Reading Between the Lines: Joanna Walsh and Sian Norris 'What Happens When a Woman Goes Online?'

About

The unwritten contract of the internet, that a user is what is used, extends from the well-examined issue of data privacy and consent to the very selves women are encouraged to create in order to appear.

Invited to self-construct as ‘girls online’, vloggers, bloggers and influencers sign a devil’s bargain: a platform on the condition that they commodify themselves, eternally youthful and responsibility-free, hiding offline domestic, professional and emotional labour while paying for their online presence with ‘accounts’ of personal ‘experience’.

In conversation with Sian Norris, Walsh examines selfies, social media, celebrity and cyberfeminism, exploding the terms and conditions of appearing online under the sign of ‘girl’.

Presented in partnership with Bristol Ideas, as part of a year-round series of conversations about writing and art.