Recently the social networking site, Facebook, has begun a more widespread enforcement of their "real name" policy. This has ruffled a LOT of glorious feather boas for OBVIOUS reasons. The public focus on this issue started with the drag community where Sister Roma indicated her profile had been suspended due to not using her "real name". She initiated the hashtag #MyNameIs to help spread awareness to this issue of privacy, anonymity, personal safety and identity.
There are several reasons why a person may choose an alias for their social interactions. I, myself, choose to go by Hussy because of a desire to remain anonymous as an ecdysiast in a world where I can easily be targeted for harassment in several forms. Along with my personal safety, I choose to keep my stripper life out of my everyday life. There is no embarassment on my end, but I do have a professional life that doesn't involve glitter and baring my skin. My "muggle" job (my ACTUAL source of income) has the potential to release me of my position if they were to know about my after hours activities.
To quote an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg written by Jade Sylvan: "(There are)people whose gender identity, name and pronoun preferences change based on their situation, or simply based on what they feel like that day. These people deserve the right to interact with their community as the person they truly are from moment to moment. That is honesty. That is integrity."
Personal identity is something that shouldn't be policed.
There has been a lot of speculation in regards to Facebook's motivation to start enforcing their policy. The accusations range from financial gain to full blown discrimination and exclusion.
Whatever the reason, as a community, we need to stand up and support ALL of our rights to privacy, personal expression and identity. This is about refusing to be forced into something that jeopardizes our safety, identity and livelihood.
There are several ways to help the cause. Last week, a group of Minnesota performers gathered outside of WCCO's morning broadcast window to protest the new dedication of enforcement. In full stage regalia, they carried signs noting #MyNameIs followed by their performer names. You can also sign the petition on Change.org that encourages Facebook to allow the use of stage/performer names.
If you are more of a couch/internet-surfer advocate, create your own stage name and start using it with posts that are geared towards this issue. Continue utilizing the hashtag #MyNameIs to spread the awareness in all of the social media formats.
We must stand united and let our voices be heard!
There are several reasons why a person may choose an alias for their social interactions. I, myself, choose to go by Hussy because of a desire to remain anonymous as an ecdysiast in a world where I can easily be targeted for harassment in several forms. Along with my personal safety, I choose to keep my stripper life out of my everyday life. There is no embarassment on my end, but I do have a professional life that doesn't involve glitter and baring my skin. My "muggle" job (my ACTUAL source of income) has the potential to release me of my position if they were to know about my after hours activities.
To quote an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg written by Jade Sylvan: "(There are)people whose gender identity, name and pronoun preferences change based on their situation, or simply based on what they feel like that day. These people deserve the right to interact with their community as the person they truly are from moment to moment. That is honesty. That is integrity."
Personal identity is something that shouldn't be policed.
There has been a lot of speculation in regards to Facebook's motivation to start enforcing their policy. The accusations range from financial gain to full blown discrimination and exclusion.
Whatever the reason, as a community, we need to stand up and support ALL of our rights to privacy, personal expression and identity. This is about refusing to be forced into something that jeopardizes our safety, identity and livelihood.
There are several ways to help the cause. Last week, a group of Minnesota performers gathered outside of WCCO's morning broadcast window to protest the new dedication of enforcement. In full stage regalia, they carried signs noting #MyNameIs followed by their performer names. You can also sign the petition on Change.org that encourages Facebook to allow the use of stage/performer names.
If you are more of a couch/internet-surfer advocate, create your own stage name and start using it with posts that are geared towards this issue. Continue utilizing the hashtag #MyNameIs to spread the awareness in all of the social media formats.
We must stand united and let our voices be heard!