Online Identity

Hiding behind a Computer

Are computers and the Internet redefining human identity as people explore the boundaries of their personalities, adopt multiple selves, and form online relationships that can be more intense than real ones? Is the World Wide Web redefining our sense of community and where we find our peers? The answer is simple. An individual should not use a false identity to produce a life on the Internet. They should also avoid using an online life to influence their identity in real life.

Gender swapping is one way which the Internet has the ability to change ones identity. There have been many cases where someone has logged onto the Internet, and they have presented their identity as the opposite sex from what they really are. There is no way of knowing what sex someone is when he or she is logged in. The net is made up of hundreds of thousands of separate communities, each with its own special character. It is difficult to eliminate a certain sex from a specific community when people have the power to disguise themselves. Communication in cyberspace lets people explore their personalities by creating new on-line personae. This seems to be the main concern for frequent Internet users. A significant observation is the amount of men that will log on as women. Jodi Obrien put it best when she states, “Many men say that a common motivation for logging on as a female is because they are fascinated by the unusual amount of attention they receive from other men when they are perceived as women” (http://www.echonyc.com/~women/Issue17/art-obrien.html).

The one major concern that comes to mind is “cyber-rape.” It is apparent what kind of effect this has on people when Amy Bruckman, a doctoral student in the MIT Media Laboratory, states, “Unwanted attention and sexual advances create an uncomfortable atmosphere for women in MUDs, just as they do in real life” (Bruckman, 101). A MUD is defined as a multi-user dungeon or a multi-user Domain. It is a text-based multi-user virtual-reality environment. This is one of many virtual communities which users can enter. “When a person first logs onto a MUD, he or she creates a character’s name and gender, and writes a description of what the character looks like. It is possible for a character to be male or female, regardless...

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...e those expectations to potential new members. For many Internet users, the desirability of erasing gender as a form for organizing interaction is based on the premise that gender is a hierarchical form of differentiation. This will make it easier for people to find the community that suits them. With the result of a true identity, random users will be influenced by their interested findings on the net, and they will not have to rely on their online life to provide them with a false persona. Let’s divide the online life and the real life into two. The life we live on the Internet can stay with the Internet, and the life we live while away from the computer can remain in the real world.

Works Cited

Bruckman, Amy. “Finding One’s Own in Cyberspace.” Jan 96. Techreview.com. 11

February 2000 .

Bruckman, Amy. “Gender Swapping on the Internet.” Perspectives: Technology and

Society. Ed. Dianne Fallon. Bellevue: Coursewise, 1999.

Judge, Paul C. “Is the Net Redefining Our Identity?” Perspectives: Technology and

Society. Ed. Dianne Fallon. Bellevue: Coursewise, 1999.

Obrien, Jodi. “Changing the Subject.” Women an Performance Issue 17 (2000). 11

February 2000 .