect to the others significantly, especially avoid the discrimination, isolation and insulting minority or marginalized groups in the community.

Footnotes:

[1]Roberto Simanowksi.“The Body in Cyberspace: Invented, Morphed, Generated, Dismissed”, (April 2003).
http://www.brown.edu/Research/dichtung-digital/2003/parisconnection/durieu-review.htm (accessed 30/03/08).

[2] T.L. Taylor. “Living Digitally: embodiment in Virtual Worlds”, London, (2002), p.58.
http://www.itu.dk/~tltaylor/papers/Taylor-LivingDigitally.pdf (accessed 30/03/08).

[3] Femke Mason. “sexual Identity Online”, (September 2004).
http://wiki.media-culture.org.au/index.php/Sexual_Identity_Online
(accessed 30/03/08).

[4] Kollock, P. and Smith M. “Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community”,

(November, 1996).

http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html
(accessed 30/03/08).

[5] Ray Land. “Issues of Embodiment and Risk in Online Learning”, Coventry University UK, (2004), p.533.
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/procs/pdf/land.pdf
(accessed 30/03/08).

[6] Byron Burkhalter. “Reading Race Online: Discovering Racial Identity in Usenet Discussions”, University of California, (January 1997).
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/grads/burkhalt/RRO.htm (accessed 30/03/08).

By Gabriel To