Iranian Women Traveling in vTime: A Cyberfeminist Approach
基于网络女性主义视角，通过访谈在虚拟世界vTime中旅行的伊朗女性，探讨虚拟旅游能否帮助她们克服旅行限制、实现自我解放，但发现结果复杂且不乐观。
Informed by a cyberfeminist standpoint, this paper explores the role of cyberworlds and virtual tourism in providing less constrained and more liberating traveling experiences for women. More specifically, through interviews with a group of Iranian women traveling in a virtual world known as vTime, this work discusses whether and how virtual tourist experiences allow women to overcome their travel-related constraints and pave the way to forms of self-determination and emancipation. In contrast, several feminists hold utopian and dystopian views regarding the benefits of the Internet and technology for women’s empowerment, and the findings of our study point to a rather complex and less encouraging scenario. Virtual tourism in cyberspace allows Iranian women to overcome constraints affecting their traveling experiences. Nevertheless, it is far from a liberating experience as women’s self-expression and activities are restricted and limited by patriarchy-driven concerns about surveillance, legal consequences, harassment, social stigma, and western dominance.