“Il blog è mio e lo gestisco io:” Dominio di genere nel web italiano
by Ombretta Frau, Juliet Guzzetta
This article analyzes a form of online domination that can be identified as the verbal practice of gender domination centered on the body of those women that contribute, with their writings and their activism, to the life of the web, especially in those situations in which they attempt to build an intellectual and professional authority. The essay explores gender domination in the real-virtual universe while acknowledging the transnational perspective between Italy and the Anglo-Saxon world, as well as the historic development of Italian women’s rights. In particular, the authors highlight the strong ties between feminism at the end of the nineteenth century, which contributed to the creation of new intellectual spaces for Western Women; the practice of “autocoscienza” (or self awareness) of the 1970s, that created new types of communities for women; and feminist activism in the third millennium, which helped solidify the position of woman as public intellectual. Over the course of their reflection, the authors investigate how women of the third millennium are reacting to these forms of sexism.