the new cyborgs: Cyberculture and Women's Webcams

Statement of Purpose

Theoretically I locate this study within the cross-disciplines of Cultural Studies and Cybercultural Studies. My methodology has been a direct immersion as a viewer and a participant within the Webcam world. I have attempted to present a descriptive analysis of content from interviews and direct observation

Through the writing of this article I hope to demonstrate that Women’s Webcam sites present a form of resistance to the dominant forms of traditional broadcast media by their very existence and presence on the Net:

“Cyberspace is still highly contested ground both in its metaphor and reality, it stands to reason that a conscious decision to put one’s voice Online can be construed as a political act…In one form of resistance it suffices that women are Online. In another, women are Online, they aren’t keeping their mouths shut, and they’re learning how to get heard.” (Scott, 1998).

“Many to many media I think are a revolution in the way the printing press was a revolution…When you collect computers and telecommunications together, you created a global many to many medium that unlocks the access to other people’s minds. You no longer have to be a television network or own a newspaper, take a little computer bulletin board system and publish a manifesto or an eyewitness report, you could be in Tienamen square, you could be anywhere in the world where news is happening and broadcast that news to the world.” (Rheingold, 1995).

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