<nettime> RE: uses of the dot

[laporta@interport.net (Tina LaPorta)]

Josephine Bosma wrote:
>ps: one of the best uses of the dot lately is this one:   girl.friend
>this is something completely other then girlfriend, and eventhough
>the dot in this case does stand for personal restrictions or barriers
>it does widen the meaning of the word to fit what it means in net.relations
>some of you might get the drift.

girl.friend: it's perfect!
I suppose it could be interpreted as another example of the ways in which
women are occuppying/transforming *this* space (as presented in the paper
on "Cyberfeminism" a couple of weeks ago).  Creating a gendered net
presence also calls attention to the fact that a male presence is not a
neutral or universal one.  I mean *we* know this-- but phrases like
girl.friend, cyberfeminism, netgURLs, and so on is a form of naming-- who
is here and who is not. And it is through this process of naming that we
are transported from our isolated spaces in front of the screen and and
drawn into a collective one beyond it.

Tina LaPorta


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