The Real and Digital World’s Unequal Environment
After reading the article, How the Cult of Internet Openness Enables Misogyny, by Astra Taylor, I am able to better understand the harsh reality that women have to face in the digital world. Just as inequality is present physically in our society, specific groups of people seem to be dominating the digital world as well. Why is it that women feel marginalized and threatened on the Internet? It is hard to pinpoint what is causing such a gender gap, but certainly different reasons come to mind when consider this issue. Inequality is present within the digital world as well as in the tech industry, so it is important to consider if problems like this are equally as present in the non-digital world. We as people are the ones creating the digital landscape, which allows for both beneficially and detrimental progression regarding equality. Understanding this issue will in the end enable us to create a digital world that caters to everyone equally.
The Internet has always been considered an open space for communication, information, business, etc. That is why I was so shocked to read that real world inequalities are relevant to the Internet. It is important to mention that the Internets websites function similarly to a businesses, because it of course costs a price to own a domain name. With this being said, the people and companies with the most money ultimately have the greatest amount of power. Internet based companies such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, and YouTube are among the biggest and wealthiest companies in the world. It is interesting to compare the hierarchies involved in the digital world to the physical world that we live in today. Astra Taylor writes, “Socioeconomic status, race, and gender all play significant roles in a who’s who of the online world, with men considerably more likely to participate than women. ‘These findings suggest that Internet access may not, in and of itself, level the playing field when it comes to potential pay-offs of being online,’ warns Eszter Hargittai, a sociologist at Northwestern University. Put simply, closing the so-called digital divide still leaves a noticeable gap; the more privileged your background, the more likely that you’ll reap the additional benefits of new technologies.” With this being said, it is important to note that certain advantages have an impact on the digital world just as they do in the real world.
Just as people are born into the world with easier lives than others, the Internet works in the same way. Astra Taylor illustrates that men control the tech industry and that this is not a matter of intelligence, but rather relating to assertion. Women and men are fairly similar, yet different regarding cognitive development, so it is interesting to read that men have more assertion even though they do not necessarily have more skills, but more so a higher level of confidence. In a way, this can be argued as being a privilege that men have, but the validity behind this can be questioned. Sindeloke wrote an article titled, Of Dogs and Lizards: A parable of Privilege, which reads, “A straight cisgendered male American, because of who he is and the culture he lives in, does not and cannot feel the stress, creepiness, and outright threat behind a catcall the way a woman can. His upbringing has given him fur and paws big enough to turn the dials and plopped him down in temperate Ohio. When she says “you don’t have to put up with being leered at,” what she means is, “you don’t ever have to be wary of sexual interest.” That’s male privilege. Not so much that something doesn’t happen to men, but that it will never carry the same weight, even if it does.” This example is pretty applicable to this situation. Maybe men do not have the ability to recognize their power within society. History tells us that women faced blatant inequality and that men had more rights. With that being said, we have to be able to rationalize how the past problems relating to gender inequality relate to todays modern issues.
There is certainly an unequal distribution of time spent on household tasks, as well as on responsibilities relating to children, when comparing women to men. In the past this was a very common practice, but as time progresses more and more women are entering the workforce. For example, my mother was a stay at home parent, because she spent most of her time taking care of my brother and I. Now that my mother no longer has to take care of children, she has the ability to work and that is what she is doing. This was not a result of lacking skills in the past, but more so a choice of her own. In the present it is very sad to see that such inequality exists within the workforce. Astra Taylor writes, “When it comes to specialized technical know-how, women are assumed to be less competent unless they prove otherwise. In tech circles, for example, new gadgets and programs are often introduced as being ‘so easy your mother or grandmother could use them.’ A typical piece in the New York Times was titled ‘How to Explain Bitcoin to Your Mom.’ (Assumedly, dad already gets it.) This kind of sexism leapt directly from the offline world onto the Web and may only have intensified there. And it gets worse. Racist, sexist, and homophobic harassment or ‘trolling’ has become a depressingly routine aspect of online life.” With this being said, such sexism is a result of the past, which is totally unfair and unethical. Having something introduced in a way that downgrades another race or gender is entirely wrong. Not only do women have to tolerate sexism, but also there are many cases where individual women receive abuse because of having a presence online.
The issue of gender inequality in the digital world is something that I find to be very shocking. I never would have imagined discrimination in a space that was intended for everyone. The Internet is a place for people to seek information, but at times threatening situations can deter people and women especially away from it. Astra Taylor writes, “Indeed, a University of Maryland study strongly suggests just how programmatic such abuse is. Those posting with female usernames, researchers were shocked to discover, received 25 times as many malicious messages as those whose designations were masculine or ambiguous. The findings were so alarming that the authors advised parents to instruct their daughters to use sex-neutral monikers online. ‘Kids can still exercise plenty of creativity and self-expression without divulging their gender,’ a well-meaning professor said, effectively accepting that young girls must hide who they are to participate in digital life.” This research reveals are very dark side of the Internet that I was never aware of prior to reading up on this topic. A specific gender and race should never feel unsafe or uncomfortable to partake in something that revolves around simply having a presence. Internet is a place that certainly needs to be monitored for malicious acts. I cannot help but relate all of this digital world inequality and malice to the physical world that we live within.
Comparing the digital world to the real world is necessary when understanding this problem. The digital landscape would not be constructed the way it is without the input of its creators. Astra Taylor writes, “The digital is not some realm distinct from “real” life, which means that the marginalization of women and minorities online cannot be separated from the obstacles they confront offline. Comparatively low rates of digital participation and the discrimination faced by women and minorities within the tech industry matter–and not just because they give the lie to the egalitarian claims of techno-utopians. Such facts and figures underscore the relatively limited experiences and assumptions of the people who design the systems we depend on to use the Internet–a medium that has, after all, become central to nearly every facet of our lives. In a powerful sense, programmers and the corporate officers who employ them are the new urban planners, shaping the virtual frontier into the spaces we occupy, building the boxes into which we fit our lives, and carving out the routes we travel. The choices they make can segregate us further or create new connections; the algorithms they devise can exclude voices or bring more people into the fold; the interfaces they invent can expand our sense of human possibility or limit it to the already familiar.” With this being said, we have the ability to overcome these issues. It is a matter of change in mentality as well as a change in understanding for the environment. I do not think humans are inherently evil, so I can only hope that the privileged, which in this case is men within the digital world and tech industry, will work to overcome such inequality.
After reading material relating to gender inequality in the digital world and the tech industry I feel very sad and disappointed. I never imagined how serious this gender imbalance of power was. I think our dark history of inequality is to blame for the current issue that is underway. The harsh landscape that women have to deal with today is a direct result of our previous reality. I was under the impression that men and women were equal in all ways, but I now have the ability to understand that this is not necessarily the case in some situations. I think as the older generations of males pass away, we will see a far more equal landscape digitally as well as physically relating to the many different industries. I think, as the modern generations become the ones in the executive positions we will see a changing Internet that best suits everyone, rather than a specific group of people. The United States has a past history of unequal civil rights, but I can only hope for a brighter future for everyone.
“Of Dogs and Lizards: A Parable of Privilege.” Sindelk. N.p., 13 Jan. 2010. Web. 30 Apr. 2016
