Disembodiment

We never have second thoughts when we go online. We blindly consume technology as part of everyday life and we seldom question it. We often ignore the politics of the Internet. But the virtual world presents many problematic social constructions, one of which is the paradox of the disembodied body – a new commodity proliferating due to the peculiar situation the Internet has created. The virtual world provides a new reality and with this comes a new language and new relationships being formed between users. People can now also establish relationships without physical contact. Relationships therefore stem from the basis of concepts and images that are produced and sent online, instead of actual and tangible interaction with one another. As a result, there becomes a divergence between real and virtual connections. Because concepts in the Internet are more directly constructed and more obviously invented than that of real life, relationships can be seen as having unreal foundations. These unreal foundations are shaped by the dichotomies and stereotypes that have long been present and have been virtualized. The Internet follows the process of first, separating the mind from the physical body, and next presenting the disembodied with frozen bodies. The bodies that are present online are unreal, constructed, and static. This then becomes a great source of stereotyping. People yield to what others expect of them and they present an image that is acceptable and likable even though beyond what is real. People also expect certain things from the people they encounter online. For example, Filipinas in the international online scene are oftentimes viewed as “exotic” or as “hostesses”. Many Westerners become excited in meeting these women because they already have an image of them. These generalizations then lead to discrimination and false identities. This only shows how the internet has become one of the most dangerous places of interaction.