His Odyssey to Chat :: Argumentative Persuasive Communication Essays

His Odyssey to Chat From the readings in Constructive Identity in the Computer Age, there are many authors with different views and claims about the Internet, such as Sherry Turkle who wrote an article called "Identity in the Age of the Internet: Living in the Mud," about how we should have hidden identities online to hide behind. Even Dale Spender had a few great points in her essay "Gender Bending," about gender-neutral names enabling us to speak freely on the net so that we are not judged for being a man or a woman. The author that struck me most was Jesse Kornbluth. He is the author of the essay, "(you make me feel like) A Virtual Woman." Kornbluth claims that he cannot have a meaningful conversation online because people are playing word games of either sexual content, or defending themselves against that sort of communication. And how people speak like they are online addicts. "(you make me feel like) A Virtual Woman," expresses Kornbluth's thoughts about communication. In the beginning of his essay, Kornbluth apologizes to any women readers who may have been offended by his portrayal of a woman character on the Net. Then he goes on telling his readers why he faked as a woman on the Net. Kornbluth's main goal was to experiment with genders online. In the beginning of his venture through cyber communication, he is first approached by "online addicts." These are people on the Net who like to express themselves using expressions such as LOL (laugh out loud) and {{{{LOLA}}}} to signify a warm greeting. These type of conversations only bored Kornbluth. So, he moved on to the next chat room, the member rooms. Yet, the people in this room only had one idea on their mind, "The women, in the main, come to talk; the men, in the main, talk to come." (Kornbluth 77). Next he tried the male rooms, although, Kornbluth knew that the male rooms were usually only for gay me n. Kornbluth feels that if he were to actually stay and converse in the men's chat he wouldn't have the chance to talk to men like himself, "quick thinking, sharp tongued, straight men." His last chance was the "women 4 women" chat room. He figured that he couldn't just enter as a man because he would be kicked out and be forced to hang out in one of the main chats.