Race and the Digital: Racial Formation and 21st Century Technologies

Race and Feminism in the Cyber-World.

Immediately upon seeing the “white-name generator,” what came to mind was the experiment that was done when two people submitted the exact same resume/application but had different names (each stereotypically associated with a certain race, e.g. Robert Smith and Tyrone Johnson). Overwhelmingly the Robert Smith application was given preference over the Tyrone Johnson application, it can be argued that race and prejudicial assumptions took part in this according to the names of the applicants. This concept as is reflected in the readings, and highlighted by your supplementary media article, can be seen with internet username.

Eduardo brings up a good point; the anonymity of the internet is an interesting and unique aspect that can contribute to racism. Just as having a username that can indicate one’s race and consequently be attacked for it, not exposing your username can allow you to attack.

Moreover, to address the highly complex question of race being ignored because nothing can be done about… I kind of see this as a handicap (to be part of a minoritized community). So, it would be like saying, we should just ignore that he is handicapped because we cannot do anything about it. This stance does not seem natural to me. Race is an important consideration, especially in feminist movements. Though there are common struggles, race is an important factor in some of the details of certain female’s own feminist agendas. For example, the white middle-class woman does not face the same sort of discrimination as a working-class woman of color.

Return to the cyber-aspect: Will racism ever leave the internet? I think the internet is always a reflection of society, so unless racism leaves society at-large (which would be a first, large, step), I find it hard to believe that it would leave the internet.

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