Wicked Wednesday: Identity

Having another identity is pretty common, really. We idolize it on TV and in the movies all the time. Most superheroes (and many villains) have two identities, and only a very few people know that the two are really one: Bruce Wayne and Batman, Selina Kyle and Catwoman,  Bruce Banner and the Hulk, Peter Parker and Spiderman, and even Diana Prince and Wonder Woman. It’s a way for these heroes and villains to separate their lives, and essentially be one person during the day and another at night.

Identities online are obviously not used to disguise super powers (although somewhere out there, lurking, Vibrator Woman might be spreading the joy of masturbatory devices and ridding the world of phthalate-laden toys), but they are used to separate activities.

Some of it, I think, has to do with how blogging, writing, and reviewing are often viewed in “real” life.  It’s not just disapproval – your friends and family might not be thrilled with finding out you write about sex, sex toys, and write erotica, and they may not be supportive, but it can have consequences at your job as well – your boss at the grocery store or company may more than disapprove: they might fire you for “conduct unbecoming.”  And if you love sex, and writing about sex, you don’t want to stop.  It’s unfortunate, but often the case.

Some of it is also the desire to…not really be different, but to express yourself more openly and introspectively in ways that you just can’t otherwise. And at some point, the online identity and the real life identity grow, and blend, and merge until they become indistinguishable to anyone that knows them both.

Check out the other Wicked Wednesday posts!