Last week, I began this and several other posts that I was unable to complete due to the circumstances that I discuss below. Somehow I think that it makes posting this now, late and only partially complete, particularly important.

[Beginning of saved post from 4/13/08]

Note: I have included very few links in this piece because I find the message boards and websites linked to Anonymous to be so objectionable. I have no desire to add to their web traffic or in any way associate this site with theirs.

The Rape Culture of “Meatspace”

Feminist theorists have consistently argued, in what seems to me clearly logical and transparent ways, that we live in a rape culture. Our lives are controlled by the constant threat of rape. To be clear, I am distinguishing between “fear” and “threat.” Although it may be accurate to say that all women fear rape, fear is something specific to the individual. I'm talking about systemic control. While the fear of rape may influence the way that an individual woman engages the world around her, it is the threat of rape that controls the way that we all, men and women, are culturally conditioned. In Against our Will: Men, Women and Rape Susan Brownmiller made the first comprehensive attempt to conceptualize rape on a macro level. The basic principle is that because we are immersed in a culture that frequently sexualizes and decriminalizes acts of rape and because as women we are taught to be ever-vigilant in protecting ourselves against rape, the threat of rape functions as a mechanism for control and domination.

A recent post on Slashdot discusses the the hacker attack on Second Life. Apparently, a security weakness in Quicktime has enabled hackers to "direct the Second Life software to a malicious Web site that then allows them to 'take over the user's avatar and force it to hand over its Linden cash." The Mercury News reports in more detail. [subscription required to access content] For our purposes this is interesting in exploring virtual identity and the way that it is perceived. While the article describes the hacking as "tak[ing] over the user's avatar," the only actual control seems to be over the avatar's virtual bank account. This raises interesting questions over what it means to be in control of one's virtual identity. The theft of Linden dollars is most analogous to having one's pocket picked in your first life. Few would consider the perpetrator to be in control of their identity in such a situation. Why, then, is this describes as "control"? Is it simply poor word choice or does the act of stealing money change when nobody is doing it? Of course, it could be that in my enthusiasm for semantics, I'm overanalyzing this.

This site is about online identity and is itself an online identity for the group of rhetoricians who create, contribute to, and maintain it. In fitting with our site's mission, I will keep a running log of my work as webmistress and site contributer. For this first column entry, let's talk about some web writing and contextualize the forthcoming content:

Web writing hasn't been clearly defined and just as our understanding of texts is shifting, our understanding of web writing is malleable. Web writing is in its infancy and as we write, we define. So, what do I mean when I say "web writing"?

The act(s) of web writing as well as the texts that constitute that writing are complex and varied. So, to begin with, I'll discuss web design and creation as one type of web writing.