Maloco 1

Austin Maloco
Professor Rodrick
26 September, 2016
Web Assignment Draft 1

Social media is shaping the world as time moves on. Today many social media outlets
like facebook, instagram, youtube, twitter, and others, play a large part in many people's lives.
These outlets have not only connected an individual to close groups like friends and family but
the entire world. Although Social media, and the technology behind it, has connected people
closely together, it does come with some complications and issues. Fourth Most social media is
in a way to real life but also different. The picture on this page captures the essence of
anonymity. Due to the anonymity of online accounts a person cannot tell whether or not a person
is who they say they they are. Social media has negatively influenced individuals acceptance to

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queer identity by creating ambiguity and doubt with anonymity, allowing predators or selfish
individuals to seek out vulnerable individuals to exploit.
Social media influences an individual by placing societal expectations onto an individual.
This can be done intentionally, in an article Losing Bodies written by Susie Orbach, a british
psychotherapist who has written works such as Fat Feminist issue and the Impossibility of Sex,
she discusses how the media has negatively affected womens view on their bodies globally.
Susie Orbach argues that, Commercial pressures disseminated through the media are
restructuring bodies, supplanting diversity with sameness and offering membership in global
culture through having a body that fits(Orbach 250). Although the article specifically discusses
the negative effects of social media towards women, these concepts can be applied further to
other groups such as individuals in the queer community. Individuals such as companies can and
will use advertising and social media platforms in order to make a profit. If a company were to
gain support from celebrities endorsing their products, individuals may soon copy them. These
individuals may then try any means to assimilate into their idle. These aspiring fans would waste
their money trying to be something they cannot hope to become. People may also try to
exaggerate who and what they are in order to gain more attention.
Given the anonymity of the internet, people on dating sites may try to fake their identity.
In a short poem Click and Drag written by Joel de Vera Moncada, a gay boy is fed up that he
cannot find the perfect love companion when using a dating website. He constantly comes across
as he describes as, fraudulent pictures, homo-bodied impostors, countless face pics...as if
tweaked to perfection by adobe photoshop(de Vera Moncada 224). When a person goes to a
social gathering they dress their best to try to impress other people, but in social media a person
can alter who they say they are and due to the anonymity a person can lie freely with minimal

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consequence, so this type of behavior can be rampant on online dating sites. This causes
frustration to many hopeful individuals who are searching for their perfect match. In online
dating sites many individuals have reasons for wanting a relationship whether it be sexual or just
for the sake of finding love. But due to the anonymity of the internet people may use these sites
as tools for finding and manipulating individuals for their own gain.
People can lie in order to gain what they want, it is no different than on the internet. In a
short story When You're a Gay Boy in America written by Danny Zaccagnino, a boy discusses
that his life is depressing be cause of his homosexuality and many family members died one after
the other. He then got a dragon tattoo in order to remind him of this. He then made the mistake of
meeting with a person online who turned out to be nothing like his online profile. The boy
eventually was violated by this man. Years latter he meet his lover in collage and they had many
things in common. During the molestation the boy , he cornered [him] and touched [the boy] the
way no one had touched [him] before in [his] life, [he] didnt really want it to happen but [he]
didn't stop him. [he] didnt know how much [he] was craving this until [he] got it(Zaccagnino
31-36). Conditionally the story could be viewed as a real life scenario. The boy was suffering
emotionally due to loss of family and people mistreating him due to his homosexualiy. Because
of this, the boy is left vulnerable to predators who only seek to use the kid to satisfy their own
sexual fantasies. Because of this, the predator can take full advantage of the victim with little to
no resistance.
Although social media has connected the world, it has also brought issues. One primarily
in the queer community, is that people use social media as a means to exploit others for their own
gain, creating doubt. Mostly due to means of lying or false promises or even manipulation of
emotionally weak individuals. The doubt that is created could most likely frustrate individuals

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looking to find a soul mate. Some may argue that these are only some isolated incidences and
that social media, and the tech that is behind it, has done more good for humanity than harm.
This may be true but there are still issues that need to be addressed, and cannot be ignored.
Social media, like technology is a double edged sword it could be used as a tool of exploitation
and it could be used as a tool to connect the world more closely. But what matters is that people
are using social media to exploit others. The picture on the first page can be interpreted in many
different ways, as well as other issues that can come from using social media or possibly
misusing it.

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Works Cited
De Vera Moncada, Joel. "Click and Drag." The Full Spectrum: A New Generation of Writing
about Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Other Identities. By David
Levithan and Billy Merrell. New York: Knopf, 2006. N. pag. Print.
Digital image. Life Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2016.
<https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/social-media-and-original-sin-the-temptation-ofanonymity>.
Orbach, Susie. "Losing Bodies." Composing Gender. By Rachael Groner and John F. O'Hara.
Boston: Bedford ST.Martin's, 2013. 244-50. Print.
Zaccagino, Danny. "When You're a Gay Boy in America." The Full Spectrum: A New Generation
of Writing about Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Other Identities.
By David Levithan and Billy Merrell. New York: Knopf, 2006. 31-36. Print.