Using the online practices of sex workers as a focal point, this project examines how the public/private dichotomy is governed and complicated within Social Networking Sites (SNS). It concentrates in particular on Facebook and FetLife, arguing that the former functions as a normative public and the latter as a counterpublic due, in part, to the differing regulations each site implements regarding sex work. The project centers on a qualitative study of the rhetorical strategies online sex workers use to self-identify and self-advocate, as well as the tactics they employ to maintain privacy and avoid the phenomenon of “context collapse.” Through the results of this study, I discuss the theoretical and practical implications of end user cyber security tactics, considering the scholarship on digital surveillance and privacy. In addressing these strategies, it underscores the importance of privacy specifically for vulnerable populations of digital publics.
Articles by S. L. Nelson
S.L. Nelson studies rhetoric and composition at the University of Pittsburgh. Their research examines the slippage and play that occurs within the rhetoric of computational structures. Working through queer theoretical and methodological frameworks, they consider the ways in which computer users can critique, resist, and subvert the normative narratives perpetuated by digital systems.