What exactly is the gender discourse needed to talk about Web3? We have already entered Web3, do we still need to care about gender?

May 14, 2023

Looking back at history, we can easily see similar situations. In the past, some feminists emphasized that the liberal "social contract" was made by "men and men" and did not ask women. In other words, the system itself in a free society is a world built with "male as the benchmark". Although men can verbally promise equality between men and women, if the system is set up along the lines of men, then equality itself is a result of inequality. established under the premise. Back to the Web3 world, how should we face such a new cyberspace with a color of sovereignty?

This article was originally published in Chain Flash

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Recently, Twitter user Pepper (@pforpaprika) tweeted an article "There are many girls in the blockchain circle who use their looks to attract fans..." (Thank you Pepper for authorizing the article~) sparked heated discussions. The article mentions the marketing method of packaging with "beauty" that often appears in the blockchain circle, and all kinds of "beauty KOL" emerge in endlessly. Although Pepper did not respond to the "gender issue", the author quite agrees with his last point of view:

Everyone who is reading this article now is participating in the definition of "what kind of world is the blockchain", if the origin of the blockchain is from the ugliness of capitalist centralization, then we allow this gender imbalance culture to be fueled And by not trying to contend with your penis, is it tantamount to breeding a sex-centric monster?

If we discuss it from the perspective of the "old world", it is not difficult to find a rather lengthy and brilliant history of debates on such issues. From the Japanese Marxist feminist scholar Ueno Chizuko and the AV actress Suzuki Liangmi’s discussion on “erotic capital” in “Beginning at the Limit”; or the debate on the abolition and anti-abolition of prostitution in Taiwan in the 1990s; or how Professor Chun Rui The call for breaking away from the "reparation theory" of lust advocated in "Brave Woman" is all about discussing the phenomenon of women objectifying themselves for "trading" under the capitalist patriarchal system.

However, how should gender issues be discussed in the Web3 world? How to build it? As Xiaojiao mentioned in the article, the "how" of Web3 is determined by the public, and the author also tries to respond to this and contribute what he has learned.

Gender Discourse in the Web3 Era / Midjourney

▍So what kind of blockchain world do we see now?

Before starting this article, I would like to show readers some data:

● According to the research revealed by Boston Consulting Group, a global consulting company, only 13% of the start-up teams in the Web3 industry include women. In addition, only 3% of the founders are women.

● He Yi, the co-founder of Binance, tweeted in the past that currently only 5% of crypto founders are women .

● Sandy Carter, the vice president of Amazon Web Services in the past and the current business vice president of Unstoppable Domains, a blockchain domain name service provider, said that less than 5% of female entrepreneurs in the Web2 industry , and only 20% of women participated in corporate meetings.

● A survey by investment platform eToro shows that cryptocurrencies are now the second most widely owned asset class among young women aged 18-34, after cash.

From the above data, we can simply see some trends and phenomena. First of all, there are very few women (not even including non-binary genders) participating in blockchain innovation and construction. The characteristics and nature of the users: men are the majority of those who dare to start a business, men who are brave to innovate, and men who are brave to fail. What about women? Women can only passively "wait" to enter the world constructed by men.

Looking back at history, we can easily see similar situations. In the past, some feminists emphasized that the liberal "social contract" was made by "men and men" and did not ask women. In other words, the system itself in a free society is a world constructed with "male as the benchmark". Although men can verbally promise equality between men and women, if the system is set up along the lines of men, then equality itself is the result of inequality. established under the premise.

Back to the Web3 world, how should we face such a new cyberspace with a color of sovereignty?

▍So what's the problem with beautiful women marketing?

First of all, it is necessary to understand that we are in a large and complex "patriarchal system" in which there is no doubt that the vested interests are men (although men are also hurt by the system), and the oppressed are women . The shrewdness of this system is that through various ideological and language disguises, the vested interests can enjoy the benefits "reasonably and legitimately".

Taking the focus of this article as an example, it is not a special case for women to sell their own gender under the capitalist patriarchal system. From the past AV actresses to the current "milk net celebrities" have seen similar cases. But, is there any problem with this?

Perhaps what we should ask is not what problems this will cause, but what kind of "impact" this will cause. As mentioned above, the patriarchal system is a large and shrewd machine, and we are all trapped in it. When we look at the "beautiful women marketing" matter with patriarchal logic, the objectification of women will become deeply ingrained. Concept, the impact of this ideology ranges from just likes, retweets, and "ridicules" in the online world, to more important ones supporting "sexual harassment", "sexual assault", and "domestic violence". This is how the ideological foundation behind the "room N incident" in South Korea and Taiwan has been consolidated and passed on.

Another point worth discussing is the premise of the set of arguments just now: "When we look at this matter with the logic of patriarchy", the fixed role of ideology will produce a chemical effect. In other words, beautiful people There is no problem with marketing. The starting point of the problem is how the viewer responds to the marketing with what kind of mentality. This is exactly the precision of the operation of the patriarchal system.

To sum up, the crux of the matter does not lie in the marketing people, but in "how the public reacts to it"; secondly, the result of the problem is always only reflected in the more vulnerable groups, not the so-called "beautiful women" or "watcher". When the ideology of patriarchy is consolidated, it is often the more vulnerable women who are affected, that is, women who have been sexually harassed, sexually assaulted, or economically disadvantaged.

In the past I have often described patriarchy as a non-Newtonian fluid, one that is violently attacked and equally violently responded to, and one that is slowly reformed and merged with it. It is precisely because of the high degree of difficulty that involves changes in the entire society that feminist theories and movements have developed so diversely.

▍Positive impact of the rise of the Internet on women and gender disadvantaged

The discussion started by Pepper's tweet, I think it can go deeper and touch on what is the gender discourse that Web3 needs? Similarly, this is also woven together by readers. How will the network society we imagined be presented to our future generations?

Let us also look back at the past history. The Internet age that began in the 21st century has gradually brought to the fore most of the "dissents" that did not and did not dare to appear in the past, under the cover of the anonymity of the Internet, including gays and lesbians. voices and more voices of gender disadvantaged and non-binary genders. On the one hand, the Internet breaks down class distinctions, and on the other hand, its anonymity also relieves the pressure of exposure.

All kinds of values that are inconsistent with the mainstream society increase their visibility through the leverage of the Internet, and even find like-minded partners because of this, and set up various organizations to fight against the mainstream society. For example, the Taiwan Gay Family Rights Promotion Association (Tongjiahui) was established on the Internet, and then combined with entities. Since 2001, it has begun to pay attention to the LGBT Family Formation Act and strive for issues such as gay reproductive rights, parental rights, and marriage rights.

Looking back at the above history, the Internet’s leverage on social minorities lies in its anonymity and rapid dissemination. The former breaks class issues and the pressure of exposure in traditional society, and the latter allows like-minded partners to quickly build "communities." And these two are exactly the characteristics emphasized by the so-called Web3 field.

▍It has already entered Web3, do you still need to care about gender?

Web3's emphasis on high anonymity may make people think, since they are all anonymous, do we still need to care about gender? Looking at the NFT avatars of different genders and races in the hands of Web3 players, perhaps we can really hope for the arrival of a cyber age that is completely gender- and race-free, but the reality is that such a society may be as far away as utopia. Just as the essence of Bitcoin is encrypted anarchism, the fact is that the strong resilience of nation-states will be somewhat difficult to shake in the next few years. So instead of looking at extreme visions, it is better to use the characteristics of Web3 to rewrite the gender discourse on the Internet.

Women's participation in Web3 can be roughly divided into two categories, the first category is participants, and the second category is builders. The former is the holder or bystander of various projects, while the latter is the project party, developer, leader or community in various projects. Due to the established structure of the "old world", the proportion of men and women investing in the blockchain industry is still more men than women. However, the situation may change with the advent of the Web3 era. In addition to the ownership revolution brought about by blockchain technology, the Web3 referred to here also includes the creativity and productivity of individuals endowed by the maturity of AI technology.

As far as writing programs is concerned, as Women Buidl, a Web3 female community, said , "We believe that a part of the future of human beings will be gradually generated in the Web3 world. Programs are value, and Coder is the builder of this new world. However, a Such as the logic of the old world, the creation of new rules, women are seriously absent. " The author believes that the maturity of AI technology may greatly improve the initiative of women or non-binary genders in the blockchain world.

The following is a list of the changes that I personally think Web3 can bring to the current social gender structure:

1. The right to speak revolution brought about by anonymity and privacy

Although the benefits of anonymity and privacy to gender disadvantaged groups can be seen in the past Web2 era, Web3 can further increase the flexibility and initiative of anonymity and privacy. In the past platform network era and electronic payment, More or less real-name authentication is still required, and the process is quite cumbersome.

But with the popularity of Web3, maybe we can really see the online world moving in the direction of de-gender, de-race and de-class. This will change the predicament in the past that the gender disadvantaged cannot express clearly or even have the opportunity to express their views in traditional society, and further stretch their right to speak and spread their thoughts.

2. The Ownership Revolution

The contribution of blockchain technology to "ownership" is obvious to all. In addition to creation ownership, property ownership is also a major change. Under capitalist patriarchy, property is power. In the past, men excluded women from the workplace, and at the same time belittled the value of women's "reproduction", which resulted in women being almost the weakest of the weak in terms of economics. If blockchain technology is popularized, women's economic autonomy will also be greatly reduced. To further improve and get rid of the stereotype of unequal power among women in the past.

3. Increased productivity and creativity

I don’t know if readers have watched the popular Taiwanese TV series "The Wavemaker: The Chosen One". There is a scene in which I am very interested. That is when the protagonist Weng Wenfang is suppressed by his boss (male), and even all the TV stations are blocked. At that time, the only solution (or way of revenge) he could find was self-media, as a Youtuber to increase his influence and visibility. In other words, with the maturity of the Internet age, personal influence and power will return to the individual, and the plight of being choked by others in the past will gradually decrease, replaced by the explosive growth of personal productivity and ability.

In addition to regaining the ownership of their creations through blockchain technology, the creators in Web3 also have their extended copyrights and intellectual property rights confirmed. In addition, with the improvement of AI technology, the creativity and productivity of "individuals" will grow by leaps and bounds in quality and quantity. This growth will be combined with the communication leverage of the Internet itself and the ownership confirmation of the blockchain, " "Individual" abilities will be liberated to the greatest extent, and with the liberation of personal abilities, women can also be liberated from the traditional social labor system, and escape from the male-centered workplace and employment environment as much as possible.

4. Community cohesion

The community has been a very important part since the Internet age. The community emphasized by Web3 may further unite the power of women and the women's movement, and at the same time further resist the mainstream patriarchal society in the form of "group warfare" . The author also believes that the future Internet era will interact with "communities" as a unit, and the era of decentralization is not about decentralization to "individuals", but a variety of parallel communities that are equal and free Interaction is the principle of communication.

In the past, women's movements and gender issues were carried out by various gender organizations and groups, so the online community may also be a powerful tool for changing the existing online gender structure at this stage.

Big jump in productivity and creativity / Midjourney

▍Some Web3 female communities

● World of Women

The leader of the Web3 female community, the vision is to change the creative plight of female artists, and provide a more diverse and inclusive community for creators and contributors in the entire Internet ecology. It will also donate 2.5% of its NFT sales to different women's organizations and women , including She's the first (an organization that funds women's education), Too Young to Wed (an organization dedicated to solving child marriage issues), etc.

● Boss Beauties

The vision of the Web3 project is to make the next generation of women and girls who they want to be, and the mission is to lead 1 million women and girls into the world of Web3. Part of the income from its projects will be used to support girls' education and various charities related to women. In addition, women are also encouraged to enter the online world bravely and move forward bravely in various professional environments.

● shefi

Committed to changing the nature of "finance" through blockchain technology, allowing women to regain economic autonomy. Realize the financial freedom of women or non-binary people through education and practice related to the encryption industry. 14-week educational camps are held each time, from cryptocurrency to Web3-related practical experience. In addition, its community covers 1,500 members from more than 50 countries and regions, building community consensus through offline and online forms.

● web3 women union (WUU)

The Web3 pure female community is committed to building an open and inclusive female community and information aggregation platform, becoming the support and healing place for women in Web3. Through the offline form, experienced and influential female leaders in the Web3 industry are invited to share their industry knowledge and experience, and at the same time encourage more women in the community to actively participate in discussions and learn from each other. In addition, WWU also conducts study groups in the form of boot camps to lower the threshold for community members to enter Web3.

● Her Ta Zhi Dao

A community led by women in Asia, hoping to create a safe and diverse space for women to gain a foothold and explore Web3. Established at Taipei Blockchain Week in December 2022. In addition to empowering women, we also hope that every member's voice can be seen, valued and inspired.

In the past, women-related blockchain offline activities were held from time to time. In addition to general activities, all-female events will also be held to gather the power of women and jointly enjoy the blockchain industry.

● Women Buidl

Provide women's thinking angles and perspectives, hoping to gather women from all over the world to learn programming languages together, and jointly create women's "territory" in the new network world of blockchain, focusing on improving women's various capabilities in Web3. Organize Coding Camp to cultivate the ability of female programming language subordinates. In addition, it has also been selected for the global fundraising plan of Gitcoin Grants Round 15 (GR15).

● Let's talk about her

Born in Matters.town , a decentralized writing forum, "Left and Right Talking About Her" hopes to focus on women's issues, include all gender spectrums, and build a richer, more diverse and complex women's community. In addition, a solicitation of papers related to women's issues is also held in Matt City, and a friendly communication field is established for the construction of one's own community.

Its core concept may be just as the community's name "Left and Right Talks About Her" implies: " This name was originally associated with the phrase "Gu left and right talk about him" in "Mencius: King Hui of Liang". The evasive, insinuating ambiguities that may be faced. Evolving into "talking about her from left to right" means that women choose to break this shackle, allowing more stories and records to surface. At the same time, we hope that the topics discussed in this column can span different spectrums. What is presented on this spectrum is not only gender identity, but also global tolerance. "

▍Conclusion

What kind of gender discourse does Web3 need? I think this is not an article that can deal with this problem perfectly, but it may be an urgent matter to construct a relatively friendly environment. Paying attention to gender issues is not to condemn men or criticize those so-called "beauty KOLs", but to hope that readers and those who are participating in the blockchain industry will pay more attention to gender issues, and try to think when we use this mentality to Will the view of "beauty KOL" affect the weakest and lowest group of gender minorities and gender disadvantaged in the entire system?

In addition, the sovereign individual emphasized by Web3 is of course gender-neutral, so women and non-binary genders can fully display their abilities and creativity under such a gender-free framework, which is different from the traditional Web2 in the past. Times are very different phenomena. Perhaps we can also expect more gender disadvantaged and non-binary people to enter such an online society, but if the new society still presents the gender discourse of the old age, then the sovereign personalization of Web3 must be flawed. After all, the premise of sovereign individuals is mutual respect and equality.

Finally, it is also emphasized that what Web3 should look like really needs to be defined by readers. If we all have a pure ideal for such a new society in our hearts, we should not be covered by the haze of the old age, so we are also This calls on all Web3 participants and pioneers to pay more attention to gender issues and gender discourse, and to break the gender ghosts that hovered over society in the past.