Pranking and Culture Jamming

I thought the topic for this week was really interesting - I especially thought the Barbie Liberation Organization Organization was awesome - of course I had noticed that kid's toys are very gendered, but what the two talking toys say really reinforces certain cultural values - Barbie: 'i love shopping,' 'can we ever have enough clothes' is a pretty blatant advert for capitalist consumption and the G.I. Joes promote and glorify war even more through their speech. I think hearing the words coming from the wrong mouth [ie. hearing a Barbie promote violence and war] could also have the effect of highlighting this. I found this clip about the BLO - if anyone else finds other news items, or any interviews with parents from that time, they'd be great to see. Listen to what the kids say about the G.I. Joe.

Another site about pranking and culture jamming was also interesting to explore.

And given that we haven't had much [haha, ok, any] discussion this week I thought I'd put the link for adbusters here too - it is definitely worth a look.

Next Level Article: Some additional comments

I spent the weekend interviewing a few of my well known gaming friends. My discussions gave me a good insight into the representation of women in a range of games which I will share with you. I myself do not play any games ( apart from solitaire!) and was really shocked and disgusted by some of the things that are in current day games. Below is a brief summary of some of the games and the representations of women in them.

WOW ( world of warcraft)

• Female characters are barely covered with armour so as to accentuate the female body for male gamers
• Male characters in contrast are given full body armour

Age of Conan

• Includes topless female 3D characters and promotes female nudity

Grand Theft Auto

• This game passed the classification boards at first instance despite the fact that there is an actual intercourse section of the game.
• The game allows characters to pick up hookers, attend strip clubs and register and brothels

From my understanding, the gaming industry does not seem to be progressing in terms of representing women in a non sexual, objectified manner. It amazes me how there are strict policies enforced in the workplace about computer savers or desktops having females in swimsuits however no stringent laws apply to the production of games. There seems to be a real blurring of reality and fantasy within actual games despite the fact that most games imitate reality. In essence, the games seem to reflect a modern day reality without any law and order, where brothels and hookers are available and where women are always exploited. I don't mean to sound like a nagging protester but some of these games are truly terrible!

ethics of porn on the net.... SERENA

Hi All,
Reading about sex and pornography is not something i really expected to do at uni but i found this article intriguing. In fact i'm sure we all enjoyed reading this article (?) The reason i say that is because in a classroom setting (and in many social circles) the topic of porn is tabu!! Am i right? And i believe that we certainly (as humans) have the desire to be risky and understand something we may otherwise know nothing about.
This article outlines the demographic of who, where, how, and why internet porn is being accessed and who is making it.
WHO: the general consenses is that porn is made for the middle aged heterosexual male who holds fantasies of sexually active and available women. However, during research for this article it is found that porn on the net can be somewhat liberating for those who have varied tastes in sexual preferences. During the 70s and 80s porn was found in magazines and on video and generally contained images of a limited female body type. Now that porn is on the net and is 70% of it is amateur porn it seems to 'cater' for a wider audience. Now, those who share particular 'fetishes' can share them and find like-minded folk.
A large part of this article talks about the fact that people can now make their own porn and experience exhibitionist attributes at first hand. "The internet has allowed a remarkable blurring of the categories of 'publisher', 'distributer', 'performer' and 'consumer'". The article explores the desire to voluntarily immerse oneself in 'interactive pornography' and states that with this avenue women especially are increasingly more comfortable to perform sexual acts that they had previously only ever fantasied about... ie: group sex, lesbian sex, oral etc.
WHERE: The question of porn invading the home through the internet is raised. In the past access to porn was available through magazines and video's bought from adult shops but now that many households have internet access porn becomes part of the private sphere. This has its up sides and its downsides. Firstly, of course there is more comfort in the private sphere... who would not rather using the simple click of a mouse to access porn rather than entering an adult shop and all its stigma attached? Unfortunately though, feminists argue that porn 'is a perverse outsider forcing its way into suburban homes'.
I close with this quote from the article: " Undoubtedly, the internet facilitates anonymous sexual experimentation. Whether it is seen as a positive or a negative factor will depend on your point of view".

Please feel welcome to start up some conversations about this article and your thoughts on it as i will be regularly checking the blog this week.
Thanks.

Tutorial Presentation: The Good, the Bad, and the Virtual

The ethical issues surrounding mediums like print and television media have been complicated with the onset of the internet. This new form of media has radically changed the presentation of information and therefore has brought a new set of ethical dilemmas. Ethics are standards of behaviour that are ‘right’. In The Good, the Bad and the Virtual, Mark Poster highlights many of the concerns critics shares over the internet; “the new medium will undermine the ethical basis of society”. Poster notes how internet sites are “easy to construct and cheap to maintain”, enabling people to display sites that have ‘disturbing material’. In this ‘age of information’, it raises a number of questions over the ethical systems online and more importantly, do they exist?.

The ethical and moral elements of journalism have been altered online. The internet is a very different medium compared to print media. Print and Television media are usually limited geographically as they are mainly distributed locally (i.e. city, state, country). Certain codes of ethics must be complied to ensure journalists attain and present information in a fair and unbiased way. Although this does not always happen, journalists are held accountable via these forms of media. The internet, on the other hand, is widely accessible. There is also anonymity on the internet as anyone can write news items. Similar ethical issues arise with the presentation of information. Mark Poster referred to a semi-code of ethics which exists on the internet, known as ‘netiquette’. However, he further stated that “the practice of coaching newbies in the ways of netiquette could not keep up”. To see some of the rules, you may want to view this webiste on netiquette. This system of ethics is difficult to maintain on such a large scale and is almost impossible to police. Consequently, there is broad spectrum of views and information presented on the internet, often biased. The anonymity has generated a greater sense of freedom to say what you want, no matter how offensive. Pornography is also more widely accessible on the net. Do you think that the ethical elements behind pornography have changed online? If so, how?

An ethical issue raised online is the distortion of identities. Poster identified a case involving FBI agents who posed as underage girls in chat rooms to catch potential sex-offenders. However, when they caught the perpetrator, he was released based on the argument “that his actions ‘were grounded in an online fantasy world’ and were not reprehensible morally and legally” (Miller 1999). This clearly illustrates how the ethical dimensions radically change online with the separation of worlds into ‘virtual’ and ‘real’. Poster further stated how the justice system “accepted the distinction between real and virtual pedophilia”. Do you think there should be a world wide system of ethics that applies to everyone?

Because characteristics of the internet differ from the traditional forms of media, ethical systems have been thought to be medium-specific. A number of complexities arise from using the internet as the boundaries between the public and private sphere are blurred. Mark Poster notes in his article, that what was previously confined to the private sphere has overflowed into the public via the net. An example of this was a sex change operation which was video recorded and posted on a webcam. This raised a number of ethical issues, including questions regarding censorship on the net. Do you think it was ethical to allow for this operation to be broadcast on the World Wide Web? Do you think ethical systems should be medium-specific?

Thus, the expansion of the internet has given rise to many ethical dilemmas in cyberspace. Do you think ethical systems exist online?

Hi everyone!

Great post on the ICERED convention. I think the law really struggles to deal with racism under the Racial Discrimination Act, which only covers racism ( overt) in the workplace. I liked your summary of the problem the law encounters with defining boundaries. I remember studying a case in law, where an employee had received offensive emails which he found to be racist. He was unsuccessful in arguing workplace racism under the racial discrimination act because the law did not recognise cyberspace as a space for racism.

This week, I have been attending interviews for full time work next year. I came across an interesting article on Patriarchy and capitalism by Anne Witz. I will post the citation ASAP. She suggests that both concepts of patriarchy and capitalism are connected and that the introduction of technology in the workplace has further marginalised women and has resulted in creating gender segregation in the workplace. Thoughts anyone?

Also- This morning (11/9/08) I missed a snip on sunrise on a woman ( top CEO) who blamed female employees for increasing the gap between male and female pay in the workplace. Did anyone catch this?

Enjoy the weekend,

Rohini :)

(Week 7)Presentation--Hong Kong Cyberculture: A case study

The article can also be found online from the website: http://www.hku.hk/hkcsp/ccex/ehkcss01/issue3_ar_amy_lai.htm

The article gave the basic sense of conflict between freedom and privacy in cyberspace from the introduction, but Lai’s was not going to argue about the freedom vs. privacy, instead, she was using the online forum, “ICERED”, as the example to explore Hong Kong cyberculture and drew onto discussion about “cyberdemocracy”.

(Also, there are some details about the “E-Silkroad Holdings” and how the privacy of Iceredders became explored legally in this website below, particular in the section of “Legal News From Around the World”:
http://www.hk-lawyer.com/2001-7/July01-news.htm#Legal News )

Lai’s first argument was about the domination in cyberspace, and she suggested that there was a boundary between people who had college education and who had not for the access on the internet. In the case of “ICERED”, at the beginning, it was obviously dominated by those top universities in the U.S., like Oxford University. There was also a rating for all posted articles, according to the English level based on the degrees of, such as, grammatical and expressional concerns, and comment, like “Your English sucks” was very common. This was seen as a discrimination issue, and as the disaffection from people associated with other universities, like Hong Kong University, increased, the website opened wider for more scholars.
I suppose the domination in cyberspace was not good, as it had marginal on people from other groups which might probably be the majority as well. I am glad to know it became more openedly for more people, so that more different comments could be shared.

Also, Lai pointed out that the Internet was a “racialized” space, emphasized the existence of “whiteness”. Whenever there was a topic related to racial identity, the Iceredders would use the ideal physical feature of the particular race, like skin color, to classify other racial groups as well as their own, in both assailing and defending situations. As the connection between racial identity and the physical body was so strong, and even the Iceredders were all invisible, race did not disappear online.
This is so true, and it gave me some more ideas about the relationship between our bodies and online.

Then, Lai led to the cyber related sexuality and gender concerns. She believed that within this dis-embodied space, the gender identity was being re-embodied with greater homogeneity rather than a new form of identity. Therefore, men and women both were stereotyped, for example, the idea of men being as the “sex-hunters" and they paid and used women for sex. She also mentioned about the dating relationship from the online chatting. The issues of sexual harassment and abuse were also considered. Moreover, the gay and lesbian was a controversial topic, for moral concern was involved, though the internet gave a way for people to discuss about it. However, many differences existed between the West and most Asia countries, so the national (or more accurately, the regional) boundaries for the culture were quite clear. Also, Lyotard suggested that the technologies could reinforce traditional hierarchical structures and sometimes it could even subvert it.
I really agree with Lai's argument on the cyber related sexuality and gender issues. Especially for the topic of gay and lesbian, personally I don't have a problem with it, even though I am not one. But as an Asian, I understand why it is controvisal, as it againsts the traditional cultural structure in most Asian countries, i.e., the patrilineage system. It then becomes sensitive and many people in Asia think that the internet can actually "advertise" it to teenagers, I do think this is a problem. When I was younger I knew less and I used to feel lost and unsure about things arounded me. However, again, the internet is part of the media and so ethic and morality issues included in it will be on-going subjects to discuss.

Lai, then, talked about Multi-user Object Oriented (MOO) identity, which related to people’s lives online and spending less time in their “real” life with families and friends. Many people were trying to hold on to their online identities and refused to believe what they did not want to see offline. In some extreme case, it caused to the loss of contact with the real world.
This is a real problem in Hong Kong, and couple years before there was actually a teenage boy killed himself because of the loss of weapons from an online computer game. By this case, we can see how "addicted" online can affect people and make them become confused in the virtual cyberspace. However, I think getting online is certainly having some benefits on our lives, for instant, it is convinent for passing and receiving information, it is just that we have to be careful when getting information from it.

In the conclusion, Lai did a comparison on the “ICERED” from Singapore section to Hong Kong.

General Sharing--Weird Dreams

I had been dreaming of cyborgs these few nights, and one of them really scared me as the cyborg in my dream was called Yanbi--the same name of my younger sister!! So the first thing I did after I woke up was saying to myself that "Yanbi, my sister, is not a cyborg!"Personally I am so frightened to see myself as a cyborg, and so do people who are important in my life. I would try as best as I can just to prove that I am not a cyborg, and I really think that there are many differences from a "cyborg" to a human.

Also, technology is processed by human and machines are created by peopleI remember my classmate in college used to ask the question: Does computer cleverer than our brains? And many of us answered "Yes!" immediately as we had the concern of the capacities that computer can achieve to our daily lives. However, the person who used to ask the question kept saying "No! That's wrong. Who invented computer then?" Yeah, I agreed with him finally, it has got to be someone to invent it, so that should be true.Indeed, I would say my life and experience in it are always affected by technology either in good or bad ways, or in both. But something that inside me are still uniquely existing, like emotion and feeling. I believe that they can never be taken place by technology.Techology has also got its limitation, and so there are still nothing can be the alternative of some important organs and blood in human body.

Back to my dreams, I guess the reason why I am so frightened is that cyborg can mean to me as a less human being in the world, and it can really mix up my sense of identity as being a human.