‘In the new millennium, a large corpus of feminist research now attests that women’s fear of violence limits women’s freedom of movement. One can thus surmise that both the reality and the threat of violence against women function as forms of social control: the threat of violence against women restricts what women do, the life choices they make, and where they go and
with whom.’
Women are offered travel tips to navigate the world safely, which seems to suggest that we are unsafe without them. Avoiding alleyways, dark streets, crossing the road on hearing footsteps behind you and standing under lampposts when waiting for buses has become second nature to a lot of women. If you miss the bus – don’t walk home – get a taxi – a registered taxi, sit in the back and keep your eyes peeled to make sure you’re not taken to the woods. I am interested in the feminist theory that women’s movements are policed in the physical world through violence, threats of violence, surveillance and also through seemingly ‘empowering’ advice.
According to Martha J Smith’s study of women’s fear on public transport, ‘Women not only generally report higher levels of fear in relation to their travel than men but they fear different things’. These ‘things’ are rape and sexual assault. In her study ‘But is it worth taking the risk?’: How women negotiate access to urban woodland: a case study', Jacquelin Burgess notes that public spaces may be ungendered in terms of the personal value placed upon them, but are decidedly gendered in terms of ease of use; she found that women are prevented from accessing spaces they see as personally beneficial due to a perceived lack of safety.
So, bearing this in mind, can the virtual world offer women relative safety and a freedom to explore our surroundings? Sadie Plant (p.170) suggests the potential benefits of the internet are huge,
‘Complex systems and virtual worlds are not
only important because they open spaces for existing women within an already existing culture, but also because of the extent to which they undermine both the world-view and the material reality of two thousand years of patriarchal control’.
In homage to Donna Haraway’s theory of the feminist cyborg, part-machine/part-person I will set out on a metaphorical journey to see what delights the internet may have in store for the intrepid female traveller. Tired of my experience being shaped by my apparent Boob Face in the real world I am interested in whether it is possible, or even desirable, to leave my gender behind in the land of the cyber. Using travel tips aimed specifically at women, I will venture on a virtual road trip.
The media that bombards us with stories of how vulnerable women are in public spaces, also reminds us of our environmental duty to use public transport. I will make my journey using only public transport whilst heeding travel advice for women (see THINKING OF LEAVING THE HOUSE? below). Set within the parameters of a real-life timeframe I will utilise the wealth of information available online to plan my journey and will use images available online to illustrate my journey. Part-fact/part-fiction, I will be playing with the promise of authentic subjectivity that the blog format suggests, and questioning whether ‘reality’ really matters to the experience of women online. I will use the time spent waiting for virtual buses, and sitting on cyber trains to ponder the potential for 'visiting' other feminists and the wider implications of gender within this virtual space. Using theory as a travel guide, I will consider the internet a space for exploration without the threat of touch, and will investigate the ways in which women may be able to function more freely online.
