...
But there
still are boundaries that they breach at their own peril, says Neha
Viswanathan
DID
YOU KNOW?
Skewed ratios
According to a 2006 survey, for every three active male users
online in India, there is only one woman.
only 12 lakh working
women and seven lakh non-working ones have home internet access
I can’t recall
when exactly I “went” online.
I was 16; the Internet seemed
vast and full of promise.
I regularly logged on to a chat programme,
which is no longer available.
It was called PowWow, and I suspect that
at the time there weren’t too many Indians online.
I routinely
bumped into strangers asking me if my father was a snake charmer.
I suppose times
have changed.
While you are no longer asked if elephants carry you to
school, strangers still ask you questions.
Perhaps the sheer act of
being online, of not physically being present, makes our boundaries
more permeable.
For instance, if you are a woman and you sign up for
Orkut, you probably do so to get in touch with old classmates, or to
shoot the breeze with your friends.
Instead, you’ll be swamped
with what are called “scraps” — small notes from complete
strangers which are basically variations of the line, “Hi, your
pic is sooo saaxy/ beautifool.
Wanna make friendship with me?
”
I give up.
How exactly ...
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