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Intimate anonymous conversations: Egyptian women-only Facebook groups as educational spaces
Abstract
In this paper, I research how Egyptian women-only Facebook groups are spaces for exchange and learning about intimate relationships. My argument is that the groups provide a ‘safe’ space by acting as a perimeter where women can express themselves without being reprimanded for inappropriate public conduct, while exchanging advice and relationship-oriented education. This is anthropological research including participant observation, content and discourse analysis, and interviews. There is a performative identity to enter the group as a woman (in the absence of a physical body) and once in as a member there are expectations of behavior to remain a member. In contrast to sexual explicitness online by male profiles (and offline in person), female sexual explicitness is selectively punished. Secondly, the group acts as an educational space for relationships and sexuality where anonymity allows for advice seeking without retribution to her in-person “in-real-life (IRL)” identity. Thirdly, the group allows for spaces for entertainment and sexual humor. Additionally, it is a space where there is a degree of “men bashing” which is uncontested as the male voice is absent and appears to be empowering as well as a form of entertainment. Lastly, while the rules stipulate restrictions on religious advice, religious notions still find expression in advice comments, conversational language, and karmic predictions. This and further research could show how millennial urban women in Egypt negotiate relationships and agency in comparison to anthropological research of an earlier generation of Egyptian women, highlighting the role of social media in their lives.
Discipline
Anthropology
Geographic Area
Egypt
Sub Area
Ethnography