Identity in a Digital World: Rebecca Reyes -- Wiki Post

Digital Identities within the LGBTQ Community

Identity is no longer something that exists in the physical sense. With the increase of digital technology, we now have digital identities. “The digital world has created a new domain separate and yet embedded within several aspects of our lives—a domain where one can create an identity as one uses those technological features and contributes to the digital world, whether one knows it or not”[1]. This domain has acted as a platform to speak for and against causes, to create connections across space and time, and to learn more about the self through interacting with the interaction of technology.

Digital identities do not just belong to one person. A digital identity belongs to everyone. The individual is never entirely individual. There are external forces at play that either work for or against them. “Identities as narratives are never created out of whole cloth, never uniquely individual, but rather each narrative is a retelling, an act of social interaction, a positioned intervention in the shared, contested narratives of a given culture”[2].

There are so many limits set upon each person based off race, culture, economic class, region, family relations, sexual orientation, gender, etc. While some may argue that they determine who they are in spite of those limits, society still plays such a large role in how a person begins to define themselves and how they are defined by the outside world. Society labels others under certain categories. When seen under a particular classification, there are numerous of stereotypes, discriminations, advantages, privileges, etc. that direct which path that an individual is able to walk.

Within the LGBTQ community, there have been many instances where an individual’s voice online is the only means by which others will hear what they need to say. From coming out videos on YouTube to advocating for political change—the LGBTQ community has found that they can create an identity that is validated and seen through digital media. Although there are still many who discriminate and abuse, digital media has allowed for the LGBTQ community to create a rhetorical space where individuals can be remembered, become stronger individuals, and create a positive change for those who have been marginalized for their sexual orientation.

Marginalization of the LGBTQ Community

Heteronomativity is the framework by which society is built upon. Any sexual orientation or swaying from the gender binary is abnormal. For individuals in the LGBTQ community, their “abnormality” in sexual orientation or gender identification has left them to experience numerous discriminations, violence, stereotypes, and omission from history.

When being discriminated against, the LGBTQ community has been known to take the blame for their ridicule and abuse. For example, in a World of Warcraft, an online blog was created to support the LGBTQ players of WoW. When they were banned to prevent potential abuse, one user supportive of this ban defended the action by claiming, “You can do 2 things to prevent abuse: either do not provoke them by not advertising as LGBTQ friendly, or just ignore the bigots”[3]. Thus, those who are a part of this community must hide their true identity because they are part of a group of people that do not follow the heteronormative framework of a game that does not require for the characters to be gendered. This is just one instance of how the LGBTQ community has been marginalized online. Structuring these individuals as responsible for their abuse takes away responsibility from a society that is unaccepting of diversity. Although the LGBTQ community may be the minority, it does not imply that they are inferior to the majority.

The LGBTQ community has taken steps to begin to make homosexuality and gender fluidity not just a tolerated but an accepted part of society. Much of this work has been done through digital media as individuals have forged and sustained minority identities.

Making the Invisible Visible

Microblogging

Microblogging is the practice of posting online through text, photos, or videos. It also includes the sharing, or reblogging, of material that may or may not be your own. With this, content is seen by more than just an individual’s inner circle—it is accessible to all of the public. Online sites have become a means by which minority groups are able to counter the narrative of the past that may have been omitted. In the LBGTQ community, there are histories that are more than just the official historical records and archives that we currently have.

One form of microblogging allows for online identities to combat/contrast what an identity is perceived as offline. Termed lifestreaming—“a rhetorical act of streaming documents, texts, and visuals to curate an imagined and real self”—individuals post material they feel embodies who their true selves are while simultaneously combatting inequality². With the advancement of technology, social media has turned digital photography into a literacy practice. Lifestreaming is both an archive and an outlet for political, social, and personal change. The moment someone posts a selfie, a status, or blog, their story becomes accessible to the public. Through this digital literacy practice, we see that “there’s an identity beyond the physical body”².

Tumblr is one of the more well-known forms of microblogging. In this website, photographs and texts are used as a means for many individuals to provide counter-narratives to the identities that society has given them. One group of individuals in the LGBTQ community who has taken advantage of this form of identity creation is the younger generation. As LGBTQ youth, lifestreaming has opened up the opportunity to provide “topographies of visual representation to write a self that felt most real to them. Identities in which their sexuality and gender, alongside of their youth status, were not peripheral to their everyday lives, but central”². Many youth see the discrimination taking place or are experiencing bullying for their sexual orientation. Lifestreaming opens up an avenue to express themselves to people who may be more accepting than those they experience in the physical world and also offers an opportunity to change the narrow views of those around them.

Social Media

In every event, there are always multiple perspectives. However, the perspective that is usually the dominantly heard one is that of people in power. The LGBTQ community has been one that has not seen much acceptance. Because of that, there has been bisexual erasure—the omitting of any homosexuality in history. To fight back against this, gay communities have created groups on social media that allow for archiving as a means of providing a counter-narrative to the history that has been written.

The purpose of these groups is to create a community of belonging through notions of the past and shared experiences (both past and present). This allows for communities to share their stories, sometimes giving alternative perspectives of historical events. With the collective memories of many, this form of digital archiving gives members a means of connection, validation, and maintenance of their diverse sexual identities through a platform accessible to anyone⁵. Because of its public availability, people who are not a part of this community can begin to understand the history of other individuals whom they would have otherwise never known. It is a form of rewriting history and opening up the door of validity for groups that are typically marginalized and whose voices are ignored.

Being in these groups gives minorities and marginalized groups agency. Not only that, but history transforms from the standard linear sender-message-receiver into an interactive setting where participants have the capacity to reframe, add to, adjust, and contribute to this record. From that, individuals gain a sense of attachment to this community, developing their own communal and personal identities in a way that fosters belonging through recognition

Other social media websites, such as Grindr, have been used and are being used to rewrite stereotypes from the past that were unrightfully given. However, while some websites may be helping, not all are progressive towards building a positive identity for the LGBTQ identity.

“The stigma of promiscuity in gay male culture has roots in the respectability politics of internal responses to AIDS, as well as homophobic responses from outside the community, and continues to haunt discourses of gay male sexuality”[4]. During the AIDS epidemic, the gay community received a large part of the blame because of their “promiscuous” and “hypersexual” practices. Bathhouses, random hook ups, public sexual acts, etc. were all acts that contributed to this epidemic and were all acts that were primarily committed by the queer community, or at least, that’s how the public made it seem since it was a highly heteronormative society. The reputation of promiscuity has led the gay community to aim towards an image of “appearing just like them (heterosexuals) through sexual moderation, monogamy and the disavowal of deviant sexual subcultures”⁴. With apps such as Grindr, this makes it very difficult for the LGBT community to release themselves from this stigma.

Although the LGBT community has scaled their way towards acceptance, “this acceptance is conditioned on creating a public image of group maturation where being gay is no longer associated with a sexual culture”⁴. However, some may argue that doing so is just assimilating to the heteronormative framework that this community is working against. Websites such as Grindr have proven how the perceptions of those that do/do not use this app are affecting/reaffirming the stereotypical identities of the LGBT community. The past haunts many of us. We must understand the LGBTQ community’s social and historical contexts in order to understand how we think of it now.

Activism

Individuals hold a lot of power through technology. It is a platform by which change can and has occurred. Users have taken advantage of the public accessibility in order to advocate for social and political change.

In society, there has been a normalization of using certain language as an insult. This language contains words that are also used to describe the gay community. Words such as “gay” and “faggot” are commonly used to insult an individual. Saying it in this context implies that being gay is something that is bad. “Gamer lingo” is what is mostly heard when playing games online. This lingo is the normalization of offensive words. Some argue that it is just “game talk” and does not mean anything, but studies have shown that there is a high number of homophobic players^3.Gamer lingo only adds to and makes it harder to come out of this heteronormative structure that we are currently in. Many comments in the game forums or those spoken over the game are intolerant of the LGBTQ community. However, the LGBTQ community has taken to social media and microblogging to educate society on political correctness.

Other forms of activism have been enacted through microblogging and social media. In countries where censorship is extremely strict, microblogging and social media has given individuals an outlet by which they can get others to view their material before it is banned. This is essential since, in places like China, if a person wishes to post something LGBTQ related, it will most likely not get approved. Doing so through social media gives individuals a window to read or watch content before it is taken down.

In China, filmmakers have taken advantage of microblogging and social media websites to showcase their work, spread awareness, and validate their community. Through these Internet practices, the LGBTQ community, known as tongzhi in China, is able to access and promote works that validate their community. Although much is still censored, by posting their work through these sites, it is much more difficult to censor, easily accessible to Chinese and international audiences, and available to more than just the tongzhi community. Thus, in a country where their offline identities are shunned, the tongzhi community has found a way to ensure that they are not silenced online.

In this new age where homosexuality is no longer blindly accepted as a perversion, the tongzhi community is finding avenues to express themselves, their identities, and to support and advocate for equal rights. As of right now, artists of the tongzhi community are not focused on finding fame and money. Rather, they are focused on establishing identity within a country that is trying to drown out their voices. Much of the work, thus, is publicly accessible and copyright issues are not so much a problem. “Allowing such work to be publicly accessible may serve as an indicator that such directors consider their role as tonghzi rights activists to be more important than their role as artists”⁶. For these filmmakers, their primary goal and motivation is to increase visibility of tongzhi lives and issues within Chinese society. In doing so [sharing and distributing queer documentaries], they are not specifically distributing documentaries in a physical sense, but rather are distributing their reputation, thereby affirming their existence and drawing attention to their position in the greater online and offline discourse”[5].

Digital identity within the LGBTQ community is not something that individuals come by easily. This community has been marginalized for years and is still being discriminated against. However, as times change and technology improves, there have been an array of opportunities to begin to grow their identity and to affirm their validity as a people. Whether it is through social media, microblogging, videos, finding groups that make one feel accepted, or activism, the LGBTQ community is ensuring that their voices are not ignored and that they are seen. “The centrality of a shared history—whether that is a history of oppression, marginalization, social distinctiveness, inequalities or political gains over time—is central to the framework through which belonging to a minority community operates at the intersection between relationality and identity”[6].

Identity in a Digital World

Friday, August 17, 2018

Rebecca Reyes -- Wiki Post

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