Gary Downing argues in his article “Virtual
youth: non-heterosexual young people’s use of the Internet to negotiate their identities
and socio-sexual relations,” that the Internet plays a significant role for
LGBT youth to navigate their own identities and create their own community.
Since it is fairly recent that the world started to acknowledge
non-heterosexual people, LGBT obviously had to grow up in a heterosexual
dominant peer culture. This makes it harder for LGBT to come out their real
identity, therefore makes it difficult to find reliable information about their
identity and friendships/relationships. This is why Downing argues that the
Internet is an important community platform of networks for LGBT.
Borrowing Hall’s term “Storm and Stress,” and Coleman’s “Subculture,” one
can conclude that figuring out their own identity and having the sense of being
accepted the identity they have discovered themselves by the outside world are
prominent factors for the youth. When adolescence does not have not yet acquired
these two factors, they often suffer psychologically because they feel confused
and do not gain enough confidence in them. This being said, sexual orientation
is critical source of self-identity.
Downing introduced some of the ways that LGBT utilizes the Internet to
explore the new community that they can feel the sense of belonging and safe.
The Internet also enables them to get information about often-regarded
non-mainstream identity, make friends, and find partners for relationships. It
is convincing to argue that the Internet provides a comfortable place to
interact with peers because the world still does not provide sufficient
education and comfortable community for them.
Despite the fact that a number of youth does use the Internet in their
daily lives, the implication of the boundaries of online-offline becoming
obscure is problematic. It is great that there are some successful cases of
being able to find the right partner through websites, thanks to the Internet dismantling
geographical barriers. However, relying solely on the Internet, as an only one
source as their community, is dangerous. As some of the interviewed LGBT youth
stated in the article, there exist websites that are inappropriate towards some
of the younger age youth, and that are only focused on hooking up.
There are numerous dangers of the Internet and there still needs to be
improvements to address these cyber regarded issues. Downing overlooks the
potential risks of being rejected even in this new community that they find comfortable
being involved in. Even in this comfortable cyber community for LGBT, there are
people who are perceived as more popular, attractive, and active. Trying to
‘fit in’ is enormously stressful, as we have discussed in; for example,
Newman’s reading on how some youth could not find their right place and end up
in the solution of violence. Believing that the Internet might provide a better
community than offline scenes and their outside daily lives, some youth may
delve deeply into the online life. Where do they go next when they discover
that they got ‘rejected’ even in the trusted community?
Source: Iowa State
University. "Prevalence of cyberbullying and its psychological impact on nonheterosexual
youth revealed." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 8 March 2010.
<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100308182503.htm>.
I enjoyed how the author of this blog highlighted the benefits of online interaction. One of the stronger aspects of social networks and the like is the sense of security and anonymity. An example used was people who are affiliated with the LBGT, who are still stigmatized in places across the world. Consequences of exposing one’s sexuality can range from relatively minor, such as teasing, to incredibly severe, such as beatings and other ill behavior. The anonymous nature of the internet allows one to express their thoughts and ideas without fear of repercussions…or at least immediate, physical ones. It acts a secure blanket for many youth across the world. That being said, the internet is not void of its drawbacks. The author of the blog points out some of the major downsides, such as cyber-bullying and inappropriate websites. Overall I really enjoyed this blog post as it did an excellent job at exposing both the pros and the cons of the internet and youth interactions.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to Kim's essay, "Comfort Zone - Betrayal?” I really liked how she explained Gary Downing's view on his essay “Virtual youth: non-heterosexual young people’s use of the Internet to negotiate their identities and socio-sexual relations”. One thing that I wish Kim would have explained more is the relations to Hall’s term “Storm and Stress,” and Coleman’s “Subculture" she uses in her second paragraph. Another thing that I really liked about this essay is that Kim points out how the internet can in fact also have negative effects and the idea that even online youth can be rejected and that there are not many places for this youth to turn to. Overall, I think Kim did a great job at explaining the author’s ideas while relating it to course materials (although I do wish she would have explained paragraph two more) and giving contrasting issues. When It comes to Downing’s view that the internet is a place where youth and non-heterosexual youth can feel accepted and so on. It seems as though youth would have to be directed the right way since the internet is very broad and just as one can find support one can also find things that might actually be harmful.
ReplyDelete-Karen Ruiz
I really liked the question posed by the author at the end of the essay. The internet is being used by this minority group to try to find acceptance, but anyone can tell you that there is just as much if not more hateful rhetoric online as there is in real life. In online communities where the majority is non heterosexual, maybe they can find some sort of acceptance, but in any mainstream sites they ll find the same hate. People are more likely to say things online, since there is no real consequences, so honestly non heterosexual people will see endless hate online. It seems like the use of the internet for this purpose is like a double edged sword, where there is a chance of finding acceptance, but also to be rejected as well. This sort of goes along with the idea that the internet is a place of free expression, so there is always going to be a dualistic nature to the things that happen online, it just depends on the individual user to filter out the things they want to deal with, but I guess then it becomes a lot like real life.
ReplyDeleteSue Kim’s “Comfort Zone-Betrayal?” highlights important points that Downing makes in his reading of online communities, specifically for LGBT youth. I especially liked how Sue connects Downing’s reading to Coleman’s point of youth subcultures. LGBT youth who feel excluded from their offline communities have created their own space where they can be free to interact with other youth that are also in the same situation as them. However, although the internet creates a safe space specifically for youth that provides them with security, at the same time, it also creates the possibility of youth isolating themselves from the offline world. While I do agree that there are dangers when youth depend too much on an online community that they have not met personally, at the same time, the internet is a great way to get in touch with people and learn about movements that can influence these youth in real life. For example the “It Gets Better” campaign, where people try to give hope to LGBT youth who are considering suicide. There are also many videos on youtube where youth share their own stories of harassment and the struggles that they had to overcome, which serve to give hope to youth who are bullied and isolated in their own communities.
ReplyDeleteSue Kim is perfectly able to convey some of Downing’s points about the importance that the Internet plays in the LGBT community. Moreover, Kim is also able to connect Downing’s piece to other concepts discussed earlier in the semester. Kim also does a great job of listing the potential dangerous that can also come from building connections in the Internet, especially for younger LGBT members, which is something that is applicable to everyone. However, even though I agree that youth can experience rejection through the internet and isolate themselves if they rely solely on building connections in the internet a lot of the importance of the internet and the role it plays in the LGBT community relies in the fact that it allows them to voice their opinions, and find others who might have gone through similar experiences. A perfect website that showcases this is Tumblr where anyone can create a blog, and join in discussions surrounding all sorts of issues. Overall, it is important that LGBT youth have spaces in which they can turn to and feel supported, and that as a nation as a whole we work to creating safer spaces offline too.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how Kim approached and wrote her essay. She started off by laying out what was positive from the Downing essay. I agree that the Internet is a great place to meet people and to build a community. Unfortunately you never know who is behind the computer screen, so at the same time it is dangerous if people rely solely on the Internet. Apart from having no idea who your really talking to, there is the issue of cyber bulling. These negative types of actions could cause people to go through depression or in some instances people have even gone as far as killing themselves. So we have to take a step back and realize that although the Internet can be good sometimes to build communities, it can also cause consequences that are much worse. That is why people as well from the LGBT community have to be careful, someone might tell them that they wont make fun of them, but then turn around and bully them or out them to other people. Then have no idea who is causing them this much pain.
ReplyDelete