This article examines the experiences of female users of imageboards – online anonymous-by-default bulletin boards. Using thematic analysis on 12 Instant Messaging (IM)–based interviews with female-identifying imageboard users, this study gathers and presents their experiences and perceptions of benefits and drawbacks of use. Major findings include negative perception of mainstream imageboards and a contrastingly positive sentiment towards the platforms investigated as part of this study. Using imageboards represented a unique, entertaining and social experience. Interviewees predominantly used imageboards to be hyperbolic, ‘vent’, discuss sexuality or explore thoughts they otherwise would not. The study’s findings question previous narratives of women on imageboards which position them either as mostly unaffected members of the space or as out-of-place minorities ‘getting by’ – by virtue of using masculinist strategies. Rather, participants describe ambivalent experiences around navigating these spaces, including benefits of entertainment, sense of belonging and the affinity towards gendered self-experimentation.
BaeleSJBraceLCoanTG (2021a) From ‘incel’ to ‘saint’: analyzing the violent worldview behind the 2018 Toronto attack. Terrorism and Political Violence33(8): 1667–1691.
9.
BaeleSJBraceLCoanTG (2021b) Variations on a theme? Comparing 4chan, 8kun, and other chans’ far-right ‘/pol’ boards. Perspectives on Terrorism15(1): 65–80.
BernsteinMMonroy-HernándezAHarryD, et al. (2021) 4chan and /b/: an analysis of anonymity and ephemerality in a large online community. In: Proceedings of the international AAAI conference on web and social media, Barcelona, 17–21 July, Vol. 5(1), pp. 50–57. Available at: https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/ICWSM/article/view/14134 (accessed 4 February 2022).
12.
BlackEMezzinaKThompsonL (2016) Anonymous social media – understanding the content and context of Yik Yak. Computers in Human Behavior57: 17–22.
13.
BodleR (2011a) Privacy and participation in the cloud: ethical implications of Google’s privacy practices and public communications. In: GermanKDrushelBE (eds) The Ethics of Emerging Media: Information, Social Norms, and New Media Technology. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group, pp. 155–174.
14.
BodleR (2011b) Regimes of sharing: open APIs, interoperability, and Facebook. Information, Communication & Society14(3): 320–337.
15.
BodleR (2013) The ethics of online anonymity or Zuckerberg vs. ‘MOOT’. Computers and Society43(1): 22–35.
16.
BoothP (2010) Digital Fandom: New Media Studies. Berlin: Peter Lang.
17.
BourdieuP (1977) Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
BraithwaiteA (2016) It’s about ethics in games journalism? Gamergaters and geek masculinity. Social Media + Society. Epub ahead of print 7 October. DOI: 10.1177/2056305116672484.
20.
BraunVClarkeV (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology3(2): 77–101.
21.
BrinkmannSKvaleS (2015) Interviews: Learning the Craft of Qualitative Research Interviewing. 3rd ed.Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
22.
BrownB (2004) Women & Shame: Reaching Out, Speaking Truths & Building Connection. Austin, TX: 3C Press.
23.
CohenJ (2013) What privacy is for. Harvard Law Review126(7): 1904–1933.
24.
ColleyTMooreM (2020) The challenges of studying 4chan and the Alt-Right: ‘come on in the water’s fine’. New Media and Society24(1): 5–30.
25.
ConstantDSproullLKieslerS (1996) The kindness of strangers: the usefulness of electronic weak ties for technical advice. Organization Science7(2): 119–135.
26.
CorreaDSilvaLAMondalM, et al. (2015) The many shades of anonymity: characterizing anonymous social media content. In: Proceedings of the international AAAI conference on web and social media, Oxford, 26–29 May, Vol. 9(1), pp. 71–80. Available at: https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/ICWSM/article/view/14635 (accessed 17 February 2022).
DanetB (1998) Text as mask: gender, play, and performance on the internet. In: JonesS (ed.) Cybersociety 2.0: Revisiting Computer-Mediated Communication and Community. London: SAGE Publications, pp. 129–158.
De ZeeuwD (2019) Between mass and mask: the profane media logic of anonymous imageboard culture. PhD Thesis, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
33.
DobsonA (2015) Postfeminist Digital Cultures: Femininity, Social Media, and Self-representation. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
34.
DonathJ (1999) Identity and deception in the virtual community. In: SmithMKollockP (eds) Communities in cyberspace. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, pp. 29–59.
FathallahJM (2021) Getting by on 4chan: feminine self-presentation and capital-claiming in antifeminist web space. First Monday. Epub ahead of print 7 June. DOI: 10.5210/fm.v26i7.10449.
37.
FujiiL (2018) Interviewing in Social Science Research: A Relational Approach. New York: Taylor & Francis.
HagenS (2022) ‘Who is/ourguy/?’ tracing panoramic memes to study the collectivity of 4chan/pol. New Media & Society. Epub ahead of print 9 February 2022. DOI: 14614448221078274.
43.
HarawayD (2016) A cyborg manifesto. In: HarawayDWolfeC (eds) Manifestly Haraway. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 3–90.
44.
HarcourtW (1999) Women@internet: Creating New Cultures in Cyberspace. London: Zed Books.
45.
HargraveV (2017) The myth of the anonymous troll. In: LewisSJ (ed.) Queer Privacy: Essays from the Margins of Society. Victoria, BC, Canada: Leanpub, pp. 42–48.
46.
HineGOnaolapoJDe CristofaroE, et al. (2017) Kek, cucks, and god emperor trump: a measurement study of 4chan’s politically incorrect forum and its effects on the web. In: 11th international AAAI conference on web and social media, Montréal, QC, Canada, 15–18 May, pp. 92–102. Palo Alto, CA: AAAI Press.
47.
KnuttilaL (2011) User unknown: 4chan, anonymity and contingency. First Monday. Epub ahead of print 19 September. DOI: 10.5210/fm.v16i10.3665.
LewisSJ (2017) What is queer privacy? In: LewisSJ (ed.) Queer Privacy: Essays from the Margins of Society. Victoria, BC, Canada: Leanpub, pp. 1–4.
50.
LorentzenMKShakirK (2020) The anti-feminism of the far-right imageboard terrorists. Conjunctions – Transdisciplinary Journal of Cultural Participation7(1): 1–8.
51.
ManivannanV (2012) Attaining the ninth square: cybertextuality, gamification, and institutional memory on 4chan. Enculturation14: 1–21.
52.
ManivannanV (2013) FCJ-158 tits or GTFO: the logics of misogyny on 4chan’s random – /b. Fibreculture Journal22: 108–131.
53.
MannB (2018) Femininity, shame, and redemption. Hypatia33(3): 402–417.
54.
MassanariA (2017) #Gamergate and the fappening: how Reddit’s algorithm, governance, and culture support toxic technocultures. New Media and Society19(3): 329–346.
55.
MilnerRM (2016) The World Made Meme: Public Conversations and Participatory Media. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
PeddintiSTRossKWCapposJ (2014) ‘On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog’: a twitter case study of anonymity in social networks. In: COSN 2014 – proceedings of the 2014 ACM conference on online social networks, Dublin, 1–2 October, pp. 83–93. New York: Association for Computing Machinery.
63.
PhillipsW (2013) The house that fox built: anonymous, spectacle, and cycles of amplification. Television & New Media14(6): 494–509.
64.
PhillipsWMilnerRM (2017) The Ambivalent Internet: Mischief, Oddity, and Antagonism Online. Cambridge: Polity Press.
PostmesTSpearsR (1998) Deindividuation and antinormative behavior: a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin123(3): 238–259.
67.
RheingoldH (2012) Net Smart: How to Thrive Online. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
68.
SaldañaJ (2016) The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers. 3rd ed.London: SAGE Publications.
69.
SalterM (2018) From geek masculinity to Gamergate: the technological rationality of online abuse. Crime, Media, Culture14(2): 247–264.
70.
SardáTNataleSSotirakopoulosN, et al. (2019) Understanding online anonymity. Media, Culture and Society41(4): 557–564.
71.
SoloveD (2010) Speech, privacy, and reputation on the internet. In: LevmoreSNussbaumM (eds) The Offensive Internet: Speech, Privacy, and Reputation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 15–30.
TutersMJokubauskaitėEBachD (2018) Post-truth protest: how 4chan cooked up the Pizzagate bullshit. M/C Journal21(3): 1422.
82.
VoidaAMynattEEricksonT, et al. (2004) Interviewing over instant messaging. In: CHI ’04 extended abstracts on human factors in computing systems, Vienna, 24–29 April, pp. 1344–1347. New York: Association for Computing Machinery.
83.
WoolfV (2019) A Room of One’s Own. Richmond: Alma Books.
84.
Ylä-AnttilaTErantiVHardwickS (2020) Going overboard: how ironic group style becomes political on an anonymous imageboard. Social Media + Society6(4): 1–11.
85.
YoungsG (1999) Virtual voices: real lives. In: HarcourtW (ed.) Women@Internet: Creating New Cultures in Cyberspace. London: Zed Books, pp. 55–68.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
