Saturday, August 12, 2006

6th Edition of of the Radical Women of Color Carnival

Over at Mamita Mala's:
The theme of August’s Carnival is privacy and raw honesty on the net, specifically in the context of blogs and in our pressence as radical women of color on the net. The internet and the blogosphere gives the impression of being a safe, anonymous space, but for many, especially women of color who wear our politics on our blogs, having an online pressence involves the management of an additional facet of self. Because of this, we may self-censor, choosing an online identity that does not reveal our real face, our real name (i mean you all know my mami didn’t name me mala). Another form of self-censorship may be making a decision not to blog/write about certain pedacitos of our lives. For some of us- this was a choice made from get, because no matter how safe- how anonymous the net may feel, it is an extention of the same racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, fatphobic (etc etc etc) real world that hardly feels safe for many women of color (dare I say most). Some of us learned the hard way - by revealing something - as an act of resistance, an act of putting it out there in people’s faces, only to have it used against us.

1 comment:

DivineLavender said...

As I wonder around on the net, there is whole tension between folks that "censor" the comments, delete, edit, etc, etc. What is the big deal? As women, we have to push judgement on other women (seems more harsh among the women bloggers) rather to censor or not to censor our own little piece of the internet. Wait a minute let me get this right, we can get mad at men or Congress for digging in our uterus by making laws...We can get angry at employeers that forces us to pull ourselves away from our families...Yet even on the internet...we force ourselves on each other?

I get some frustrated with us! Is is safe with anyone...even my sistahs?

Revelations and ruminations from one southern sistorian...