amy's thoughts on Tak-yee article
Here are a few thoughts for Week 7 tutorial on Ami Tak-yee's article[1]
Rather than utopian reading of the potential for cyberspace communications to avoid racial or sexual discrimination Tak-yee’s ICERED example shows that race and gender discrimination is just as prevalent in online forums.
Her’s is an interesting discussion, particularly of sexuality, in which she shows that despite idealistic notions of cyberdemocracy which characterized early discussions of cyberspace communication [2], to a large extent, the reality has actually been quite different. Moreover, she argues that gender and racial stereotypes were perpetuated on the ICERED community website.
To answer the first tutorial question- How do participants seek to exclude/ include others?
Firstly it must be said that the very logistics of ICERED excluded/included others. Why?
1. Participation was limited to “high income professionals and university alumni of top universities around the world” pp 2-3
2. Language - communication was only in English which immediately excluded those from participating who didn’t speak English or who were not fluent English speakers.
Participants also capitalized on this exclusion/ inclusion through the type of things they discussed and the manner of their discussions which were often exaggerated, abusive, derogatory and not backed up by real statistics or proof of their claims.
Examples
In her first example “Your English sucks!” Tak-yee shows why participants whose English was not as good as others might have been reluctant to post, while those with good English (in the participants view) were relegated to what Tak-yee might refer to as “superstar” status.
Eg. Ahem Post : “There must be only a handful of IceRedders who seem to have the ability to express themselves in English coherently…” p 3
In Tak-yee’s second example “The unbearable “white-ness” of ICERED, she refers to a thread which is blatantly provocative and which would undeniably ostracise Chinese people and westerners alike.
Eg. Ratman Post: “I read a report stating that 86% of Chinese people have only 70% peripheral vision compared with Westerners”. P 6
Eg. White Trash Post:: “ive come to the conclusion that icered is full of pathetic white racists who think theyre funny but aren’t”. p 8
Tak-yee’s third example talks about sexism on ICERED.
Eg. Ratman Post: “Chinese women have…the lowest I.Q of any other Asian country..” p 9
Tak-yee argues that this post turned out to be based on fabrication. However at the same time she argues, “Hong Kong women are reputed to be money-minded and this “reputation” has in time grown and spread via the media among all social strata. It can therefore be surmised that ICERED played a role among the middle/ upper-middle classes,…in perpetuating or disseminating this representation of the Hong Kong women”. Pp 10-11.
Tak-yee also provides an interesting discussion of sexuality suggesting that the whole general atmosphere of ICERED was homophobic.
Eg. JP Post: “why do icred allow these homosexual to discuss their unnatural and immoral activity on the messageboard?” p 13
On the other hand Tak-yee goes on to suggest that through the ICERED forum “gay people have managed to enjoy a certain amount of textual/ sexual freedom in a society where any open discussion of homosexuality is still frowned on by the conservatives”. Please post a comment if you have any thoughts on this.
Another interesting point in Tak-Yee’s article was made about the potential for cyberspace communication to influence the “real world”.
Eg. The “Party Animal of Hong Kong” who in deference to the image of her that had been portrayed on ICERED imitated this in reality. p 18
- How can we intervene?
Perhaps as Nakamura [3] argues by avoiding creation of "menu-driven identities" and sending emails which engage others in explorations of culture and race?
[1] Tak-yee, Amy Lai. 'Hong Kong cyberculture: a case study' In: E-Journal on Hong Kong cultural and social studies [2004] http://www.hku.hk/hkcsp/ccex/ehkcss01/, accessed 4/9/2006.
[2] Maurice Berger's article has interesting material on 'Race in Cyberspace', In Wired Magazine Issue 3.12, [Dec 1995] accessed 5/9/2006 http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.12/berger.if.html
[3] Nakamura, Lisa. 'Menu-driven identities: making race happen online' In: Cybertypes : race, ethnicity, and identity on the Internet [2002]
Rather than utopian reading of the potential for cyberspace communications to avoid racial or sexual discrimination Tak-yee’s ICERED example shows that race and gender discrimination is just as prevalent in online forums.
Her’s is an interesting discussion, particularly of sexuality, in which she shows that despite idealistic notions of cyberdemocracy which characterized early discussions of cyberspace communication [2], to a large extent, the reality has actually been quite different. Moreover, she argues that gender and racial stereotypes were perpetuated on the ICERED community website.
To answer the first tutorial question- How do participants seek to exclude/ include others?
Firstly it must be said that the very logistics of ICERED excluded/included others. Why?
1. Participation was limited to “high income professionals and university alumni of top universities around the world” pp 2-3
2. Language - communication was only in English which immediately excluded those from participating who didn’t speak English or who were not fluent English speakers.
Participants also capitalized on this exclusion/ inclusion through the type of things they discussed and the manner of their discussions which were often exaggerated, abusive, derogatory and not backed up by real statistics or proof of their claims.
Examples
In her first example “Your English sucks!” Tak-yee shows why participants whose English was not as good as others might have been reluctant to post, while those with good English (in the participants view) were relegated to what Tak-yee might refer to as “superstar” status.
Eg. Ahem Post : “There must be only a handful of IceRedders who seem to have the ability to express themselves in English coherently…” p 3
In Tak-yee’s second example “The unbearable “white-ness” of ICERED, she refers to a thread which is blatantly provocative and which would undeniably ostracise Chinese people and westerners alike.
Eg. Ratman Post: “I read a report stating that 86% of Chinese people have only 70% peripheral vision compared with Westerners”. P 6
Eg. White Trash Post:: “ive come to the conclusion that icered is full of pathetic white racists who think theyre funny but aren’t”. p 8
Tak-yee’s third example talks about sexism on ICERED.
Eg. Ratman Post: “Chinese women have…the lowest I.Q of any other Asian country..” p 9
Tak-yee argues that this post turned out to be based on fabrication. However at the same time she argues, “Hong Kong women are reputed to be money-minded and this “reputation” has in time grown and spread via the media among all social strata. It can therefore be surmised that ICERED played a role among the middle/ upper-middle classes,…in perpetuating or disseminating this representation of the Hong Kong women”. Pp 10-11.
Tak-yee also provides an interesting discussion of sexuality suggesting that the whole general atmosphere of ICERED was homophobic.
Eg. JP Post: “why do icred allow these homosexual to discuss their unnatural and immoral activity on the messageboard?” p 13
On the other hand Tak-yee goes on to suggest that through the ICERED forum “gay people have managed to enjoy a certain amount of textual/ sexual freedom in a society where any open discussion of homosexuality is still frowned on by the conservatives”. Please post a comment if you have any thoughts on this.
Another interesting point in Tak-Yee’s article was made about the potential for cyberspace communication to influence the “real world”.
Eg. The “Party Animal of Hong Kong” who in deference to the image of her that had been portrayed on ICERED imitated this in reality. p 18
- How can we intervene?
Perhaps as Nakamura [3] argues by avoiding creation of "menu-driven identities" and sending emails which engage others in explorations of culture and race?
[1] Tak-yee, Amy Lai. 'Hong Kong cyberculture: a case study' In: E-Journal on Hong Kong cultural and social studies [2004] http://www.hku.hk/hkcsp/ccex/ehkcss01/, accessed 4/9/2006.
[2] Maurice Berger's article has interesting material on 'Race in Cyberspace', In Wired Magazine Issue 3.12, [Dec 1995] accessed 5/9/2006 http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.12/berger.if.html
[3] Nakamura, Lisa. 'Menu-driven identities: making race happen online' In: Cybertypes : race, ethnicity, and identity on the Internet [2002]
posted by amyfrench @ 8:53 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Hi Victoria, thanks for your comments. I like the way you put Tak-yee's observations about how digital communications influence the 'real' world and broader scholarship as being "reflexive". That's a keen observation.
One thing I didn't mention in my blog was the way Tak-yee referred to the ICERED forum as an example of cultural history, considering the way these forums now operate through "menu-driven" registration forms.
Another thing, while I was researching this topic I found an amazing article on 'The reification of race in cyberspace' by Kim Hester-Williams, available at:
[http://www.arts.uwa.edu.au/motspluriels/MP1901khw.html] accessed 6/9/2006. Worth a look if anyone has a few minutes.
bfn, A
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