A Body of Text

Abstract

This article re-evaluates the relationship between gender identities, embodiment, sexuality and text-based, synchronous CMC (computer-mediated communication). A discourse analysis was conducted on two different IRC channels: #Cyberbar, a channel that hosts predominantly “straight” male/female gender performances; and #Queer, a channel mostly visited by participants who articulate “gay male” gender identities. The notion of embodiment played a pivotal role in both channels, as demonstrated by the identification of three “interpretative repertoires” that involve the invocation of corporeal aspects in the participants' performance of gender and sexuality. This invocation reaffirms gender's status as connected to a binary sexed body, which limits the scope of gender performances in a text-based environment such as IRC. However, the discursive interactions in #Queer did articulate alternative interpretations of masculinity, which challenged traditional heteronormative standards governing “male behavior.” Eventually, it is concluded that the discourse in both channels is constructed by participants who bring their everyday, embodied experiences online. IRC might be a textual environment, in contrast to many of the web's popular graphical spaces, but this does not mean that the body is any less present.

Keywords:

• body
• gender
• IRC
• discourse analysis
• sexuality
• internet

Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the financial support of the Netherlands Organisation of Scientific Research (NWO), grant number: NWO-MES 014-43-701, entitled “Gender bending on the Internet.” We are also grateful to all of the members of the Internet PhD club within ASCoR for their many and helpful comments on an earlier draft.

Notes

1. “Logging” is the act of storing all of the data from an IRC channel into a “log file.”

2. Obviously, this analysis focused solely on the public part of the two channels.

3. This is something that was discovered after a large part of the data had already been analyzed. It then became apparent that #Queer largely consisted of participants who performed a gay male gender identity.

4. A “Pop-Cultural” repertoire was also identified but since it had no relation to the notion of embodiment we decided not to discuss it here. For a complete discussion of all four repertoires, see van Doorn (2005).

5. If #Queer had indeed hosted a broader array of queer performances, it is very plausible that the results would have been different and that alternative repertoires might have been identified.