Nude Celebrity Pics

My hit counts have been down in the past few days, so I thought I would spark some search engine traffic. Is that a good enough headline?

If you accidentally happened upon this blog while looking for photos of famous people without their clothes on, then I am surprised that you’ve bothered to read this far. However, since you have done so, I might as well give you something worth reading:

Why would that increase my traffic? The standard punchline when discussing the internet is, “All it’s good for is porn.” I don’t encourage that in any way. In fact, I think the internet is good for its potential as a communication tool for marginalized groups to have a voice where they normally have none.

I talk about politics here, almost exclusively election politics, but I believe that everything is political, even searching the internet for nude pictures of celebrities is political. Some political things are liberating, some are oppressing, and once in a while there is one that is neutral. Pornography is a funny punchline, but it is largely a gendered punchline. Western culture puts sexuality in men’s hands, and they unconsciously hold it to their privilege and to their power. What else do men hold by privilege without being conscious of their privilege?

My partner recently told me that it is male privilege to express myself publicly without repercussions. I believe her. I have never been discounted or attacked for being too assertive.

A 2006 article in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly by Dustin Harp and Mark Tremayne reported that only “10% of the top [political] bloggers were women.” That is, 10% of the most highly ranked, according to number of links, sites are blogged by women. It goes on to say, “Studies have shown women are less likely to express political opinions and tend to have a less authoritative manner in their conversation style.” Why is that? Further, why is the tenner of internet communication so authoritative?

That’s all for now. I end on that question except to close with a thesis that I won’t be arguing in this post, though I argue in all my posts, really:

“The Internet then should be described within the context of both its potential and its reality, and not simply romanticized for its possibilities.”