Posts Tagged ‘Caitlin Pratt’

• 2006-07 Selected Essays

  Date: 2008.05.29 | Category: News, Selected Essays | Response: 0

  The editorial committee of e.g., UW’s online journal of 100-level writing, is pleased to announce the winning essays for 2006-07:

  Bilingual Education and its Threat to the Nation Form
  Karin Asplund

  The Future of Tomorrow Struggling with Domination
  Christine Caldejon

  The Manipulation and Exploitation of Nationalism
  Behnum Habibi

  “Man Law”: Perpetuation of Stereotypes Online
  Caitlin Pratt

  Persuasion for a Better Cause
  Ashley Thoreson

  A More Mobile Campus: A Proposal for a New Mobility Map at the University of Washington
  Jessica Vu

• 2006-07 Winner: “‘Man Law:’ Perpetuation of Stereotypes Online” by Caitlin Pratt

  Date: 2008.05.24 | Category: Selected Essays | Response: 0

  “‘Man Law’” by Caitlin Pratt PDF

  Facebook.com is a social networking site, a virtual version of the facebook that some colleges give incoming freshmen.  The site allows users to create online profiles that list their personal information such as age, gender, birthday, hometown, e-mail address, class schedules, interests, musical tastes, and political and religious views.  Site users can view others’ online profiles, and interact in a variety of ways including joining common interest groups and posting photos, links, and videos.  Facebook was originally created for college students, and college students continue to make up the majority of its users.  More than ten million people now use the site, and they make it the seventh most-trafficked site on the internet (Zuckerberg).  One of the features of the site is the ability to create and join “common interest” groups.  Groups range from the serious like Gay-Straight Alliance and Cancer Awareness groups to the silly “I Will Go Slightly Out of My Way To Step on That Crunchy Looking Leaf.” Especially at large universities, this allows students to stake out a niche in their university community and network with people who share their interests.  Although many of these groups are intended to be fun or silly, other groups like “Man Law” reflect the fact that cyberspace still exists within the limits of societal norms and stereotypes.

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