ERIC Number: EJ873362
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2004
Pages: 25
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1741-8887
EISSN: N/A
Digital Literacies of the Cybergirl
Thomas, Angela
E-Learning, v1 n3 p358-382 2004
This article explores the nexus between digital literacies and identity in the online graphical chat environment of the "palace". With a focus on the adolescent cybergirl, it examines how girls use words and images to create a digital presence, and in so doing, "write" their bodies and their selves. I discuss how the cybergirl is discursively constructed as well as self-produced within discourses of sexuality and idealised beauty. A grammatical analysis of both words and images is presented to describe the resources girls are using to construct their identities. In doing so, I highlight the particular ways that girls are creating cyberbodies that are encoded surfaces of the girls' fantasies and desires. I argue that the palace is a site that produces new forms of femininities through allowing girls the space to explore, experience a sense of empowerment and find new ways of reinventing themselves. (Contains 2 tables and 4 figures.)
Descriptors: Empowerment, Computer Mediated Communication, Females, Sexuality, Identification (Psychology), Early Adolescents, Self Concept, Social Attitudes, Language Usage, Fantasy, Feminism, Psychotherapy, Imagination, Human Body
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A