What is being masqueraded becomes particularly relevant in Doane’s response to her Film and Masquerade because she starts to talk about the masquerade of femininity happening at the site of language. I find this to particularly salient when discussing identity in virtual communities such as chat rooms and online video games. To me this is the epitome of distance from one’s body because the virtual medium literally allows one to masquerade as any gender, provided you know the right language to use to code yourself as masculine or feminine. In playing the MMORPG World of Warcraft I constantly flip-flop the presentation of myself as male or female, based on the language I use in the in-game chat function to talk to other players. Through my language I can very easily “masquerade” as a 16 year-old boy because the game medium allows me to be distanced from my body. The game acts as my mask and my language is the vehicle through which I become masculine or feminine. What I say and how I say become extremely important in my online identity because this is the only avenue that I have to interact with the other players in the game. For me, in this medium, masculine and feminine codes and their expression are much more fluid than the readings presented them and I'm wondering how this notion complicates the theories put forth this week.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Masquerade and My Avatar
What struck me when reading all the articles is how rigid and unspoken the binary definitions of femininity and masculinity were assumed to be. Riviere’s article, written in 1929, is the most specific and traditional in stating how she defines feminine women; “they are excellent wives and mothers, capable housewives; they maintain social life and assist culture; they have no lack of feminine interests, e.g. in their personal appearance...” (36). These are the outward performances that act as the mask hiding the possession of masculinity, which is something that, does not even require a definition. Heath, in his response to her article, is the one who actually spells out masculinity, through the display of clothes, he says “all the trappings of authority, hierarchy, order, position make the man, his phallic identity” (56). Doane’ s Film and Masquerade articulates femininity through position, femininity is associated with closeness and its masquerade through distance (which is also associated with masculinity). I find it interesting that she seems to readily accept that what is being masqueraded as feminine is pretty much inline with the passive, homely wives and mothers that Riviere spelled out over 50 years earlier. Rabine, in her article from last week demonstrated the expressions of femininity have been shifting through the years so I think it is important to look at what exactly is being masqueraded as feminine, because it is constantly influx, and not just where.
What is being masqueraded becomes particularly relevant in Doane’s response to her Film and Masquerade because she starts to talk about the masquerade of femininity happening at the site of language. I find this to particularly salient when discussing identity in virtual communities such as chat rooms and online video games. To me this is the epitome of distance from one’s body because the virtual medium literally allows one to masquerade as any gender, provided you know the right language to use to code yourself as masculine or feminine. In playing the MMORPG World of Warcraft I constantly flip-flop the presentation of myself as male or female, based on the language I use in the in-game chat function to talk to other players. Through my language I can very easily “masquerade” as a 16 year-old boy because the game medium allows me to be distanced from my body. The game acts as my mask and my language is the vehicle through which I become masculine or feminine. What I say and how I say become extremely important in my online identity because this is the only avenue that I have to interact with the other players in the game. For me, in this medium, masculine and feminine codes and their expression are much more fluid than the readings presented them and I'm wondering how this notion complicates the theories put forth this week.
What is being masqueraded becomes particularly relevant in Doane’s response to her Film and Masquerade because she starts to talk about the masquerade of femininity happening at the site of language. I find this to particularly salient when discussing identity in virtual communities such as chat rooms and online video games. To me this is the epitome of distance from one’s body because the virtual medium literally allows one to masquerade as any gender, provided you know the right language to use to code yourself as masculine or feminine. In playing the MMORPG World of Warcraft I constantly flip-flop the presentation of myself as male or female, based on the language I use in the in-game chat function to talk to other players. Through my language I can very easily “masquerade” as a 16 year-old boy because the game medium allows me to be distanced from my body. The game acts as my mask and my language is the vehicle through which I become masculine or feminine. What I say and how I say become extremely important in my online identity because this is the only avenue that I have to interact with the other players in the game. For me, in this medium, masculine and feminine codes and their expression are much more fluid than the readings presented them and I'm wondering how this notion complicates the theories put forth this week.
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I wonder what Heath would say about Furby societies that developed out of the release of the Emoto-Tronic Furbies, spurring the Adult Furby or Teletubby slumber parties, etc. It appears that the male who dresses up this way relinquishes his opportunity to define his masculinity either due to a lack of identification or disavowal of the "phallic identity."
In a strange way, receding from this traditional fashion of displaying masculinity through a display of clothing seems to re-masculinize him in his expression of unwillingness to conform to a pre-determined look of masculinity.
In the way that the Otaku culture was the once-frowned upon subculture that now emerges as strong and even somewhat respectable, the rejection of any particular mold, in many ways, across a sign of strength, traditionally associated with being "manly."
I also think that the ability to select one's gender in gaming communities does something to our "gender" psychology. If we can in one click, select what gender we represent in the cyber world, defining one's gender certainly appears less significant in every way. The masquerading of femininity or masculinity can happen at the site of language, but in a space where messages are relayed without traces of vocal intonation or any other aural cue, we begin to see how silly to think it is that our thoughts themselves or selection of words used to express ourselves are gendered in and of themselves. How can we really be gendered beings outside of the inhabitation of our physical bodies?
"How can we really be gendered beings outside of the inhabitation of our physical bodies?"
We can be gendered outside our physical bodies precisely because language is gendered and virtual communities are an excellent place to explore this connection. It is the space in which we are engendered beyond our physical bodies and the aural cue of our voices.
But if I masquerade as masculine within the game and everyone assumes I am male, what does this mean for my own identity? Is it now much more fluid because I am not hindered by my body? Of course a part of me can never escape my physical body, that I am female, and anyone who sees me in the world will expect certain elements of femininity from me.
I'm glad you're interested in my topic. Thanks for the ideas!
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