Well...HAVE women been killing the lulz? Maybe...

Anonymity on the Internet can accomplish a variety of aims. It can allow us to speak out about sensitive issues without fear of reprisal from more powerful entities; it can also allow us to behave in a manner that would otherwise be unacceptable, also without fear of reprisal. For women, some studies have shown that anonymity allows us to express opinions and have them judged on their own merit, rather than on the merit of their gender; it is also tool to prevent harassment.

Websites like 4chan.org and whyweprotest.net are two among many that are breeding grounds for anonymity of every stripe – and on top of that, there seems to be a rivalry between /b/ from 4Chan and Project Chanology (the “organization” behind whyweprotest.net); /b/tards seem ill-inclined to do things for the sheer goodness of it, calling members of Chanology “moralfags,” claiming that "moralfags" are like politicians, out to establish fame or powerful identity using the internet rather than just out of a desire to do good, while said members think the /b/tards are immature, ineffectual, and have outlived their usefulness. Where do women fit into this?

This is the aim of my project – discovering where anonymous women on the Internet best find their niche: in troll-infested chans like /b/, or in more socially conscious gatherings of like-minded people looking to make a stand for something they believe is right. The tendency in American society is to place women in the role of nurturers and keepers of morality, and men in the role of agressors, and so we expect more of the posturing present in /b/ to come from men (in fact, as stated on Encyclopedia Dramatica, it's a commonly stated idea that “there are no women on the Internets”), but if, as one site stated, /b/tards can be ironically pedophilic, then why can't there be female anons who are ironically misogynist? I have the suspicion that there are some that are, who post pornographic female imagery and shout “TITS OR GTFO” at “the newfags” they suspect are also female, but at the same time, I believe I'll find more female anons that are oriented towards Chanology. Either will be difficult, if not impossible to prove, but I think this research is going to raise as many interesting questions as it answers.

...so are women killing the lulz? Let's find out...

Have women been killing the lulz?

So I'm curious as to what women accomplish or hope to accomplish through anonymity on the internet, and I've decided to focus on finding out which they are more attracted to: /b/ variety of anonymity, or perhaps something more obviously socially conscious, like Project Chanology? Does the sexism tend to limit female involvement in /b/, or does it have the curious, ironic effect of drawing them further in? It's not going to be easy to figure that out, but that is still the aim (however ambitious) of my project.

Below I've posted a rough draft of my project trailer to share with my fellow researchers. It was my first time video editing, but hopefully, throughout this project, I'll get better.

Post the first: Why am I here?

Why make a blog on anonymity on the internet?

The easiest answer is I'm doing it for a class. I am; that's probably the worst possible answer I could give, though, because it doesn't begin to scratch the surface of why I would take a class that would study something like this.

Another easy answer is that these ideas interest me. How does anonymity change the way we behave? When our faces go unseen, our physical voices unheard...what do we really say? Are we at our most passionate when we cannot be identified, or are we at our most monstrous? Is there always a difference? And, under the guise of anonymity, on the internet or otherwise, can effective change be made?

My answer was easy...but my questions, not so much. So in the coming weeks, I will be attempting to answer these questions in this blog. Maybe I'll find some of the answers...and maybe they will only lead to more questions. The best questions always do.