Thursday, April 4 | Oakes 109 | 4:00 PM
Webcam spectators cannot fully achieve the empowered looks and erotic engagement with bodies that are promised by the technology. Instead, the presence of the camera, screen-based elements, and delivery failures are common aspects of this form. Feminist media theory offers important methods for considering such viewing conditions as nearness to the screen and the controlled visibility of women webcam operators.
Michele White is an Assistant Professor of emerging media in the Department of Telecommunications at Bowling Green State University, where she teaches internet and media studies, contemporary visual culture, and gender theory. Her articles include “Cabinet of Curiosities: Finding the Viewer in a Virtual Museum,” (Convergence: The Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 3,3, Autumn 1997); “Visual Pleasure in Textual Places: Gazing in Multi_User Object-Oriented Worlds,” (Information, Communication, and Society 2, 1999); and “Where is the Louvre,” (Space and Culture-The Journal, 4/5, 2000). “On the Internet, Everybody Worries that You’re a Dog: The Gender Expectations and Beauty Ideals of Online Personals and Text-Based Chat” will appear in the forthcoming anthology Readings in Gendered Context.
Sponsored by the Popular Culture Research Cluster.