And speaking of the scary Web, the Boston Globe has a wonderfully bad article on young women in danger in cities. There are many, many bad moments in this careening screed, but I wanted to pick on this one for now:
Such carefree attitudes are more than the usual bravado of young adults, some sociologists say, and instead reflect false feelings of safety that are unique to the generation of women that grew up watching ''Sex and the City," chatting with strangers on the Internet, and relying on cellular telephones as lifelines...
Since [1977] anonymous Internet chat has helped create a greater sense of safety when interacting with strangers, even when women are away from the computer, the specialists say.
Yes, blogging leads you right down the path to a quick rape. Watch out for that casual IMing. We all know nobody brings any skepticism or reflection to the net, right?
There are so many problems with that piece - the morbid focus on Sex and the City, the roaring silence about class, the occasionaly sourced, never questioned evocation of "specialists" and "experts" just one step up from urban legend or "people say". There's the dizzying discovery that people do in fact drink alcohol, the terror of illicit sex... above all, the admonitory finger wagging at young women, who are clearly the ones at fault for anything bad happening to them.
Feh.
Are these the same experts who talk about how porn is beamed into my unsuspecting child's desktop?
Hmm.
Woman+computer=child.
Not that this is in the least bit to be construed as misongynist or anything
Posted by: Ceredwyn Alexander | March 10, 2006 at 09:31