MySpace
I had often heard my friends talking about the website MySpace, but I had never really been on it or viewed it for more than a minute or two until I got this assignment. As I looked over some various profiles, I began to see differences in how males and females presented themselves through their profiles using visual rhetoric. It became apparent that both the men and women in these profiles that I viewed were representing themselves in a "normal" way according to the heteronormative society.
The profiles of the males that I looked at all had some striking similarities. The main pictures for the majority of men were just them by themselves. Most of them just had kind of a half smile, or they were not smiling at all. It almost seemed like smiling was prohibited for some of them. The backgrounds of many of the profiles were darker, or like a couple that I saw, were of scantley crad women. The songs that usually accompanied the openings of most mens' profiles were of the rock nature; there were no male profiles that I viewed that opened with a song sung by a woman. Some male profiles contained some things that were pretty offensive and sometimes a little diturbing. Others contained some material that could be perceived as homophobic.
The womens' profiles that I looked at to me, a male, seemed a lot more feminine. To start it off, their pictures had a lot more smiling going on. Women tended to have many more pictures of themselves with their friends in which they were hugging and a lot closer as opposed to the males. There were also so many more colors. Females' backgrounds were a lot more bright and colorful. The songs ranged from country to hip-hop, but the majority were slower than those of the males. I did see some things that seemed a little crude, but they weren't nearly as bad as what I saw on some of the guys' profiles.
In the heteronormative society we live in today there is a dichotomy of gender. Men are supposed to be tough and independent. Women are supposed to be sweet and friendly and caring. Hence the differences of MySpace profiles between men and women. This is how society views gender as normal, but there is no normal; everyone is different. Gender is a role just as performance theory says. MySpace and other internet sites like it allow one to visually portray oneself in whatever manner he or she wants to; one can meet and interact with a variety of people, but one only knows those people through what is presented on the computer screen and vice versa.
The profiles of the males that I looked at all had some striking similarities. The main pictures for the majority of men were just them by themselves. Most of them just had kind of a half smile, or they were not smiling at all. It almost seemed like smiling was prohibited for some of them. The backgrounds of many of the profiles were darker, or like a couple that I saw, were of scantley crad women. The songs that usually accompanied the openings of most mens' profiles were of the rock nature; there were no male profiles that I viewed that opened with a song sung by a woman. Some male profiles contained some things that were pretty offensive and sometimes a little diturbing. Others contained some material that could be perceived as homophobic.
The womens' profiles that I looked at to me, a male, seemed a lot more feminine. To start it off, their pictures had a lot more smiling going on. Women tended to have many more pictures of themselves with their friends in which they were hugging and a lot closer as opposed to the males. There were also so many more colors. Females' backgrounds were a lot more bright and colorful. The songs ranged from country to hip-hop, but the majority were slower than those of the males. I did see some things that seemed a little crude, but they weren't nearly as bad as what I saw on some of the guys' profiles.
In the heteronormative society we live in today there is a dichotomy of gender. Men are supposed to be tough and independent. Women are supposed to be sweet and friendly and caring. Hence the differences of MySpace profiles between men and women. This is how society views gender as normal, but there is no normal; everyone is different. Gender is a role just as performance theory says. MySpace and other internet sites like it allow one to visually portray oneself in whatever manner he or she wants to; one can meet and interact with a variety of people, but one only knows those people through what is presented on the computer screen and vice versa.
posted by Anonymous at 5:01 PM
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