Sexual identity is such a big part of who we are as human beings, so it does not surprise me that it is such a big deal online as well. Especially now that many people seem to live on the internet. In the study done by Huffaker & Calvert (2005) , they found that the majority of blogging is done by adolescents. It is a way to express their thoughts and find who they are, but unlike real life, online gives teens more room to explore and discover their sexual identity. “Within the social interactionist perspective, adolescents take on the roles of others through playful stances where they assume different perspectives, thereby allowing them to try on different facets of who they will become” Huffaker & Calvert (2005). One of the points that Huffaker & Calvert (2005) also brought up regarding gender was the use of emotions. More females used emotions when writing than males. Yet, males were more likely to use emotions when talking to females than talking to males. Now that I think of it, it seems that it is pretty much the same case offline. Males are more likely to open up to females than to another male. In the Grasmuck, Martin & Zhao (2009) study regarding racial identiy on facebook, research suggested that self-presentations varied according to the nature of the settings: People tend to “play-act” at being someone else in anonymous settings and be more “realistic and honest” in nonymous environments. It was very interesting to see that “African Americans, Latinos, and Indian ancestry students project a visual self that is dramatically more social, they invest more frequently and intensively in displaying a cultural self marked by specific consumer and popular cultural preferences, and they invest more in the direct “about me” narrations than do Vietnamese or white students” Grasmuck, Martin & Zhao (2009). This was because it gave them empowerment and freedom to express who they really were. I do notice that in my facebook my Latino and African American friends, and even some Asian friends do express more cultural aspects about themselves than my white facebook friends. When it comes to race and gender, I do not think it is something we think about regularly, but once in a while we do think about. For this class, for example emotions, I have seen and thought that mostly I see females use a smiley in the chat sessions. However, I also noticed that there are more females and males so that could be the culprit. =(
3 thoughts on “Blog # VIII- Race and Gender”
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Do you think differences in communication by gender are different online than they are offline? One of the supposed benefits of computer-mediated communicaton was the breaking down of certain social barriers, including gender bias. Yet, at least some of the research disputes this. Men and women seem to communicate online the way they do offline.
As for use of emoticons, I use smiley faces quite a bit in my emails at work. But I’ll be the first to admit that I am more likely to use a smiley face in an email to a woman than I am to a man. And if I do use one, I generally use it in an informal email to a laterally positioned colleague. I won’t use it when sending something to a superior.
I think the statistics that showed that blogging is predominately done by adolescents follows with the same demographics that once kept journals/diaries. I’m sure that age as it relates to amount of “free time” plays a huge factor, with adolescents having access to computers and time to blog. I wasn’t able to pull up any useful information with a google search, but most of the girls kept journals when I was in middle school, and none of my adult friends do now. A few have blogs, but update only infrequently and usually only keep it for one year or less, stemming from major life changes like moving across country, buying a home, or having a child.
I agree that a lot of people believe sexual identity is a big part of who we are. Nevertheless, it does not make it any easier to pin-point a fake online identity made by an individual. Someone online can easily pose as a trustworthy member of society when they are no where close to trustworthy in real life. For example, in an episode of George Lopez, a big deal was made about online identities and how they can easily be altered. This is a good example of why people have to be careful about who they trust while online as well as in real life.