:: netwoman's blog ::

Blogging and Safe Spaces

Halley has an interesting comment in her post:

"So as a blogger, I'm missing the one thing the blog used to be -- a safe place for me to let loose -- and I figure this is what Meg is referring to and I agree with her that we can't do that anymore very well."

I am curious as to why she can't do this anymore.

Anyway, the comment struck me, and I really had to think about it for a few minutes. Publishing anything on the internet is never really a private space. Somewhere, at some point, some one will find your website or blog and read it. It just happens. But I am really curious about what Halley means about a safe place. Is a 'safe place' somewhere that you can unload your most personal thoughts and feelings without fear of repercussions (or public ridicule)? Does safe space mean the same as private space? Meg says this:

"This site has never purported to be a journal or a diary, or really anything more than a public place where I chose to share some bits of my life with people who are interested in reading them. But it's all been very controlled, and I've been very aware of my audience -- from grandparents to potential bosses to strangers -- since its inception. And so most of what I think and I do goes unsaid on this site, which for the most part is OK, except that when I look back on prior entries, sometimes I wish I had a better sense of what was really happening between the lines. So this entry is more for me than for you, because this week has been really been something and I need to get that down someplace."

The sense of what is a safe place and space is quite complex. A safe space is about being able to put a part of your personal identity outside of your self and perhaps share it with others. But does it have to be private? Can you have a safe space in a public place? This is a question that feminists have been wrestling with for years.

Can the Internet ever really be a safe space in a public place?

posted by Netwoman @ 11:26 PM