The Internet is a queer place. Not only does it fit the word in the academic sense but also in that it is a space for people who identify as queer: trans, gay, lesbian, asexual and everything else that exists within or outside these identities.
The Internet, unlike the physical world, provides a space in which people can assume idealized or completely different versions of their own selves. In particular, social media provides the ability to obscure, erase, transform and create identity, thus establishing the Internet as a queering space and a prime location for queer people to explore their identities. I argue that queer people are currently reclaiming the Internet as their own, but in order to fully achieve this end-goal we must make the Internet accessible to all people, starting with homeless queer youth (especially those of color), a group of young people who need stable access to the Internet in the modern era.
Let’s get started with a formal understanding of the Internet as a queer space.
Part One
The traditional methods in which we research the ways humans interact have entered tumultuous territory since the Internet has gained popular use. Researchers in sociology, anthropology, linguistics and philosophy have applied their respective knowledge, and the Internet has transformed these concepts into wholly new understandings of human interaction. Although the increasing reliance upon online correspondence and information-gathering is well-documented, online spaces have not completely taken over physical spaces. In fact, the differences between the two are often taken for granted. Social experience in the physical realm is often seen as “real” whereas online relationships and socialization is seen as inferior or even unfathomable.
Nevermind the fact that one-third of marriages in the United States start online, or that in 15 years it is expected that more than half of new couples will meet online. Nevermind the fact that incredible social change has been achieved through Twitter hashtags less than 20 characters long. Before venturing any further, we all must recognize the Internet as a space as real as the physical world. The differences between the physical and the virtual are clear, but considering how often we are glued to our phones we must reconcile that a good portion of our social lives will continue to exist online.
Physical social interaction, engineered by the human mind, takes the form of verbally and physically expressed language. Vocal chords, facial expressions, hand signs, images, and the markings that denote written language all factor into how humans socialize in the physical world. In the virtual world, this type of communication is commonplace but also becomes queered.
The Internet could simply be seen as an index of records. The physical world also contains a number of items and objects considered records of things that occupy or occupied physical space. However, when these records are placed in a digital context, both meaning and constitution of the referent changes. First, the physicality of the object, whether it is the referent or the record of it, dissipates into a virtual maelstrom of numbers and electronic signals. Second, the collective nature of the Internet and its “remix culture” gives everyone license to remove or change meaning. Images, sounds and video clips are among some of the most common things stripped of context, but we can also see this happen with users. Physical bodies use the Internet to develop virtual personas. Online identities can merely be an extension of the physical self, but they often take on aspects of personality unlike those found in the user’s physical being. We can become anyone online, whether it is our ideal selves or a completely fictive identity.
Because identity forms largely through environmental feedback, the queering of social interaction also queers construction of the self.
For queer people, this new method of self-realization is integral to our collective identity. In his History of Sexuality, Foucault writes about the distinction between sex—the physical act that is a “family matter”—and sexuality—individual desire and fantasy. Using this foundation, some academics have come to realize that this dichotomy, like many aspects of the Western world’s black-and-white culture, falls short. Due largely to the Internet as a tool to enable queerness, sex and sexuality have become a singular entity: sexuality is the desire for and amalgamation of sexual activity, and sex both informs and realizes sexuality. The dichotomy for other identities becomes further blurred, especially for gender. Recognizing that the Internet is a place used for the active and passive deconstruction of identity provides a starting place for beginning to understand the Internet also as a queer space.
Part Two
The early Internet was not the bastion of queerdom described above. Rich white males were often the first ones to create online communities, but the increasing prevalence and decreasing cost of technology has allowed vibrant, diverse communities to thrive in the digital realm. In the decade after the turn of the century, the Internet population has come to resemble the racial makeup of America as a whole. Latinos and blacks are more likely to own mobile phones and use the Internet and social media services with them than their white counterparts. The fact Alan Turing, the father of computer science, was a gay man abused and driven to suicide by the British government, seems to be an uncanny coincidence.
The queering ability of the Internet makes digital space the natural realm for non-normativity and non-normative people. The Internet belongs to queer people, and our desire to dismantle oppressive structures and institutions begins with a proper Internet connection.
Physical spaces are cisheteronormative: people are assumed to be straight, the media defaults to heteronormative relationships and safe spaces for queer people are few and far between. The Internet, on the other hand, contains a plurality of spaces. Just as safe spaces exist for queer people, “safe spaces” for the most overrepresented are sure to be found as well. However, the alleged egalitarianism of the Internet actually amplifies the queer voice in a much more meaningful way than activism in physical world. Queerness occupies space equally with normativity, and queerness can coexist or even overtake the normativity carried over from the physical world. We see this quite well in particular circles on Twitter and Tumblr.
In queer Internet circles, identity is embraced. However, in spaces that are less than safe, a level of anonymity can also be beneficial to the Internet user. As a result, these two modes emerge as the foundation of social networks’ methods of organizing the multitude of users flocking to their sites. The former creates a space where identities are blurred and erased in an effort to create singular communities, but it also allows for the creation of safe spaces away from the harsh realities of the physical world. The latter embraces the self in a sea of selves at the expense of fluidity and corporate exploitation of personal information. The anonymity provided by sites like 4chan is a double-edged sword, but corporations like Facebook and Google that require legal names and information. Most other sites require much less personal information but insist on using a single username, handle or other identity. Identity changes across platforms depending on how the service is structured. The change from Twitter to Instagram might be only a few characters between handles, but Facebook users may find the freedom of semi-anonymous Internet forums liberating and important as spaces to construct fluid identities.
The Internet actively contributes to the deconstruction of the straight and queer dichotomy, both through the normalization of and demand for radical queerness in queer spaces and the acceptance of deviance from normativity in straight spaces. When queer spaces become straight and straight spaces become queer, then the Internet accomplishes its goal of queering society as we know it. As arbiters of queerness, we, as queer people, must utilize all the Internet has to offer and reclaim this space as a realm in which identity transcends check boxes on a form. On the Internet, identity is fluid and fully dependent on context. The persona one assumes changes as they move among social media accounts. Just as our physical identities are intersectional, the way in which we form, transform and deconstruct our identities online plays an almost larger role in how we define ourselves.
Still, we see difficulty in realizing our identities online because of the continued discrimination in the physical realm. Queer youth are more likely to face harassment online compared to their straight peers, but they also reap more benefits the Internet provides—meeting other queer youth, searching for health information or resources, etc. The reason for this might be because these opportunities are not available in the physical world. Furthermore, without the Internet, rural America would be without any semblance of a queer community. Just as we have begun to reclaim the very word we use in academic discourse, we must reclaim the Internet as a queer space for queer people. Access to the Internet for queer people is both crucial and life-saving. It is a universal right.
Part Three
Although researchers tend to not keep track of how much of the queer population uses the Internet, we know that people of color are somewhat less likely to be online compared to their white peers. There is also a larger disparity across class: the more are much more likely to not be online compared to the rich. Although young people by and far make up the largest age demographic online, we must put ample effort into providing access to homeless queer youth. Bridging the digital divide is crucial for the well-being of this group. Employment and financial aid opportunities are increasingly found online. Some homeless queer youth might not be able to safely go to school or other public resources like libraries. Free and open access to the Internet is the most important right to receive in the 21st century.
Most academics, philosophers and ordinary people will likely dismiss the Internet as merely a tool. This increasingly pervasive and all-consuming network has brought forth a cultural paradigm shift, one in which people are increasingly believing the Internet should be a utility or an inalienable right. Everyone is online, and those in the physical world who do not possess an online identity might as well not exist—an unfortunate assessment, but one that has become a reality as the Internet has become a primary method of social interaction. Simply put, the lack of Internet access to homeless queer youth is an erasure of identity.
Although not every homeless queer youth has access, some studies suggest that a significant amount own cell phones, with some suggesting the number is as high as 60 percent. In addition to making known, freely accessible WiFi hotspots known to homeless queer youth, we must go one s tep further. Distribute your own WiFi's SSID and password on a piece of paper with directions on how to get to it.
Cyber Queer Art
The thoughts described above allows us to understand digital art as Queer Art. I will go further and say any artwork displayed and distributed digitally that focuses on identity or collective identities is Cyber Queer Art. The natural conclusion for this type of work must combine social justice.
As an artist, I will be tying my thoughts above with artwork that will serve as social practice. In the meantime, here are some sketches of artwork and explorable themes under this framework.
