The Gendered Internet

I wanted to write this post to build off of two of my previous posts, "Fandom" and "The Binary: Reddit versus Tumblr". After taking a women and gender studies course last year, (and having a genuine passion for feminism), I love to write about just about anything through a gendered lens. I have to admit early on, that this post will take on a personal bias leaning towards a feminist perspective.

I have to admit early on, that this post will take on a personal bias, so there may be sides of the story left untouched for sake of not making this post essay length.

The concept of creating and maintaining a status in society is incredibly important to ensure that the dominant/ruling class can maintain power. I thought it would be interesting to explore this concept by comparing how men and women are treated in subcultures of the internet, especially pertaining to fandom.

As I mentioned in my previous post about fandoms, the concept of fanaticism is one that is almost uniquely applied to females; to be wildly out of control and excited about a topic is not really associated with men. Therefore it reinforces the idea of men being in control, powerful, and calm, while women are out of control and subject to their emotions.

I gave the example of sports fans before, and I thought I would revisit that example. Sports are traditionally associated with masculine traits. Men’s sports are what are dominantly shown and supported on television and in culture, while women’s are not valued as much. However I want to focus on the fanaticism of sports fans. While I want to acknowledge that there are many female fans of sports, I’d just like to reiterate that I’m focusing on men for this part of the post.

The concept of a ‘man cave’ is one that I’ve come across time and time again. The walls are lined with jerseys and autographed photos, bookshelves are lined with different memorabilia. A flat screen TV is mounted on the only clear wall in the room, with a large sofa positioned in front of it. Here we have an entire room devoted to a traditionally masculine activity. To other men who are sports fan, this is something that is cool and something to be envious of. This kind of dedication is admirable, and is something that is generally passed down from father to children.

Now imagine the exact same scene except a sixteen year old girl with One Direction posters on her walls. The scene is changed, and rather than a television, her laptop is permanently open to both Tumblr and Twitter where she runs fan accounts to support the band.

The negative connotations are not only there, but widely spread by both peers on the internet AND the mainstream media.

However I want to go beyond rehashing points I’ve previously made on this blog. I’d like you all, dear readers, to picture one last scene.

A teenage guy, sitting in his bedroom with his laptop in front of him. (Before we advance, get your minds out of the gutter.) He opens his laptop and the last thing on his screen pops up. His favourite anime, which he’s watching again for the 4th time. His walls are lined with posters from the anime series, and he has several action figures perched along the edge of his desk.

Now we have a slightly different scene; a guy doing something that is not traditionally seen as masculine. His favourite anime isn’t one filled with strong male leads, but instead petite, small girls. I had a friend who was in this exact situation when I was in highschool, and though he was actively involved in the fandom community on Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook, he was ostracized in real life. Already being typecast as a ‘nerdy’ kid, his love for anime didn’t help him fend off people ridiculing him for enjoying something seen as feminine.

And here’s where the binary shows its true colours. It’s okay for men to act as masculine and manly on the internet, but the moment they partake in something feminine, the line from ‘cool fan’ to ‘dorky’ gets crossed. Video gaming used to be seen in the same light until mainstream media absorbed it into mainstream culture and made it ‘cool’. (Cough cough, thanks Big Bang Theory. I think.)

It’s amazing just how much power our culture both online, and in the mainstream media holds. It can unite those with similar interests and empower them, all while ostracizing them all the more.

However, the internet also allows users to call others out on unfairly sexist remarks and double standards.

It’s a great example of how the media reinforces gender roles and maintains the dominant ideologies of society. Given that people are able to point things like this out and have it gain traction with thousands of retweets, hopefully this positive use of ‘call-out culture’ will usher us into an age that continues to break down barriers and blur the lines between gender roles.

#gender #socialmedia