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Living the VirtuReal: Negotiating Transgender Identity in Cyberspace

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Abstract

This paper examines the ways transgender users manoeuver between online and offline worlds in order to negotiate their complicated gender identity and to overcome offline impediments. The study is based on virtual ethnography and discourse analysis within two online arenas, a newsgroup and a website, which are central to the Israeli transgender community. The analysis suggests that transgender users employ cyberspace as preliminary, complementary, and/or alternative spheres. Delving deeper into the meaning of the alternative sphere, the paper revisits 2 central issues in Internet research, namely the relationships between the online and the offline worlds, and identity management within online settings. The paper concludes by proposing a new term – VirtuReal – to address these issues.
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
Living the VirtuReal: Negotiating Transgender
Identity in Cyberspace*
Avi Marciano
Department of Communication, University of Haifa, Room 8034, Rabin Building, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave., Mount
Carmel, Haifa, 31905
is paper examines the ways transgender users manoeuver between online and oine worlds in
order to negotiate their complicated gender identity and to overcome oine impediments. e study
is based on virtual ethnography and discourse analysis within two online arenas, a newsgroup and
a website, which are central to the Israeli transgender community. e analysis suggests that trans-
gender users employ cyberspace as preliminary, complementary, and/or alternative spheres. Delv-
ingdeeperintothemeaningofthealternativesphere,thepaperrevisits2centralissuesinInternet
research, namely the relationships between the online and the oine worlds, and identity manage-
ment within online settings. e paper concludes by proposing a new term VirtuReal to address
these issues.
Keywords: Gender, Cyberspace, Discourse Analysis, Virtuality, Identity, Empowerment.
doi:10.1111/jcc4.12081
Introduction
A transgender woman who maintains a virtual romantic relationship for more than a decade – a rela-
tionship she believes she cannot experience in the oine world; a senior bank manager who secretly
wears his wife’s underwear and aer many years discovers, through online newsgroups, that his dis-
honorable hobby has a name – transvestitism – and an embracing community; a transgender teenage
boy whose online transgender friends became "real" oine friends, putting an end to years of isolation.
ese stories, which I encountered during my research, exemplify how transgenders use cyberspace to
accomplish things they would not achieve otherwise.
WhilethediscourseofonlineempowermenthasbeenwellestablishedinInternetresearch,little
attention has been heretofore given to the negotiation between marginalized users – and transgenders
in particular – and the Internet. is paper, therefore, examines the ways transgender users manoeuver
between the online and the oine world in order to overcome oine impediments related to their
gender.
Based on virtual ethnography and discourse analysis of online arenas that are central to the Israeli
transgender community, the study indicates that transgender users employ cyberspace in three main
ways: as preliminary, complementary, and/or alternative spheres. By paying close attention to cyberspace
as an alternative sphere, which is especially pertinent to transgender users, the paper revisits two cen-
tral issues in Internet research, namely the relationships between the online and the oine worlds, and
*Accepted by previous editor Maria Bakardjieva
824 Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 19 (2014) 824– 838 © 2014 International Communication Association
identity issues (authenticity versus falseness) within online settings. I begin with outlining two gen-
eral trends in Internet research – utopian and dystopian – before turning to discuss the social nature
oftheInternetandtheroleitplaysinthelivesofsociallymarginalizedusers,especiallyaroundissues
of empowerment and identity. I then provide a brief review of the transgender life experience, with an
emphasis upon the role of cyberspace.
e place of the Internet in our lives: Two trends in communication research
e term virtual reality (Rheingold, 1991) reveals an alleged contradiction pertaining to the ontological
essence of the virtual experience. As such, it prompts a discussion about the dierences between online
and oine experiences. Almost 2 decades ago, Sherry Turkle (1995) depicted the online and the oine
worlds as parallel spaces that provide users with dierent kinds of experiences. Manuel Castells (2000), in
comparison, preferred the term real virtuality, emphasizing the realistic nature of the virtual experience,
which is aer all rooted in the oine setting.
edierencebetweenthesetwodescriptionsreectsashiintheeldofInternetresearch.Early
investigations gloried the Internet as a revolutionary medium that may foster changes in the social
and political orders. Scholars portrayed it as a medium that facilitates democratization (Rheingold,
1993), redenes the concept of identity (Turkle, 1995), replaces oine communities (Lajoie, 1996; Wil-
son, 1997), and even changes the way we perceive reality (Poster, 1990). Later academics rejected these
utopian visions and highlighted the role of demographic variables in limiting equality in Internet usage
(Zillien & Hargittai, 2009). ey also pointed to the power relations that accompany online interactions.
In other words, they claimed that the evils of the oine world are still here (Nguyen, Torlina, Peszyn-
ski, & Corbitt, 2006). By and large, these researchers promoted the perception that online practices are
deeply rooted in the oine world (Nip, 2004; Wilson & Peterson, 2002).
Cyberspace as a social milieu
e sociability of the Internet derives primarily from the technology it is based on. Unlike face-to-face
interactions, online communication transcends traditional boundaries of time and space. Namely, it is
not bounded by geographical barriers and it is available 24 hours a day (White & Dorman, 2001). is
featurehasawideimpactonoursocialworld,asevidenced in one of the most researched phenomenon
related to cyberspace – virtual communities.
According to some researchers, the sociability of the Internet can be explained by the central role
that communities play in our lives. Social communities are major sources of security and stability for
their members (Brownell, 1950; Nisbet, 1960). e erosion of traditional oine communities as a result
of industrialism, individualization, and globalization – a consensual assumption in the eld of urban
sociology (Hopper, 2003; Mellor, 1977; Stein, 1972) – may explain why scholars and early enthusiasts
of the Internet embraced systems of computer-mediated communication. ese systems, according to
these researchers, give rise to real communities with rich human relationships (Rheingold, 2000; Well-
man, 1999). ese virtual communities are dened as "social aggregations that emerge from the net
when enough people carr y on [ ]publicdiscussionslongenough,withsucienthumanfeelings,to
form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace" (Rheingold, 2000, p. xx). Other scholars preferred the
broader term virtual togetherness to describe the various forms of collective online involvement, hop-
ing to avoid the normative load that accompanies the constructed meanings of the concept community
(Bakardjieva, 2003).
Although cyberspace is oen discussed in terms of networked individualism (Castells, 2001) and
personalized networking (Wellman, 2001), it is now widely accepted that "being online may be fully
social" (van Dijk, 2006, p. 168). In other words, the online individualism oen involves intensive social
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 19 (2014) 824– 838 © 2014 International Communication Association 825
interaction. is understanding is evidenced in what Bakardjieva termed (2003) immobile socialization,
a cultural trend in which individuals use the Internet to socialize from their private realm. erefore, in
one way or another, we are actually facing a new and unique social setting that make cyberspace a social
sphere. Its sociability, as I now turn to show, is highly valuable when it comes to users who are subject
to social marginalization.
e role of cyberspace in the lives of socially marginalized users
Research reports have demonstrated the empowering nature of the Internet (van Uden-Kraan et al.,
2008), emphasizing the sense of belonging and social support it provides to the users (Finn, 1996; Finn,
1999; Shaw & Gant, 2002; Wellman, 2001). ese features are especially salient in newsgroups, which
lieatthecenterofthisstudyandaredenedasonekindofanetworkeddiscussiongroup,amultipar-
ticipants forum that is asynchronous, usually public and mostly focused on a specic topic of interest
(Marciano, 2011). Participation in newsgroups allows users to establish and maintain social ties relatively
easily (Boase, Horrigan, Wellman, & Rainie, 2006). For example, research has shown that more than 60%
of respondents have felt a sense of belonging to the group (Roberts, 1998) and formed a relationship with
people they “met” in the newsgroup (Parks & Floyd, 1996). Some scholars have even credited newsgroups
as propitious agents of a social and civil revival (Connolly, 2001).
Online support groups, which operate within newsgroups and other online platforms, are central
arenas to implement web empowerment, in part due to the anonymity they are based on. As such, they
provide stigmatized participants with a welcoming venue to discuss sensitive and embarrassing issues
(Idriss, Kvedar, & Waston, 2009; White & Dorman, 2001). As Hegland and Nelson put it, "any and all
marginalized groups have turned to the Internet to express their unconventional behaviors" because it
allows "individuals who live at the fringes of society to reect upon their own paths, meet others, and
oer or receive advice and support without risking public condemnation or persecution" (Hegland &
Nelson, 2002, p. 141).
Various researches have demonstrated the positive inuence of the Internet on dierent minority
groups, such as cancer patients (Radin, 2006), low-income families (Mehra, Merkel, & Bishop, 2004),
hearing-impaired people (Barak & Sadovsky, 2008), physically handicapped (Bowker & Tun, 2007),
sexual minorities (Marciano, 2011; Mehra et al., 2004) and so on. In order to understand how and why
these groups use the Internet, Idriss and her colleagues (2009) mapped usage patterns, attitudes, demo-
graphics, and experiences of online support site users and found that key factors associated with using
these sites were availability of resources (95.3%), convenience (94.0%), access to good advice (91.0%),
and lack of embarrassment when dealing with personal issues (90.8%).
Along with social support and other kinds of web-based empowerment, the question of how online
participation inuences users’ identity is of paramount importance, especially in the case of marginalized
users. e answer to that question, at least in the context of gender identity, lies in the term cyberfem-
inism, which reects, among others, transgender politics that refer to the unique possibility that new
technologies oer: the ability to transcend bodily gender limitations and construct gender(less) identi-
ties (van Zoonen, 2002). More generally, Sherry Turkle (1995) reected on how living in a virtual world
inuences the human identity. According to her, the Internet, as a technology that oers its users var-
ied anonymous arenas of interactions, can be seen as a social laboratory in which the individual can
experience dierent personalities in order to express dierent selves.
In fact, the idea of multiple selves was already presented in the middle of the last century. Both
Goman (1959) and Jung (1953) distinguished between two kinds of selves: public and private. Social
interactions, Goman suggested, should be examined in terms of front stage and backstage. Whereas
the front stage is where we perform and present out public identity to others, the backstage is the safe
826 Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 19 (2014) 824– 838 © 2014 International Communication Association
placewherewerehearsbeforetherealshow.emeaningsofGomanstheory thateveryidentityis,
in one way or another, a performance – were discussed years later by Judith Butler (1990) in the con-
text of gender in general, and transgenderism in particular. e combination of these notions Turkle’s
laboratory and Goman’s and Jung’s dierent selves – emphasizes the unique potential of the Internet
to enable individuals to express their unfullled selves. ese notions, it should be noted, reect perfor-
mative aspects of self-presentation as part of functional identity management, rather than an essential
assumption of an authentic inner self.
Whether we perceive the Internet as revolutionary or we support the reluctant notion of real virtu-
ality, the social nature of cyberspace and newsgroups in particular – is highly consensual. e Inter-
net’s ability to empower users in various ways from online support to testing and expressing dierent
selves – makes it almost an ideal medium for transgender individuals, who are the focus of the next
section. Before that, two points should be made: First, while many contemporary researchers acknowl-
edge the empowering potential of the Internet, others also emphasize aspects of inequality in online
participation, especially in the context of unprivileged users (see Gray, 2009). Second, and as a con-
sequence of the previous point, this paper goes beyond the discourse of empowerment. Rather than
asking whether cyberspace empowers transgender users or not, I focus on the negotiation between the
two, in order to understand how transgenders use the Internet and what part the online discourse takes
in shaping their experiences.
e role of cyberspace in the lives of transgender users
Before turning to elaborate on the potential contribution of cyberspace to transgender individuals, I
want to briey review some of the diculties and obstacles that many of them face on a daily basis. is
is not to say that the transgender life experience is characterized primarily by wretchedness and misery,
but to shed light on some aspects of discrimination and marginalization they suer from. ese evils, as
Iwillshowlateron,aretheveryfeaturesthatmakecyberspacesoattractivetotransgenderusers.
In most societies the gender binary serves as a fundamental system by which individuals dene
themselves (Hubbard, 1998). erefore, congruence between one’s sex, gender and sexuality is highly
appreciated (Butler, 1990). Since gender is a social element, individuals are expected to enact their gender
role according to social conventions in order to become legitimate actors (West & Fenstermaker, 1995).
is expectation, violated by many transgenders, is the basic source for the diculties and obstacles
many of them experience.
Challenging the binary system through transgender practices usually results in stigmatization, ostra-
cizing and mockery, especially when the gender appearance is not convincing; namely, when it does
not coincide with the biological sex, speaking hetero-normatively (Gagne, Tewksbury, & McGaughey,
1997). Research reveals that 60% of the American transgenders have experienced some kind of violence
or harassment (Lombardi, Wilchins, Priesing, & Malouf, 2002) and many of them have been subjected to
housing and employment discrimination (Clements-Nolle, Marx, Guzman, & Katz, 2001). ese nd-
ings are even more problematic considering the fact that transgender individuals are less likely to receive
adequate medical and criminal justice interventions (Witten & Eyler, 1999).
In addition to the above diculties, transgender people are at high risk for HIV (Clements-Nolle
et al., 2001; Nemoto, Operario, Keatley, Nguyen, & Sugano, 2005). Not only do many of them lack impor-
tant information about HIV risks and prevention techniques (Bockting, Robinson, & Rosser, 1998) and
therefore suer from high rates of infections (Sykes, 1999), they are also discriminated within HIV pre-
vention programs, which tend to be insensitive to their needs (Bockting, Robinson, & Rosser, 1998a).
Clements-Nolle and her colleagues (2001) showed that 60% of their 515 transgender interviewees
were depressed and 32% of them had attempted suicide. Nevertheless, many of them were treated insen-
sitively by service providers who are inappropriately trained (Nemoto et al., 2005), unfamiliar with the
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 19 (2014) 824– 838 © 2014 International Communication Association 827
transgender culture (Lombardi, 2001) and biased with views that are not based on objective empirical
research (Fox, 2000).
is problematic situation led the American Public Health Association to pass a resolution on trans-
gender health issues during its 1999 annual meeting: "the need for acknowledging transgendered indi-
viduals within research and clinical practice"1(Lombardi, 2001). Over a decade has passed since this call
and the National Transgender Discrimination Survey Report on Health and Health Care reveals that not
much has changed: Nineteen percent of the sample reported being refused care due to their gender non-
conforming status, 28% were subjected to harassment in medical settings, and 50% reported having to
teach their medical providers about transgender care (Grant et al., 2010).
Rubin (2007) discussed the social attitudes toward transgender people in a broader sociological con-
text, suggesting that dierent sex acts are appraised according to hierarchical system of sexual value.
While marital, reproductive heterosexuals enjoy being at the top of the pyramid, the very bottom of
it inhabits the most despised: transsexuals and transvestites along with sadomasochists, prostitutes, and
more. Whereas those at the top of the list are "rewarded with certied mental health, respectability, legal-
ity, social and physical mobility, institutional support, and material benets," the lowliest inhabitants are
"subjected to a presumption of mental illness, disreputability, criminality, restricted social and physi-
cal mobility, loss of institutional support, and economic sanctions" (p. 151). e lower part of Rubin’s
pyramid is exactly where the empowering ability of the Internet becomes relevant.
While scholars have explored the role of the Internet in the lives of socially marginalized people,
few of them dedicated their research to transgender users. A review of these works suggests three main
insights regarding the topic. First, on the personal-materialistic level, the Internet is an unprecedented
source of information, support and consultation; it allows transgender users to maintain social inter-
actions, take part in the local and global transgender communities and share their experiences with
peers activities that alleviate feelings of isolation (Hegland & Nelson, 2002). For example, prior to the
Internet, transgender individuals relied on the medical institution, which encouraged them to deny their
past, disengage with the LGBT community, and assimilate in the heteronormative society as heterosexu-
als. e Internet, on the other hand, empowered them as independent critical subjects, by making similar
individuals and rich information available (Shapiro, 2004).
Second, on the communal level, the Internet reduced organizational and administrative challenges,
and thus facilitated transgender political and social activism (Shapiro, 2004). is was a crucial stage in
the process of establishing an organized networked transgender community.
ird, on the identity level, cyberspace seems to be an ideal platform for transgender individuals.
According to Whittle (1998), many transgender people hide their identity in the oine world, in order
to avoid social sanctions. is ongoing impersonation actually involves maintaining a virtual identity in
theoineworld.isiswhy"living"intheonlineworldisnotnewtothem.Onthecontrary,theycanbe
seen as experts within the online world, even though they acquired their expertise oine. Ironically, the
virtual world where others make eorts to learn how to manage their identities – gives expression to
the usually hidden transgender identity. In other words, the transgender self is experienced through the
virtualone,partiallybecauselivingincyberspacemay"infuseasenseof’realness’intotheexperienceof
something that is, at least according to strict social dictates, based on artice and deception" (Hegland
& Nelson, 2002, p. 155).
Method
e current study focuses on two online arenas which are central to the Israeli transgender commu-
nity: the newsgroup Transgenders & Friends and the website GoTrans.Inordertograsptheprofound
meanings of what I call living in cyberspace, I integrated two complementary methodologies: discourse
analysis and virtual ethnography.
828 Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 19 (2014) 824– 838 © 2014 International Communication Association
Discourseanalysisisamethodologythatincludesdierentapproachestothestudyoftextsand
discursive practices (Tracy, 1995). More specically, it is used to interpretively analyze social phenomena
and to explore how socially produced ideas are created and maintained (Hardy, Harley, & Phillips, 2004).
In this research I apply Potter and Wetherell’s (1987) suggested procedures. ey focus on the ways in
which the text is organized and functions. ey list three major components function, variation, and
construction – to argue that the activity of using a text inevitably involves a selection of one variation,
according to the purpose of the talk and in order to construct a social world. e text, according to them,
is not a pathway to a hidden reality lying beyond it, nor a channel that necessarily leads the researcher to
one’s attitudes or dispositions. Alternatively, the focus is on the text itself and on the ways the individual
uses it to explain, rationalize, and construct ideas and actions. erefore, the researcher is interested not
only in what reality means for individuals, but also and primarily in the ways it is produced by them
(Hardy et al., 2004).
e second methodology is virtual ethnography. Like traditional ethnography, it highlights the
importance of in-depth engagement in the eld (Hine, 2000, 2008). However, being a web-based
method, it is an "ethnography in, of and through the virtual" (Hine, 2000, p. 65) and therefore it makes
use of the rich social interactions and the open context that characterize cyberspace, where practices,
meanings, and identities merge (Dominguez et al., 2007). My working denition for virtual ethnog-
raphy,then,willbeanonlineresearchthatappliesethnographicmethodstothestudyofmediated
interactions and cultures.
According to Hine (2000), virtual ethnography raises some essential questions: How do users under-
stand the Internet’s capabilities as a medium of communication? How does it aect the organization of
social relationships? What are the implications of the Internet for authenticity? Is the virtual experienced
as dierent and separate from the "real"? And so on. e current study is ethnographic in nature not only
because it follows the required methodological procedures but primarily because its main purpose is "to
make the [ ] behavior of a dierent way of life humanly comprehensible" (Cliord, 1986, p. 101).
Before addressing issues of sampling, I want to make two important points. First, e very ethnographer
should place himself/herself anywhere on the spectrum between full participant and full observer – a
decision with important implications regarding the working assumptions (Hine, 2008). Second, online
lurking, I believe, is not enough to produce an appropriate ethnography (see Beaulieu, 2004). However,
during the research I felt that any intervention in the inner dynamics of the eld would be an "external
manipulation" that may harm its natural atmosphere. Looking for an alternative way to get involved,
I decided to take part in various community events (from the Transgender Day of Remembrance cer-
emony to antidiscrimination demonstrations), which I felt got me deeply engaged in the transgender
culture.
e rst arena that was examined was the newsgroup Transgenders & Friends, which operates under
Tapuz – the most active and popular UGC (user-generated content) site in Israel. e newsgroup was
founded in 2002 in order to "provide support, an open ear and a friendly environment to the transgender
community in Israel" (as stated in the About page). At the beginning of the research period (October
2011), the newsgroup’s archive included 300 pages with 4,500 posts (15 posts per page), from which
I systematically sampled 900 posts (three from each page, in equal increments). e second eld was
GoTrans the largest website of the Israeli transgender community. It was founded in 2008 as a "medium
that oers quality information about science, medicine and society for transgender individuals". e
website oers ve sections, including general articles from which I sampled the texts for this research. I
sampled 100 items out of 346 (approximately every third item).
e analysis process was twofold: rst, I classied these texts into thematic categories (the posts
from the rst arena were classied into 11 categories and the articles from the second arena were classi-
ed into eight categories). is procedure compensated for the limited sampling: e recurrence of the
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 19 (2014) 824– 838 © 2014 International Communication Association 829
topics and accordingly the ability to categorize them enabled me to grasp the general mindset of the
analyzed arenas. Second, I applied discourse analysis on the sampled texts in order to understand how
socially marginalized people use and perceive cyberspace.
Analysis
An analysis of these texts revealed recurring motifs and patterns that indicate that transgender users
employ cyberspace as preliminary, complementary, and/or alternative spheres. e preliminary sphere
provides the users an opportunity to virtually go through various experiences before "entering the real
world." One prevalent example is users who begin and maintain virtual romantic relationships, oen
with the hope of transferring them to the oine world at a designated point of time. Transgender users
mayalsoemploycyberspaceasacomplementary sphere that completes the oine world and constitutes a
supplemental part of it. In other words, it serves as another social arena in the user’s life, just like school
or work. us, the separation between the user’s online and oine worlds is minimal. Users who use
cyberspace as complementary tend to reveal real details from their oine lives (e.g. full name). Along-
side the preliminary and the complementary spheres, some transgender users employ cyberspace as an
alternative sphere that constitutes a parallel world that provides its inhabitants with dierent and some-
times contradictory experiences from those available in the oine world. is option usually involves an
adoption of a virtual identity that contributes to the users’ well-being. For example, many transgender
women who participate in the newsgroup maintain virtual relationships while hiding their biological
sex. ese practices, they witness, allow them to feel like "real biological women" in a way that cannot be
achieved in the oine world, not even by sex reassignment surgery (SRS). [Comment added aer online
publication May 26, 2014: roughout the paper, I refer quite frequently to sex reassignment surgery
(SRS). is is not to imply that SRS and gender transition are synonymous. Transitioning, of course, is
a complex multi-faceted process that may or may not involve SRS. However, SRS is widely discussed in
the paper because it is a major concern within the researched newsgroup.]
ese proposed spheres are in fact analytic tools that pack complex experiences and turn it into a
set of schematic descriptions. e simpliedschema, therefore, reects a somewhat chaotic reality. us,
the messages that will be presented in this section will not follow a linear order. Namely, a single message
will not match exclusively to a single sphere. e following two messages introduce us to the practical
way in which transgender individuals use cyberspace as an alternative sphere.
(1) Ivirtuallyliveasawoman:Imalready27[], I’m considered gay, but I maintain many vir-
tual relationships [ ] as a normal biological woman. When they work well (afewyears,for
example) and I badly want to meet the other side, I just can’t ’cause I have a regular male body.
Does it mean I need to change my body?2
(2) ere’s no need to go through unnecessary procedures: Apart from being unable to present yourself
as a woman, do you feel that your need is relevant to other situations in the real world? Maybe
the virtual life is satisfying for you [].
ese messages exemplify how transgender individuals use cyberspace as an alternative sphere. In the
rst message the user distinguishes between her oine world, where she lives with a "regular male body,"
and her virtual online world, where she lives as a "normal biological woman." e response (msg. #2)
to this message reinforces the separation between these worlds: the user who wrote it tries to rene
the interrelations between them by suggesting the possibility that each one of them may fulll dierent
needs. He also provides us a rst clue of cyberspace as an alternative sphere by implying that it may be
a satisfying alternative to the oine world. In fact, the messages above refer to four dierent issues that
will be addressed during this paper: (a) the distinction between cyberspace’s three dierent functions; (b)
thenatureofcyberspaceasanalternativesphereanditsabilitytoprovideitsusersauniqueexperience
830 Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 19 (2014) 824– 838 © 2014 International Communication Association
by turning impossible desires into a possible reality; (c) questions of authenticity and falseness within
online settings; and nally (d) the traditional ongoing discussion regarding the interrelations between
the online and the oine worlds, and the power-relations that characterize both world.
e next message demonstrates and sharpens cyberspace’s dierent functions, while focusing on its
role as an alternative sphere.
(3) I’m really pissed: I live as a virtual woman [] and I maintain virtual relationships with several
people. We both know that we’re never gonna meet and we’re ne with it [ ]. Living as a virtual
woman keeps me alive. I live like this since I was 14 (I’m almost 28). On the one hand, I live as a
woman most of my time (and it’s just like the dream, being a normal-biological woman and not
atrans). On the other hand, it probably hinders my physical change because living as a biological
woman without making the change is pretty nice, it’s satisfying enough.
e woman who wrote this message maintains two separate worlds that do not complete each other:
While she lives as a man in the oine world, she has been living as a woman in the online world for
already 14 years. For her, cyberspace is not a preliminary sphere as well, since she has no intention to
transfer her online experiences to the oine world ("we’re never gonna meet"). As she observes, the
ability to live as a "normal biological woman" is not only a dream but it actually keeps her alive; it is
sosatisfyingthatsheclaimsthatitobviatestheneedforSRS.Asanalternativesphere,cyberspacepro-
vides her with a unique experience that she feels she cannot achieve in the oine world. Unlike most
users, who engage in identity experiments out of self-exploration (Valkenburg, Schouten, & Peter, 2005),
the message suggests that for this user, managing a virtual identity is a true need rather than an enter-
taining whim. e next message takes this insight even further and shows that as an alternative sphere,
cyberspace compensates for deciencies that characterize the transgender life experience in the oine
world and turns impossible desires into possible reality. By doing so, it provides its members with an
all-encompassing ongoing alternative experience.
(4) Hi everybody: I knew that I wanted be a girl since I was four [ ]. My biggest fear is that I won’t
pass as a woman [ ]. I live as a virtual woman because all I want is to be accepted as a real
biological woman, not as a transsexual.
is message presents one of the most prevalent concerns in the transgender life experience: the desire to
"pass" (Gagne et al., 1997). Many transgender women, as the analysis reveals, dream about getting rid of
the transsexual tag, which they know will accompany them for the rest of their lives, despite any physical
changes (i.e. surgery). Unwillingly, they renounce the unattainable identity of "real biological women"
and come to terms with the transgender identity. is account coincides with what Gangne and her
colleagues depicted as "the aspiration to be seen and identied by others as real women" (1997, p. 501).
Using cyberspace as an alternative sphere plays an interesting role in this context. e members of
Transgenders & Friends are aware that SRS won’t make any of them "biological women" (females) or
"biological men" (males). However, as the message above indicates, using cyberspace as a virtual alter-
native sphere brings them as close as possible to that position, by allowing them to fully live as the
opposite sex. For them, the virtual world practically makes the impossible possible. is point of view,
Iargue,ispossibleonlywhencyberspaceisperceivedasatotalalternativeworldthatisabletoprovide
an all-encompassing ongoing alternative experience. In fact, the woman who wrote the message prefers
tolivevirtuallyasabiologicalwomanthantoliveoineasatransgenderwoman.
e real nature of the alternative sphere is also reected in the next message, which arouses two main
issues: questions of authenticity and falseness within online settings, and dierences between transgen-
der and cisgender3users. One of the newsgroup’s members a biological female who considers herself
a man that is sexually attracted to men (namely, a transgender gay man) shared her frustration from
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 19 (2014) 824– 838 © 2014 International Communication Association 831
having to hide her biological sex (female) from her virtual partners. [Comment added aer online pub-
lication May 26, 2014: Although this person is a transgender man, I use the pronouns “her” and “she”
only because this is how she refers to herself. roughout the paper, I refer to the members using their
own identied gender.] In response, she was asked whether it feels like a lie. is is what she replied,
followed by two responses of other members.
(5) When I’m with him: it feels like my true self! is is what I want to be the point is that I’ve never
lied except the identity thing [ ].
(6) Few suggestions: You have every right to express your true self in romantic relationships. []
you didn’t cheat anyone (!) even if society alludes to impersonation. I believe that atruevirtual
relationship outside the real world is way better than a fake relationship within it.Although
this kind of relationship is complicated and usually won’t break into the real world, it can happen
if your partner really loves you [ ].
(7) e men I talk to always ask for a photo really fast [ ]anditsjustblowsitall[]. We need
totalkaboutwaystomaintainvirtualfriendships’causeformostofus,thealternativeispainful
loneliness.
In the theoretical part of the paper I combined Jung’s (1953), Goman’s (1959), and Turkle’s (1995)
ideas to argue that the Internet has the potential to allow individuals to express their unfullled selves.
Messages 5 and 6 convincingly demonstrate this potential. e users who wrote them explicitly assert
that hiding the biological sex as part of a virtual relationship is by no means a fraud, but a manifestation
of the individual’s self. is view supports Whittle’s (1998) argument that for many transgender people,
the actual identity is experienced and expressed through the virtual self. e possibility of transgender
individuals to experience and present their "real identity" through cyberspace (as an alternative sphere)
emphasizes the central role it plays in the lives of users who are compelled to hide their identities in
the oine world. In this context, it should be noted that when users write about "revealing the real
identity," they usually relate to coming out as transgenders, as oppose to maintaining what they call "a
fake cisgender identity." Even when allegedly essentialist terms such as "inner," "authentic," or "core"
sneak into their discourse, they usually reect a reliance on familiar psychological notions rather than
an ideological standpoint that involves gender politics.
Message #6 represents a prominent desire within the newsgroup, a desire that can be better under-
stoodintermsofthesuggestedspheres:Manytransgenderindividualshopetobeabletousecyberspace
as preliminary rather than alternative sphere. is message points to the possibility – and apparently to
the hope – that the virtual aair will become a real oine relationship; namely, that the virtual expe-
rience will constitute an initial stage before the "real thing." In other words, using cyberspace as an
alternative sphere (as opposed to a preliminary sphere), albeit satisfying and fullling, is the best possible
option, but not the ideal one. However, as message #7 indicates, this is true mainly to transgender users.
is message points to the unique way in which transgender use cyberspace. While the transgender
woman who wrote the message has to use cyberspace as an alternative sphere in order to hide her bio-
logical sex and successfully maintain a relationship, the cisgender men who talk to her "ask for a photo
really fast"; for them, using cyberspace as a preliminary sphere is taken for granted. In other words, using
cyberspace as a preliminary sphere in the romantic context is a privilege that transgender users do not
automatically have. us, the dierence between the transgender woman and her cisgender male part-
ners has a signicant meaning: what most of us perceive as a daily practice of "surng the net" involves
hierarchies between the privileged and the unprivileged, the marginalized and the unmarginalized.
e hierarchies between marginalized and unmarginalized users within online settings returns us
to a discussion on one of the most researched issues in the study of CMC: the interrelations between
the online and the oine worlds. e analysis indicates that while the online and the oine worlds can
832 Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 19 (2014) 824– 838 © 2014 International Communication Association
be seen as separated distinct spheres that provide the users with dierent experiences, the oine world
sets the structural framework and dictates some strict limitations that aect both worlds. Within this
conned space, the online world has the power to alleviate the marginalization of unprivileged users,
although it does not break basic structural hierarchies. For example, a biological male can live online
as a woman and enjoy both a relatively satisfying relationship and a desired sense of self that cannot be
experienced in the oine world. In this sense, the online world empowers the unprivileged. However,
the oine world’s restrictions prevent her from using cyberspace as a preliminary sphere and thus negate
the option to transfer this relationship to the oine world. Although the oine world indeed sets the
structural framework and limits one’s agency, the texts analyzed in this paper show that as an alterna-
tive sphere, cyberspace does not only fulll a crucial need for transgender users, but also provides an
empowering and satisfying experience.
Alleviating feelings of marginalization through media usage is not an insignicant matter to be taken
for granted. In order to fully comprehend how using cyberspace as an alternative sphere makes it possi-
ble, we pause to delve deeper into the concept of alternativeness.enextmessagehelpsussharpenthe
denition of the term and sets cyberspace as a whole comprehensive continuous world that is quite sim-
ilar to the "real" oine one, with some important exceptions. One of the newsgroup’s members posted a
message claiming that out of condentiality, the participation should be anonymous. In response, these
messages were posted:
(8) Every nickname is anonymous: unless I choose to expose myself. [ ]. Nicknames create conti-
nuity,anabilitytoidentifyandcommunicate – but only with the virtual personality, which can
be easily changed.
(9) Continuity is the problem: When you use a continuous nickname, people cling to you, they relate
to you, not to the content.
(10) I have to say: Personal assaults by asterisked members [ ]areabitlikeshootingfromatankon
unprotected naked people. ey are vulnerable but the asterisk isn’t.
In the rst two messages the users present an interesting argument: Using a constant nickname creates
continuity that encourages references to the person rather than to the content. In other words, nick-
names allow participants to identify the user who wrote the message and more importantly to ascribe
certain characteristics to him/her. is point suggests that the alternative sphere – which is usually
perceived as a fertile ground for counterfeit identities – is actually a world whose "virtual inhabitants"
haveapersonality,acharacterandvirtualhistory.Inthissense,cyberspaceasanalternativesphereisa
whole comprehensive world that is quite similar to the oine one. Its alternativeness, I want to suggest,
should be dened not by its wrongly-perceived temporariness, but mainly by its being a parallel arena
that is able to provide a meaningful experience, which is distinct from the one available in the oine
world.
Message #10 deepens our understanding of the alternative sphere as a comprehensive continuous
place. First, the asterisk issue should be explained. An active participation in the newsgroup is possible
by either signing up, getting an exclusive constant nickname and a membership, or by skipping this
stage and choosing a temporary asterisked nickname. e asterisk, therefore, marks temporary unsigned
users. Message #10 includes an interesting metaphor that claries the depth of the alternative sphere:
e user who wrote it compares assaults upon newsgroup’s members by temporary asterisked users, to
attacks on naked people by armed forces in a tank. In fact, by claiming that the newsgroup’s members are
exposed and vulnerable he implicitly suggests that the newsgroup as an alternative sphere is by default
a space that inhabits members who know each other’s characters, personalities, and relations with other
members. Ironically, the asterisked users are the exceptions who have chosen a counterfeit identity inside
the alternative sphere.
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 19 (2014) 824– 838 © 2014 International Communication Association 833
For transgender individuals, the alternative world is parallel to the oine world. What distinguishes
between these worlds is neither the temporariness nor the tentativeness of the activity, since even within
thealternativeworldpeopleidentifythemselvesandtagthosewhodonot.efactthatthealterna-
tive world serves as a parallel world, rather than a temporary or tentative one, means that within its
boundaries, users maintain a xed constant identity that they chose themselves, rather than an articial
enforced identity.
Concluding discussion
e paper examined how transgender users maneuver between the online and the oine worlds in
order to negotiate their complicated gender identity and empower their life experience. Based on vir-
tual ethnography and discourse analysis within an Israeli transgender newsgroup, the study indicated
that transgender individuals might use cyberspace as preliminary, complementary and/or alternative
spheres. e third mode of use is especially pertinent to transgender users who maintain, in many cases,
online identities in order to overcome oine limitations.
More than a decade ago, Maria Bakardjieva (2003) oered a typology of various forms of online
involvement, in which virtual communities constitute only one form of virtual togetherness. e typol-
ogy includes a continuum of ve modes of Internet use, ranging from a rationalist information-oriented
mode to a sociocommunal one. e h mode, the communitarian, characterizes online communities
with "interpersonal commitment and a sense of common identity" (p. 303). Under this mode, "represen-
tatives of disenfranchised groups" use the Internet "as a tool to carve spaces of sociability, solidarity [and]
mutual support" (p. 304). is depiction accurately conveys the virtual togetherness, in Bakardjieva’s
terms, that characterizes the researched transgender newsgroup.
OneofBakardjievasconclusionsregardingtherelationshipbetweentheonlineandtheoineworlds
is that in all modes of virtual togetherness, "actions and interactions in online forums were closely
intertwined with participants’ projects and pursuits in their oine lives." Hence, she emphasizes "the
articiality of the split between ’virtual’ and ’real’" (p. 304). Later studies supported Bakardjieva’s conclu-
sion in various contexts, including gaming (Taylor, 2006), social network sites (Subrahmanyam, Reich,
Waechter, & Espinoza, 2008) and elderly users (Xie, 2008). While my analysis also indicates that online
experiences are inextricably connected to the oine world and vice versa, it aims to unravel this con-
nection and points to three types of relationships. Moreover, the study demonstrates that when it comes
to disadvantaged groups that experience a relatively severe social marginalization, like transgender indi-
viduals, the users chose to create the articial separation that Bakardjieva mentioned – as evidenced in
the alternative sphere – in order to overcome oine impediments. In this case, "the articiality of the
split" becomes a genuine part of the users’ life experience."
Using cyberspace as an alternative sphere enables transgender users to undergo meaningful experi-
ences that are hard to attain in the oine world. ese experiences include maintaining a chosen identity
and building a romantic relationship online. Although the analysis indicated that the oine world sets
boundaries that potentially limit the latitude within the online world, these boundaries are wide enough
to allow mediated agency that empowers transgender users. In fact, these users create an alternative
world that problematizes the traditional discussion regarding the relationship between the on line and the
oine worlds. e online sphere created by transgender users can been seen as a VirtuReal world, a term
that reects both the fact that it provides an empowering virtual experience that compensates for oine
social inferiority, and the fact that it is nevertheless subject to oine restrictions. is term intermediates
between the concepts of virtual reality and real virtuality discussed at the beginning of the paper.
Inaway,cyberspaceasanalternativesphereisrelativelysimilartotheoineworld.Beingalternative,
in this sense, does not mean a chaotic space of fake identities, but a parallel sphere where users take o
834 Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 19 (2014) 824– 838 © 2014 International Communication Association
previous identities in favor of chosen identities that reect their claimed personalities. Based on these
relatively xed and constant identities, social interactions take place and an alternative world emerges.
Acknowledgements
is article draws on my MA thesis, supervised by Dr, Rivka Ribak. I would like to thank Dr. Ribak for
her dedicated mentorship and the assistance in publishing this paper. I also want to thank Prof. Gabriel
Weimann, Dr. Michele Rosenthal and the reviewers for their insightful comments on this paper.
Notes
1 APHA policy statement 9933 is available here: http://www.apha.org/advocacy/policy/policysearch/
default.htm?id=204
2 Every message was given a chronological number (in parentheses) followed by a title, as it was
written by the user (unless no title was written), a colon and the main content. Bold texts signify
my emphasis, square-parenthesized texts signify my addition, and three dots inside square
parentheses signify omission.
3 Cisgender people, as opposed to transgender people, experience congruence between their sex and
their gender.
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About the Author
Avi Marciano is a PhD student in the Department of Communication, University of Haifa, Israel. He
currently studies socio-cultural aspects of surveillance and its implications on privacy, citizenship, resis-
tance, and discrimination. Avi is also interested in cultural aspects of sexuality, gender and new media.
Email: avimarciano@mail.sapir.ac.il
838 Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 19 (2014) 824– 838 © 2014 International Communication Association
... In the context of online interactions, scholars of gender have been particularly interested in the ability of online users to easily vary their gender performance (Bruckman, 1993;Curtis, 1992;Lehdonvirta et al., 2012;Morgan et al., 2020;Pagnucci & Mauriello, 1999;Ratan et al., 2019;Savicki et al., 1996;Witmer & Katzman, 1997). While this flexibility may have particular benefits for transgender users (Kitzie, 2018;Marciano, 2014;Morgan et al., 2020), the ability to temporarily escape gender norms can be beneficial to cisgender users as well (Lehdonvirta et al., 2012;Pagnucci & Mauriello, 1999). ...
... While researchers may choose from a number of popular strategies for this task, no method can overcome the fundamental theoretical challenge facing this work: Gender is a complex social construct that may be performed differently in different contexts (Butler, 1990(Butler, , 2004Guyan, 2022;Keyes et al., 2021). In online settings, the affordance of gender visibility introduces particular challenges, as users can easily choose how to perform, change, or obfuscate their gender (Kitzie, 2018;Lehdonvirta et al., 2012;Marciano, 2014;Morgan et al., 2020;Pagnucci & Mauriello, 1999;Ratan et al., 2019). ...
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Studies of gendered phenomena online have highlighted important disparities, such as who is likely to be elevated as an expert or face gender-based harassment. This research, however, typically relies upon inferring user gender—an act that perpetuates notions of gender as an easily observable, binary construct. Motivated by work in gender and queer studies, we therefore compare common approaches to gender inference in the context of online settings. We demonstrate that gender inference can have downstream consequences when studying gender inequities and find that nonbinary users are consistently likely to be misgendered or overlooked in analysis. In bringing a theoretical focus to this common methodological task, our contribution is in problematizing common measures of gender, encouraging researchers to think critically about what these constructs can and cannot capture, and calling for more research explicitly focused on gendered experiences beyond a binary.
... This validation can significantly impact TGD users in the real world by alleviating the effects of gender dysphoria, aiding in the consolidation of their identity and providing the confidence needed for the coming out process (Baldwin, 2018;Morgan et al., 2020). The ability to consistently present one's true self in virtual spaces can help stabilize and affirm their identity, making it easier to assert and maintain this identity in physical spaces over time (Marciano, 2014). ...
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div> This article explores the potential of new, immersive realities to convey the complex experiences of gender dysphoria and body dissatisfaction, using the innovative and multi-award-winning experience Body of Mine as a case study. Recognizing a gap in understanding and empathy towards gender-queer communities, Body of Mine employs an innovative full-body tracking solution to place users into the body of someone else, combined with first-person documentary interviews and interactive elements aimed at fostering a deeper connection and insight into the transgender experience. Initial feedback from users indicates a heightened awareness and emotional connection to the challenges faced by individuals with gender dysphoria, as well as an increase in self-body positivity, based on a study conducted in collaboration with the University of Tübingen’s Department of Psychology. This project underscores the power of immersive storytelling in fostering embodied understanding, while also acknowledging the ethical complexities and voyeuristic risks when sharing narratives from vulnerable communities, and explores innovative methods for tackling social issues through emerging technology. It concludes by contemplating the implications of immersive technologies for the concept of identity in a world that increasingly transcends the physical body, suggesting a future where the notion of self is not confined to physical form but is fluid, multifaceted, and continually redefined within boundless digital horizons. </div
... The relationship between SNS use and users' mental health has long been contested. While several studies highlighted the potentially negative effect of SNS use on LGBQ users' mental health (Han et al., 2019;McConnell et al., 2017), many other studies demonstrated its contribution, identifying SNS and Facebook in particular as an empowering platform for LGBQ people (Ceglarek & Ward, 2016;Escobar-Viera et al., 2018;Marciano, 2014;Marciano & Antebi-Gruszka, 2022). For example, Lucero (2017) has shown that Facebook functions as an accessible mediated space where LGBQ users feel safe to participate, connect and communicate with like-minded people. ...
Chapter
The intersectionality of how the media presents and portrays body image, sexuality, and gender is complex and longstanding. The media often perpetuates harmful images of women, reinforcing traditional and conservative gender stereotypes. Based on the themes identified in the recent literature, this chapter addresses several domains of gender and sexuality in the media. First, we discuss how the media can contribute to negative body image and dissatisfaction. Second, we address the sexualization and objectification of women in the media. Finally, we discuss the portrayal of gender in the media and how gender violence is reported. We also provide recommendations for how mental health and media practitioners can address such inequities and misrepresentations in the media to improve reporting practices and psychological functioning.
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The growing interest in combining different approaches to qualitative text and discourse analysis has so far not been met with adapted methodological resources. This article aims to address this gap by developing a methodological framework for combining qualitative text and discourse analysis. First, we introduce four traditions that we identify as four families of methods of text/discourse analysis with different logics: Discourse Analysis, Foucauldian Discourse Analysis, Thematic Analysis, and Qualitative Content Analysis. Second, we review the literature to show how these methods have been combined across disciplines and case studies. Third, we build upon existing literature to unpack the benefits and challenges of multi-method text/discourse analysis, and offer strategies to help navigate the problems that may arise. Overall, this article introduces multi-method qualitative text and discourse analysis (MMQTDA) as a methodological framework to provide guidance and offer solid foundations for an emerging methodological conversation in qualitative text research.
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The study examines internet newsgroups as a potential mitigating tool in the complex coming-out process of gay male youth. Employing a qualitative discourse analysis of the newsgroup’s messages, the chapter focuses on an Israeli newsgroup that appeals to GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) youth and operates within the most popular UGC (user-generated content) portal in Israel. The findings indicate that the researched newsgroup functions as a social arena that offers its participants an embracing milieu, where for the first time in their lives they are free of moral judgment of their sexuality. Through four distinct yet interrelated ways, the newsgroup helps its participants to cope with one of the most significant milestones in a gay person’s life – the coming-out process: (1) refuting prevalent stereotypes of homosexuality; (2) facilitating the acceptance of one’s sexual orientation; (3) prompting its disclosure; and (4) creating social relations within and outside the virtual environment.
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Computer-based self-help groups utilize existing telecommunication networks to provide information and support for a variety of social problems. This article discusses their use as an adjunct to support groups. Computer-based groups offer advantages including elimination of time and distance barriers, lack of group size restrictions, increased variety and diversity of support, anonymity, pre- and post-group support, opportunity for expression through written communication, and potential training experiences for group leaders. A pilot project using a computer-based group for sexual abuse survivors is described, and the need for research related to process and outcome in computer-based groups.
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The author examines classic American community studies written during the past fifty years, such as Robert Park on Chicago, the Lynds on Muncie (Middletown), Lloyd Warner on Newburyport, to formulate a theory of American community development. Originally published in 1960. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.