Internet Studies 102/502: The Internet and Everyday Life
Assignment: 2
Essay: 1
Grade: Distinction (73%)
Sex Blogs and Social Acceptance
Adult materials such as pornography, sexual blogging and dating have become part of everyday life, particularly for regular anonymous internet users. Pornography and varying degrees of sexual content are now considered part of mainstream websites through forms of blogs, advertising and various connective links. Blogs, with particular attention to hentai (app1) presumably contain content that has a large percentage of pornographic images and sexual content associated with them. This paper will discuss how internet users regularly utilise blog sites that contain varying degrees of pornographic (app 2) / altporn (app 3) content and as such blogs of a sexual nature are showing greater acceptability within main stream internet use with lesser degrees on anonymity.
Wellman and Haythornthwaite write, “It is time for more differentiated analyses of the Internet to take into account how it has increasingly become embedded in everyday life. The master issue is whether the Internet is drawing us away from everyday life or adding layers of connectivity ...” (Wellman and Haythornthwaite, 2002). The evolution of the internet and its content has generated extended study and discussion forums concerning involvement and integration into everyday lives. As a form of new media technology, the internet is now regarded as being one of the most pivotal and accessible technologies available.
While there are certain regulations in place for the entry into some pornographic websites, pornography is thriving on the internet, discovered either intentionally or accidentally by most Internet users. Society as a whole is extremely interested in the subject of sex both in real life and via the World Wide Web.
Schnarch and Morehouse. Social Psychologists, report that “... sex is one of the most researched items on the internet today ...” (2002). Fiske shows us that “... distance is a key marker of difference between high and low culture, between the meanings, practices and pleasures characteristic ...” (2008). Sexual viewing or supplying of either explicit photographic images, adult and or child, authoring or reading web diaries or web streaming facilities such as pay per view or membership orientated sites that incorporate hentai or non mainstream sexual practices could possibility contribute to social misunderstanding if the user is exposed.
The Internet may serve as an important platform for sexual self-expression and as such the explicit sexual content of blog websites that has been viewed or contributed to may be an instigating factor for hiding identity on line and off, “...freedom of expression and the right to privacy, use of anonymity is legal...” (Palme, Berglund 2002)
The Collins English Dictionary defines Weblogs as:
· Personal Web site that provides updated headlines and news articles of other sites that are of interest to the user; also may include journal entries, commentaries and recommendations compiled by the user; also written web log; also called blog.
Rebecca Blood comments on the origins of blogs, “... original weblogs were link-driven sites. Each was a mixture in unique proportions of links, commentary, and personal thoughts and essays ...” (Blood, 2000). Attwood suggests in her article ‘No Money shot ...’(2007) that “... rich technology ensures web sites create ease of access that has enabled and even increased the involvement of users and the participatory nature of a cross section of society ...”
Technorati, one of the largest blog directories on the World Wide Web is currently tracking 1242412 (Technorati, 2010) blogs of various subjects. It is unknown how many sexually orientated blogs exist in the blogosphere.
Blogs of a hentai nature written by women have tended to attract large followings. Blogs titled such as Girl with a one track mind, Wonkette/Washingtonienne, Belle De Jour, Tasty Trixie and Eros have gained altporn pop culture status over the last decade. And as such “... porn is able to become chic ...” (Attwood, 2007). In 2004 the graphic sexual blog written under the pseudonym of Abby Lee, Girl with a One Track Mind by Zoe Margolis began its inception and rise in popularity with a simple objective, as stated by Zoe Margolis “... I decided to write about sex in my blog because I felt that the feminist and female-centred perspective is missing from mainstream media ...” (2008). Since 2004, the blog has become extremely popular showing a readership per annum in the millions, earning the site twenty fourth ranking by the British website, The Guardian in their 50 most powerful blogs. The inclusion of ‘Girl with a One Track Mind’ on the afore mentioned list suggests that blogs of a sexual nature are showing greater acceptability within main stream internet use and as such integration and reading of blogs of similar class content are becoming a social normality instead of a social abnormality.
Sexual blog sites of varying genre have garnered wider social acceptance within the internet community per say and as such a lessening degree of anonymity has been demonstrated. This paper has explained how internet users are utilising blog sites that contain varying degrees of sexual content and as such sexuality of the World Wide Web has become part of everyday life in internet mediated activities.
Bibliography
Attwood, F. (2007). No Money Shot? Commerce, Pornography and New Sex Taste Cultures. Sexualities, 10(4), 441-456. Retrieved 6/10/2010 from Curtin University of Technology Library E-Reserve
Barak, A. (ed.) (2008). Psychological aspects of cyberspace: theory, research, applications Ch. 8. The Sexy Side of the Internet: an Examination of Sexual Activities and materials in Cyberspace. p 185-208 (p 189) Retrieved 9/10/2010 from Curtin University of Technology Library E-Reserve
Blood, R."Weblogs: A History and Perspective", Rebecca's Pocket. 07 September 2000. 26 July 2010. http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html Retrieved 7/10/2010
Cutin University (2010) Web 101, Net 102 Course information, Retrieved 5/10/2010
Cutin University (2010) iLecture: Web 101 Blogs by Dr Tama Lever, Retrieved 6/10/2010
Ess. C, Sudweeks. F , Voiskounsky A (1998) Proceedings Cultural Attitudes Towards Communications and Technology. Internet: Culture Diversity and Unification, Retrieved 8/10/2010
http://www.it.murdoch.edu.au/~sudweeks/catac98/pdf/07_voiskounsky.pdf
Fiske, J. (1992). Cultural Studies and the Culture of Everyday Life. In Lawrence Grossberg, Cary Nelson, & Paula A Treichler (Eds.), Cultural Studies (pp. 154-173). New York: Routledge
Guardian News and Media Ltd (2010) world’s 50 most powerful blogs.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/mar/09/blogs Retrieved 9/10/2010
Hine, C. (2000) Virtual Ethnography. Sage Publications Ltd. Retrieved 8/10/2010 p 37-44
Margolis, Z (2008) Zoe Margolis. Retrieved 9/10/2010
http://www.zoemargolis.co.uk
Meyer, C. (1993-1994) Sex, Sin, and Women's Liberation: Against Porn-Suppression. Tex. L. Rev. 1097 http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/tlr72&div=39&id=&page Retrieved 9/10/2010
Palme,J and Berglund, M. (2007) Anonymity on the internet.
http://people.dsv.su.se/~jpalme/society/anonymity.html Retrieved 9/10/2010
Schnarch,D, Ph.D. and Morehouse,S, Ph.D. (2002) Online Sex, Dyadic Crises, and Pitfalls for MFTs Sept/Oct., issue of Family Therapy Magazine Retrieved 8/10/2010
weblog. (n.d.). Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. Retrieved October 06, 2010 , from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/weblog
Wellman, B and Haythornthwaite, C (2002): The Internet in Everyday Life
Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, An introduction (p 8) (alk.paper) Retrieved6/10/2010 from Curtin University of Technology Library E-Reserve
Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, An introduction (p 8) (alk.paper) Retrieved
Appendix
1. Hentai: Sexually explicit media images.
2. Pornography: It is notoriously difficult to define pornography, definitions rest on the prejudgement and prejudices of the viewer. Ambiguous terms: writings, drawings, photographs or like. (Meyer, 1994)
3. Altporn: Sometimes called punk porn or indie porn, as these names suggest, has a particular subculture focus. (Attwood, 2008)
No comments:
Post a Comment