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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 oine worlds in
order to negotiate their complicated gender identity and to overcome oine 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 oine 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 oine world; a senior bank manager who secretly
wears his wife’s underwear and aer 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" oine 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 oine world in order to overcome oine 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 oine 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 dierences between online
and oine experiences. Almost 2 decades ago, Sherry Turkle (1995) depicted the online and the oine
worlds as parallel spaces that provide users with dierent kinds of experiences. Manuel Castells (2000), in
comparison, preferred the term real virtuality, emphasizing the realistic nature of the virtual experience,
which is aer all rooted in the oine setting.
edierencebetweenthesetwodescriptionsreectsashiintheeldofInternetresearch.Early
investigations gloried 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), redenes the concept of identity (Turkle, 1995), replaces oine 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 oine 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 oine 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 oine 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 dened 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 oen 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 oen 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 specic 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 reect upon their own paths, meet others, and
oer or receive advice and support without risking public condemnation or persecution" (Hegland &
Nelson, 2002, p. 141).
Various researches have demonstrated the positive inuence of the Internet on dierent minority
groups, such as cancer patients (Radin, 2006), low-income families (Mehra, Merkel, & Bishop, 2004),
hearing-impaired people (Barak & Sadovsky, 2008), physically handicapped (Bowker & Tun, 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 inuences 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 reects, among others, transgender politics that refer to the unique possibility that new
technologies oer: the ability to transcend bodily gender limitations and construct gender(less) identi-
ties (van Zoonen, 2002). More generally, Sherry Turkle (1995) reected on how living in a virtual world
inuences the human identity. According to her, the Internet, as a technology that oers its users var-
ied anonymous arenas of interactions, can be seen as a social laboratory in which the individual can
experience dierent personalities in order to express dierent selves.
In fact, the idea of multiple selves was already presented in the middle of the last century. Both
Goman (1959) and Jung (1953) distinguished between two kinds of selves: public and private. Social
interactions, Goman 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.emeaningsofGoman’stheory – 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 Goman’s and Jung’s dierent selves – emphasizes the unique potential of the Internet
to enable individuals to express their unfullled selves. ese notions, it should be noted, reect 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 dierent
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 briey review some of the diculties 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 suer from. ese evils, as
Iwillshowlateron,aretheveryfeaturesthatmakecyberspacesoattractivetotransgenderusers.
In most societies the gender binary serves as a fundamental system by which individuals dene
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 diculties 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 diculties, 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 suer 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 dierent 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 certied mental health, respectability, legal-
ity, social and physical mobility, institutional support, and material benets," 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 oine 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 oine. Ironically, the
virtual world – where others make eorts 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 artice 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 specically, 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 denition 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 aect the organization of
social relationships? What are the implications of the Internet for authenticity? Is the virtual experienced
as dierent 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 dierent way of life humanly comprehensible" (Cliord, 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 oers quality information about science, medicine and society for transgender individuals". e
website oers 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 classied these texts into thematic categories (the posts
from the rst arena were classied 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, oen
with the hope of transferring them to the oine world at a designated point of time. Transgender users
mayalsoemploycyberspaceasacomplementary sphere that completes the oine 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 oine worlds is minimal. Users who use
cyberspace as complementary tend to reveal real details from their oine 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 dierent and some-
times contradictory experiences from those available in the oine 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 oine world, not even by sex reassignment surgery (SRS). [Comment added aer 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 simpliedschema, therefore, reects 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:I’malready27[…], 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 oine 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 rene
the interrelations between them by suggesting the possibility that each one of them may fulll dierent
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 oine world. In fact, the messages above refer to four dierent issues that
will be addressed during this paper: (a) the distinction between cyberspace’s three dierent 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 oine worlds, and the power-relations that characterize both world.
e next message demonstrates and sharpens cyberspace’s dierent 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 oine 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 oine 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 oine 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 deciencies that characterize the transgender life experience in the oine
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 identied 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 reected in the next message, which arouses two main
issues: questions of authenticity and falseness within online settings, and dierences 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 aer 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 identied 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 [ …]andit’sjustblowsitall[…]. We need
totalkaboutwaystomaintainvirtualfriendships’causeformostofus,thealternativeispainful
loneliness.
In the theoretical part of the paper I combined Jung’s (1953), Goman’s (1959), and Turkle’s (1995)
ideas to argue that the Internet has the potential to allow individuals to express their unfullled 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 oine 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 reect 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 aair will become a real oine 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 fullling, 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 dierence between the transgender woman and her cisgender male part-
ners has a signicant meaning: what most of us perceive as a daily practice of "surng 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 oine worlds. e analysis indicates that while the online and the oine 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 dierent experiences, the oine world
sets the structural framework and dictates some strict limitations that aect both worlds. Within this
conned 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 oine world. In this sense, the online world empowers the unprivileged. However,
the oine world’s restrictions prevent her from using cyberspace as a preliminary sphere and thus negate
the option to transfer this relationship to the oine world. Although the oine 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 fulll a crucial need for transgender users, but also provides an
empowering and satisfying experience.
Alleviating feelings of marginalization through media usage is not an insignicant 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
denition of the term and sets cyberspace as a whole comprehensive continuous world that is quite sim-
ilar to the "real" oine one, with some important exceptions. One of the newsgroup’s members posted a
message claiming that out of condentiality, 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 oine one. Its alternativeness, I want to suggest,
should be dened 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 oine
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 claries 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 oine 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 articial
enforced identity.
Concluding discussion
e paper examined how transgender users maneuver between the online and the oine 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 oine limitations.
More than a decade ago, Maria Bakardjieva (2003) oered 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.
OneofBakardjieva’sconclusionsregardingtherelationshipbetweentheonlineandtheoineworlds
is that in all modes of virtual togetherness, "actions and interactions in online forums were closely
intertwined with participants’ projects and pursuits in their oine lives." Hence, she emphasizes "the
articiality 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 oine 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 articial separation that Bakardjieva mentioned – as evidenced in
the alternative sphere – in order to overcome oine impediments. In this case, "the articiality 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 oine world. ese experiences include maintaining a chosen identity
and building a romantic relationship online. Although the analysis indicated that the oine 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
oine worlds. e online sphere created by transgender users can been seen as a VirtuReal world, a term
that reects both the fact that it provides an empowering virtual experience that compensates for oine
social inferiority, and the fact that it is nevertheless subject to oine 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 reect 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