Untitled @kahir1-blog - Tumblr Blog

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SIW9xXbSOA)

Conclusion Post

I recently saw the movie “Ghost in the Shell,” and to me, this movie sums up what many of the articles we read this week are saying because Scarlet Johannson’s character has a feminine shell, but she is not fully human. In fact, many, if not all, of the characters in this movie are cyber enhanced. I think there is a sort of freedom and also anarchy that is present in cyber and cyborg feminism because it goes beyond gender-bending. Cyber and cyborg feminism break down social and gender constructs and sort of transcend everything that is commonly thought of as “feminine”. Like Hannah Ongley says in her article, cyber feminism “describes the work of feminists harnessing the internet and new technologies” (Ongley 2016). Feminists use social media, they make videos or vlog, they write articles and blogs, among other things, to create conversation and further it. Feminist action and feminist activism is different than it has every been, due to it being the age of information. However, it is important to remember that the age of the internet, social media, and technology also comes with downsides. People hide behind computers and write or say horrible and nasty things just because they can. We are in the age of information, but we are also in the age of cyber trolls and cyber bullies. While the internet and technology can be incredibly helpful, safe, and good, it can also be the opposite for many people.

I think that with the help of cyberfeminist thought, technology can and will transcend and eventually eradicate sex and gender divisions. We can see with Bina48 that people, and feminists in particular, are attempting to download consciousness and create human machines. These enhanced humans are probably exactly what the world needs to officially overcome the patriarchy. I have to admit, though, that the thought of cyborgs, robots, and other things like that kind of scare me because I don’t want to be the bottom of the evolutionary chain when the robots take over.

kahir1-blog

Hi! I really enjoyed reading your post, because I highly agree with you on how technology has helped feminists express their thoughts and fight for issues that matter to them. The internet and new technologies helped further their feminist actions, and make a stronger impact in society for equal gender rights. Cyberfeminists have definitely come a long way, because people all over Twitter and Tumblr often make posts that fight for issues that revolve around women equality. For example, there was a very popular hashtag called “girlpower”, and that was used to spread awareness and encouragement to women who face inequalities due to their gender. The hashtag made people aware of how women are sometimes neglected due to their gender, so it is important to uplift women and show that they are just as capable and important as men. Therefore, I highly believe that one day the gender divisions will also eradicate, and women will be viewed just as equal and worthy as men. Technology and internet has helped a lot with the cyberfeminist movement and it will continue helping till the day where the sex division disappears.

WST 394- Digital Labor

Young people as digital laborers have been getting more attention in the cyber world especially in this current generation. When I see these young people “at work” in our digital economy, I believe that they are working on something very special where they are not consciously aware of how it is benefiting the digital economy. These young folks are spending time doing something that they enjoy and love. They utilize websites such as Myspace, Tumblr, Twitter, etc. to engage in something that is meaningful to them. They socialize with other online networkers, and talk about things that interest them. This really allows them to address their opinions and matters that concern them. I believe this very beneficial, because young digital laborers feel like they have a place where they can just connect with other individuals and just be themselves without worrying what people might judge. This also helps the digital economy, because it attracts more users to these websites since it raises more popularity. It also promotes positive and proactive statements and remarks, as people raise awareness to issues that concern them. For example, in the article called “Learning to Immaterial Labour 2.0”, it mentions how certain posts receive popularity and fame, and this helps build up a network of social relations and connectivity. This helps lead certain topics and ideas to more recognition as people repost it and share it with their fellow online networkers. This concepts helps produce and economy of forces and a surplus of power and people are networking together and promoting certain thoughts and ideas. Therefore, online spaces are where young people get to truly express themselves is quite empowering, as they get to speak what is on their mind and support issues that really matter to them. Like on Twitter there is a page called Empower Women, and pages like these help young people connect and promote empowerment on certain issues. People can retweet specific post and comment on posts that really matter to them. Overall, I believe these online networking site allow young digital laborers help empower certain issues and create attention on specific ideas. Additionally, on the bottom is a link to twitter page.

https://twitter.com/empower_women?lang=en

WST 394- week 11 post

Vlogging allows feminists and especially trans folks to express themselves in society where they always tend to feel repressed. In this current generation people are aware of how trans folks are not placed at an equal position as everyone else. People tend to portray negative attitudes and comments towards trans gender individuals. Therefore, by having vlogging communities online it allows trans gender people to really express who they are and not be ashamed of themselves. It gives them their own personal space where they feel invited and accepted as they get to connect with other trans folks and people who support transgenderism. One specific vlogger is Maya who makes videos on Youtube. She records plenty of videos based on common situations people face in everyday life. For example, one video is about her sharing her story about her first date. This video represents way more than just her sharing her experience about her first date. The video demonstrates the everyday struggles that trans people go through. She knows that they are often times resisted and repressed online, so she is demonstrating how it is normal for trans to date. She wants trans to feel comfortable for who they are, as she is not afraid to hear what people might say. She feels comfortable enough to share her story about being a trans and dating for the first time. She wants people to know that trans people do date, and it shouldn’t be viewed as weird. Even though there are negative comments on the video, she is loud and proud of herself. This represents how she is displaying activism for transgender people, as they should learn to feel comfortable and accepted in this society not matter what other people have to say. This also relates to the article called “Back to Blaque”, because it mentions how Blaque’s Youtube channel allowed her to voice her concerns especially about living a society where people are racist and are hating against trans. Her channel allowed her raise awareness and show her concern about lack of color in LGBT movement. She aimed to educate her allies and uplift other trans folks. Therefore, Maya and Blaque demonstrate how their vlogging plays a role in cyberfeminist activism, as they use it to raise awareness of trans community and how all types of women should feel comfortable for who they are no matter if they are black, trans, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVELikaWZGA&ab_channel=Maya

au-naturelll

Facebook and Affect

The site I am choosing to analyze is Facebook. Specifically, Tanya Kant’s article which looks at Facebook and the role that affect plays in the application. Affect plays a big role in the Facebook app. The Facebook app claims that it allows for users to express themselves, but is this really true? Through this study, it was clear that Facebook allows us to express ourselves, promote ourselves and appeal to the invisible audience, but it also how auto posts change our identity in a way. Kant concludes that apps can be looked at as a “social network activity” which may act on the user’s behalf by posting for them. Apps like Spotify have the potential to intervene and mess up the staged performance that users are trying to create ultimately. The fact that these auto-posts are happening makes it clear that they are helping write our identities for us and perform for us. These apps have even the potential to affect us in our everyday lives and outside of the social media realm. These apps also have the potential to change us and make us more normative than we want to be. Kant is ultimately conceptualizing Facebook as an identity performance for an invisible audience. Obviously, affect or emotion on Facebook plays a big role. Sites like Spotify that bring up songs from the past (without asking permission in the now) are stirring up all different kinds of emotions without our permission. Facebook and other apps that auto-post for us create affect, which then has an effect on how we view ourselves and how we identify ourselves. Overall, when I think about it and analyze this article, I think that affect plays even a bigger role in the social world than I thought. These auto-posts I have been seeing have definitely affected how I have felt for the rest of the day, or how someone may have even thought about me. Facebook literally can write our story for us, stir up emotions for us, be us. This is really weird to think about considering I have gone on Facebook happy and gotten off sad. Affect clearly plays a big role here, from auto-posts, and just in general to creating a profile that appeals to an invisible audience. The link below is to an article about data collection and how cookies are collected which creates the ads we see online. kinda interesting!

https://blog.adroll.com/product/how-do-advertising-cookies-work

picture: https://www.google.com/search?q=cookies&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjNsZ64huzSAhVmilQKHZszDm8Q_AUICCgB&biw=1278&bih=655#imgrc=1CrkiW2VlGLIVM:

kahir1-blog

I really enjoyed reading your post and I highly agree with you how certain social media sites can stir certain emotions in our everyday lives, especially through auto posts. I personally think its kind of creepy how these websites and cookies track our history of what we have been searching and post ads to our Facebook page. Some people feel like it invades their privacy and they don’t want to be reminded of what they were doing. Additionally, there are auto posts of memories with certain people, and sometimes people don’t want to be reminded of their past because it can bring up certain emotions that they don’t want to think about. There are pros and cons about having auto-posting. However, the ability to enhance and change the users’ self-expression is raising a lot of criticism. Therefore, do you think there is a way Facebook can still use auto-posts without changing people’s identity or their emotions?

Week 9 Post

In today’s generation, the social media has become a very popular place for individuals to react on certain situations and issues. In more particular the comments sections of certain websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. have allowed people to interact with one another to display their emotions and perspectives on issues that come to their attention. The process of people exchanging their comments and thoughts on comment sections can be viewed as affective economies, because comments sections allow people to get a more holistic view on a certain issue as they get to communicate about it and see the reactions of other individuals. One comment section that demonstrates affective exchange is on a YouTube video called “Beauty Standard Around the World”. In this video, a woman gives a picture of her face to people from different countries and she asks them to make her beautiful. All these different countries Photoshop her differently, based on their beauty standards and what is known as beautiful in their country. This makes viewers quite upset as many of them think that is not right, and being original should be viewed as beautiful. They are shocked how each country altered her face to make her fit their own beauty standards, and there are all kinds of negative things written on comment section. One comment that stood out to me was "Make me beautiful" "Ok." Opens the file and leaves it as is” . This comment had many likes and other supporting comments, which demonstrated that people are unhappy of how this generation isn’t embracing natural beauty and is always trying to alter beauty on social media through online tools. This relates to the interview about “American Reflex”, because the comment threads also allowed people to share their beliefs on how the woman should express her individuality. While there were many haters who criticized her for being shielded, there were also many supporters who displayed positive feedback and encouragement through their comments. Therefore, the comment sections for these two videos allowed people to communicate and express their own thoughts and opinions about concerning issues. It allowed them to fight for what they believe in no matter what other people might think or say. This relates to cyber feminism, because women should not feel obligated to look or dress a certain way. Every woman has their right to express their individuality. The comment sections allow feminists to share their beliefs and find online support, as women should not feel pressured to fit the typical beauty norms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT9FmDBrewA&ab_channel=BuzzFeedYellow

Week 8- Midterm Project

For my digital artifact, I decided to convey a message about how beauty is not just defined by what always portrayed on television and social media. In this current generation women always feel like they are not beautiful just because they do not look a certain way. They think that since they do not look like Kim Kardashian or a Victoria Secret model they are not beautiful. They strive to attain the perfect body or the perfect complexion to be considered as beautiful. This should never be the case, because beauty does not always have to be physical as there is always another aspect to it which is inner beauty. Not everyone is going to look the same, and every woman has their own differences which makes them unique. It is devastating how we live in a society that always judges the physical appearance of women. Women are constantly objectified, and they always live under the pressure that they must look a certain way and fit the stereotypical gender roles. Women in this current generation should realize that not everyone is the same, and that everyone has their own unique beauty. They should not be questioning their own appearance every day. They need to learn to embrace themselves and help make other women feel confident about their own appearance as well. They should learn to feel comfortable about their body shape, color, and size. Therefore, I thought this was a very important topic to address, because social media and society is always giving attention to women that look a certain way; so, I believe it is important to make everyone realize that every woman has their own unique beauty and that they should learn to appreciate themselves and not try to become someone they are not.

This issue relates to course material, because women should use the virtual world and blogging communities raise awareness about how women cannot be categorized as beautiful or ugly, because everyone has their own appealing difference. They should fight against what is always shown as beautiful on television and social media. In the article called “Virtual Feminisms” by Jessalyn Keller she mentions how there are now girl bloggers who are articulating the online feminist community to make their voices heard and overcome the oppression they have been facing. The online communities are helping woman connect and network so then they don’t feel so isolated. This is new culture is known as participatory culture, and this is allowing women to talk about concerning feminist issues. This new culture mentioned by Keller can be used to bring out awareness in the today’s generation that that all women should be appreciated for their beauty; since often many women can feel unappreciated for their beauty especially by the models, fashion shows, and beauty pageants that are always depicted on television and social media. The participatory culture is an effective way to make all types of women feel loved and accepted as they can all help each other believe that they are beautiful. Additionally, in the article called “Developing Corporeal Cyber Feminism” by Jessica Brophy she mentions how constructing users in cyberspace are trying to free cyber feminists from the burden of racism and discrimination and help them feel spiritual equality. This is very important, because many women feel like they are not beautiful due to their skin color or race. It is crucial to make individual realize that you should not feel discriminated for the way you look like and in fact you should take pride in your appearance and who you are. There is no specific skin color that a woman should be to be defined as beautiful. Therefore, the cyberspace is an efficient way to spread awareness of this issue and help solve a major issue that many women around the world are facing. It’s sad to see how many females don’t appreciate who they are and feel like they don’t look good enough. Thus, I believe my digital artifact is a good way to raise awareness how beauty cannot be defined as one thing. The concept of beauty is very ambiguous, and everyone has their own perspective on what they define as beautiful and this concept is represented through the eyes that are in my digital artifact. Additionally, my artifact contains images of all different types of women to show that all body types, skin color, and sizes are appreciated in society and that no one is ugly. It is important to bring out more awareness in society where all women feel accepted for who they are and not what they should be.

Works Cited:

Jessica Brophy (2013). "Developing a Corporeal Cyberfeminism: Beyond Cyberutopia." In Keilty, Patrick, and Dean, Rebecca, eds. Feminist and Queer Information Studies Reader. Sacramento, CA, USA: Litwin Books.

Jessalynn Keller (2011). "Virtual Feminisms: Girls' Blogging Communities, Feminist Activism, and Participatory Politics." Information, Communication, & Society

Week 7 post

Feminist activism has definitely been more publicized throughout this recent decade, especially through the help of the internet. Everyday there is new technology and tools made to make online communication easier for this generation. There have been certain tools of the internet that are helping people spread the word of feminist activism. These tools have not only spread feminist values it has also shaped the feminist movement in many ways. Many social media websites like Twitter and Tumblr, have made it easier for feminists to express their concerns and spread awareness. These social websites have made it possible for individuals from different parts of the world to connect and spread their thoughts and concerns about feminist values. In the article called Virtual Feminisms by Jessalynn Keller, she mentions how there has been a new culture that has been created on social media, which is called the participatory culture and this basically defines the people who are actively participating in blogging communities such as Twitter and Tumblr. These online communities are making it easier for girls to find space for political activity and raise awareness of concerning issues such as equality and fairness between both genders. These tools of the internet have made it easier for feminists to group together and support one another as they fight for issues that concern them. Another tool of the internet that has shaped feminist activism are hashtags. One common feminist hashtag was #prettyperiod, and this hashtag was to made to start awareness and empower dark skinned black women that they are beautiful. The hashtag movement recently became very popular, because it allowed many individuals to come together as they all shared a similar belief and opinion. Thus, the tools of the internet have helped increase the number of participants who are concerned about feminist activism. It has also helped feminists across the world connect in an easier and more efficient way. This link below shows how people use the #prettyperiod hashtag and how popular it became in today’s society. The image below is also taken from the website to show how the hashtag has been used to portray feminist activism, since Michelle Obama demonstrates black women beauty and empowerment.

http://prettyperiod.me/

Week 4- Resisting Inequalities

Online spaces of resistance allow individuals to express their opinions and beliefs on issues that really concern them. There are definitely many benefits and drawbacks from performing online resistance. Some people believe that they are fighting for the right thing and equality when they perform such resistance. They believe that they asserting their selves so then their needs are met or they can make a possible change in society. For example, in the Black Beauty and Digital Spaces: The New Visibility Politics article it mentions how once black people were making hashtags to show that their lives mattered too. They felt oppressed especially through how the media was portraying them. This also led to black women making their own hashtag to liberate themselves and make them feel better than what is always portrayed as beautiful on media. Therefore, by performing resistance online they were able to show that they are also beautiful and that whiteness is not the only thing that defines beauty. However, some drawbacks from showing resistance is that they show oppression towards other groups of people. They feel connected to people that are like them and hold the same beliefs. They also can start to hold less respect towards people that aren’t like them and hold racial oppression. One space where inequalities are resisted is the blacklivesmatter website. This space is accessible to anyone that holds the same beliefs that are portrayed on the website. It is for people that also believe black lives have been oppressed and that there needs to be change. This space is liberating to a lot of black individuals and for people of other races that really care about black lives. This can simultaneously perpetuate oppression against people who have fair skin or are white, because they think that they are always getting targeted by white individuals. Therefore, by performing social resistance it can always have its positives as well as its negatives.

http://blacklivesmatter.com/

WST 394- Introduction

Hi everyone! My name is Khushbu Ahir and I am currently a junior majoring in Global Health. I prefer to be called by my full name and pronouns that I prefer are she and her. My relationship with the internet has been pretty strong, because I spend most of my surfing the internet. Also, most of my class work requires me using the internet. Therefore, I would say that I spend a good amount of time online. However, I try not to use the internet as much, because I tend to slack off on my daily chores. So I only try use the internet when I need it. There are many things about the Internet that interests me. I love how I can see the daily news, and learn about different thing going on around the world. It’s a very convenient way to get the latest news without watching the TV. Another aspect that I like about the Internet is how it’s very convenient way to connect with friends and relatives. There are certain websites that make it very easy to stay in in touch with people and even meet new people. Lastly, I would say that it’s a good way to pass time, because you can watch sports, music videos, etc. all on the internet. The internet doesn’t really scare me, but one thing that does is receiving unpleasant news through the internet. I am taking this class to learn more about how the internet plays a role when it comes to promoting feminism and how it is portrayed through digital media. I want to learn about how the internet helped promote certain feminist movements and social justice for women in the U.S. Overall, I feel like this class will help me broaden my understanding about cyber feminism and help me keep in touch about the latest feminist movements going on around the world.

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/23-reasons-why-people-spend-more-time-social-media

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Untitled