COM 473:About

How are women using the web, and what obstacles do they encounter? How do women “perform selves” online? What can feminist theory teach us about social media practices and toxic online interactions? This course pursues a feminist analysis of creative production, power, and inequality to better understand intersections of gender, race, and sexuality and discuss the issues at stake in participating in Web 2.0 culture.

Course goals

• Understand the roots of Web 2.0 and how internet culture not only gives rise to communities of support and creativity, but also reconstitutes social problems and inequality.
• Develop a vocabulary to discuss systemic bias and silencing of people based on their gender, race, ethnicity, age, and other facets of identity.
• Recognize the complexity and plasticity of identity, and learn practices of shaping self identity online.
• Learn how to use digital media to preserve women’s experiences and knowledge.
• Study, critique, and reimagine the future of social networks and online discourse based on feminist activism and research.

Credits

Credits for ideas and inspiration that made this course stronger: Miriam Posner's "Selfies, Snapchat, and Cyberbullies" course, Tressie McMillan Cottom's "Inequality and Technology" course, and R.Y. Lee's "Gender and Online Engagement" course