Critique 3

Matthew Perushek
November 16, 2007

Research topic and researchers: Feminist sexualities, race and the internet: An investigation of suicidegirls.com, by Shoshana Magnet. It was published in New Media & Society 9(4) (August 2007), pp. 577-602. It was retrieved from Communication & Mass Media Complete on November 10, 2007.

Rationale of the study: The objective of the study was to better understand feminism in the context of the online community. Specifically, it attempted to better understand how sexuality is expressed online. Furthermore, the study examined cybersex from the feminist perspective. All of this was done by analyzing Suicidegirls.com, which is a site that allows women to display pictures and profiles about themselves. The website was also analyzed within the context of two cyberfeminist perspectives, the “utopian” and the “dystopian” (578).

Literature review:
· Suicide girls was created in response to the material, fake women that are mostly used in pornography on the internet (579).
· Suicide girls is frequently referred to as a feminist website (580).
· The models are allowed to control their shots, and in doing this, the women are allowed to control the “gaze.” Most pornography is shot in the “male gaze,” but Suicide girls gives the control back to the women (580-581).
· Because the website uses journals, attention is drawn to the emotions of the models (581).
· Cybersex does not include the negative sides of sex (582).
· Suicide girls allows for women to break free of traditional stereotypes concerning sexuality and beauty (582).
· The internet allows for women to experiment with their sexual orientation easier (583).
· The internet allows women to express their sexuality, but also, it is a place where they are able to fulfill their sexual desires (584).
· It is important to remember the history of sexuality, especially when concerned with realities of women sexuality and inequality (585).
· The internet has helped to increase the subjection of women (586).
· The anonymity of the internet may contribute to some problems, such as the trafficking of women and children, the objectification of women, and sexual harassment (586).
· These problems, particularly the increase in sexual harassment, often cause women to avoid the online community (587).
· Some argue that the gender, race, and class structures of our society have been carried onto the web (588).
· Some people are wary of the commodification of the gay community (594).

Research method: The method used by the researcher was a discourse analysis. This analysis included the models’ profiles as well as threads within the “politics and activism” category of the website. The researcher combined the methodologies of many other researchers, including: Lindlof and Taylor, Glenn Stillar, Sturken and Cartright, and Nicholas Mirzoeff (579).

Subjects of the study: The subjects of the study, as partially explained above, included a couple different portions of the Suicide Girls website. One portion was the profiles of the models. The other portion was “the threads attached to the ‘feminist’ and ‘equal opportunity’ groups within the ‘politics and activism’ category” (579). The researcher was attempting to understand how feminism was represented on this website and on the online community (579).

Research findings: There were quite a few findings with respect to feminism. One of the most interesting findings of the study was the way in which women were portrayed on the Suicide girls website. The women were allowed to control their own pictures, which meant that they could decide which photos and shots were used. This allowed the women to “own the gaze,” rather than having a “male gaze” (580). Another important finding was the representation of women. Unlike most pornographic websites that promote a stereotypical view of women and beauty, Suicide girls portrayed women in an unconventional way. Models usually had dyed hair, tattoos, and many piercing (581).
There were also some findings when applying the two different cyberfeminist perspectives to the website. The utopian feminists argued that since Suicide girls used journals and testimonials from models, the site allowed for women to be “freed from the rigid norms that traditionally restrict female sexuality” (582). The dystopian feminists argued that since many models participated for money, and because of the hierarchical structures that are carried from reality to the internet, Suicide girls couldn’t stop the oppression of feminism as much as the utopians hope (585-586).
The last group of findings were concerned with racism. What the study found was that Suicide girls portrayed the different races in stereotypical ways. The site promoted a “white dominance” belief about women, while at the same time promoting minorities in typical roles (589-590).

My thoughts: I was not impressed with the study. First off, I believe that it was very disorganized and confusing. Instead of having very specific sections, such as Literature Review, Conclusions, etc… This study just seemed to bunch all of the sections together. I would have liked to see a more coherent outline throughout the study. I believe that organization is key to help explain a study. I found the results of this study interesting, but it took me way too long to find them! One other thing that I disliked was the fact that the researcher did not suggest where future research should go in this field. As I have said in previous critiques, directing further researchers is needed to keep a field growing. Research is built upon research, and it is important to let others know what needs to be done next.
With that said, I found the content of this study to be very remarkable. It was very interesting to see how this website portrayed feminism. More importantly, it was interesting to see that many feminists enjoyed this site, because it seemed to portray women in a way that they liked. I guess I just thought that feminists have, and always will, dislike pornography and the way women are portrayed. Furthermore, it was very interesting to see how the different types of feminism viewed this website. Personally, I really enjoyed this topic, and I like the fact that the researcher chose it. I believe that more research needs to be done on the impact of the internet on society, especially whether or not social structures transfer from reality to the internet.