Internet Subcultures

Resumen:
La progresiva generalización del acceso a Internet en los países industrializados ha tenido
como resultado la expansión y el desarrollo de formas vernaculares de comunicación, etiqueta y
folclore dentro de la red, entre las cuales se encuentran los objetos textuales en formato visual o
audiovisual designados comunmente como “memes”. Este ensayo busca explorar y analizar los
orígenes subculturales de los memes de Internet, las identidades ligadas a los mismos, su evolución
y cómo se insertan dentro del marco sociocultural que ha dado origen a los mismos. Para ello, voy a
prestar especial atención a las tendencias ironistas y los espacios subculturales del ecosistema
memero ya que, si bien estos espacios son menos conocidos por el público general, tienen una gran
importancia histórica y práctica en el desarrollo artístico y cultural que acompaña a los memes.
Palabras Clave: Historia de Internet, subculturas online, comunidades de fans, memes,
ironía, humor.

Abstract:
The progressive generalization of Internet access inside the industrialized countries brought
with it the development and expansion of vernacular comunication, etiquette normes and folklore
inside the Web. The textual objects in visual or audio-visual format popularly known as “memes”
are a huge part of today's Internet communication. This essay tries to explore and analyse the
subcultural origins of Internet memes, the identities associated, their evolution and how they're
wired to the socio-cultural frame that gave them birth. To do so, I'll focus on the ironist tendencies
and subcultural spaces of the Web mostly unknown for the general public but with a huge historical
importance in the artistical and cultural development of internet memes.
Keywords: History of the Internet, subcultures, fandoms, memes, irony, humour.

The development of the Internet and computer-mediated communications has facilitated the growth of a wide range of deviant sexual behaviors along with deviant subcultures that support and approve of these behaviors. A growing literature has examined the function of the Internet for child pornography distribution, social networks of pedophiles, and tactics of child solicitation. Few, however, have explored the utility of the Internet to develop a subculture of pedophiles and its role in conveying attitudes and justifications for relationships with children. This article explore the subcultural norms and enculturation of the pedophile community referring to a qualitative analysis 45 of five Web forums run by and for pedophiles. The findings suggest that the values of the pedophile culture support and encourage emotional and, in some cases, sexual relationships with boys and girls in virtual and real settings.

This presentation is inspired by the latest transformations in the community-, content-, and algorithm-driven networks revolving around the social micro-blogging platform Tumblr. On December 17, 2018, in reaction to having its official app suspended from Apple’s App Store over child pornography issues, Tumblr permanently banned all “adult content” in a controversially debated move cutting back on multiple body-centered communities on the platform and fundamentally changing how Tumblr users relate to its service. Especially the fact that Tumblr relies on the automated tools – aka censor bots – to rule out a particular kind of visual (and therefore highly ambiguous) content attracted major criticism. Producing what on the internet is currently known as ‘Tumblr purge’ or ‘Tumblr Apocalypse"​, users started a mass log-off and other forms of protest, spreading critique through hashtags and memes, looking for algorithmic loopholes, trying to ‘fool’ censor bots with modified visual material, or leaving Tumblr altogether. In this context, the phrase “Female presenting nipples” from Tumblr’s new community guidelines became a central subject for ridicule. Going viral across platforms, it produced a cascade of irreverent adaptations oscillating in focus between Tumblr’s content filtering policy, subcultural ecology, and technological affordances.