MODEM GRRRL [IMAGE]
   
  WICKED ST.JUDE
  
      Interviewed by rosiex@jolt.mpx.com.au
      
   I'm disappointed, they are making Tank Girl into a film and haven't
   cast Jude Milhon, St.Jude as the title role. Geesh, won't they ever
   learn! This girrrl don't like to be messed with, but her raunchy
   facade hides a genuine concern for other women on-line. I caught up
   with St..Jude (Saint of Hopeless Causes) on the net while busily
   working on her book "Mutate" co-authored with R.U.Sirius. St.Jude has
   a lot to talk about X-Unix programmer and X-Cyberprank editor for
   Mondo (big yawn) 2000, Jude is pranking, morphing and blasting her way
   to an electronic hall of fame, or is that flame?
   
   Rosie X: Do you think the issues of feminism and technology are
   stagnant?
   
   St.Jude : No. No no, I think tech will solve all our problems,
   personal AND scientific. Girls NEED modems.
   
   RX: Do you think that women-only electronic salons which allow women
   to 'gag' dweebs, dorks, cyber bores are important? Or do you think the
   hoary old chestnut of free speech gets in the way of controlling some
   of the more abusive attacks people get away with that are directed at
   women, poofs and dykes, and people of different cultures?
   
   SJ: Hanging out with nice people is nice. But I don't want to sit
   around in the Politeness Ghetto all the time. Hanging out with
   nasty-ass bigoted male teenagers is also good, if they have stuff I
   can learn from. I may pretend I'm a snotty male teener myself, and
   why not? Particularly if I can turn somebody around with my expressed
   deviant opinion. (I'm a GAY snotty male teener, now that I mention
   it.) Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words on a screen get
   at me only as much as I allow them to.
   
   RX: We accuse patriarchy of constructing the spaces and language we
   use and occupy. Are American female academics GHETTOIZING these
   spaces, entrenching their CLASS INTERESTS and setting themselves up as
   Beverly Hills Patrol Cops? Always on the beat for a bit of
   information, and overseeing what is said, who to, and how they should
   say it?
   
   SJ: Like a backhanded censorship? John Gilmore of the Electronic
   Frontier Foundation has said what may be the quote of the year: "the
   Internet treats censorship just like any other glitch: it routes
   around it." To use the language of the academics, "the discourse is
   propelled by desire," and love laughs at locksmiths. So we'll talk
   about what we love to the people who can hear us and if people keep
   on bullying us, after a while we'll find another trysting spot,
   [IMAGE] and leave the cops to themselves. We always have to drive the
   so-called InfoBahn defensively. Whether we're set upon by zealots or
   bigots or abusively correct politicos, we have to learn to defend
   ourselves. Any kind of attack online calls for martial arts _ Aikido
   may be best: to use the enemy's strength against them harmlessly, but
   martial all your arts. So: learn to fight! Cyberspace is better than
   an acre of warm tapioca for a tussle. (I see no bruises here.) This
   is the best training ground for women; we may start ten down in a
   physical fight, OK, but the keyboard is the great equaliser _ BETTAH
   than the Glock .45. And combat on the Net is like Basic Training. The
   lonesome 14-yr-old girl that I used to be could have managed her life
   a lot better if she'd been through this kind of Boot Camp.
   
   RX: Is the Internet safe for women; Is virtual rape possible? What
   would women do to these virtual rapists if they caught them, what
   would be a suitable punishment in data space?
   
   SJ: Keep in mind, in cyberspace EVERYONE can hear you scream. There
   was a woman crying virtual rape on LambdaMOO. It's a game, lady. You
   lost. You could have teleported. Or changed into an Iron Maiden (the
   spiky kind) and crimped off his dick. But by playing it this way,
   you've REALLY lost Because the MOO's also a social space, where you
   can meet people with REAL cultural differences like Klansmen and make
   them respect you as a woman, as a dyke, as whatever. Toe-to-toe, you
   maybe change their prejudices forever. My gay buddy says he's battled
   people this way for years... he's an online warrior for civilisation,
   yes. Ignoring people until they go away changes nobody's behaviour,
   and it certainly doesn't change their opinions. Cries for niceness
   don't make it. Toughen up! You're dealing with people here, and
   primates act better when you stand up to them and give them a reason
   to respect you. I hate this Waaaah I'm a poor sensitive weak woman
   protect me shit. This kind of stuff generates MORE contempt for
   women.
   So...Fuck Niceness!
   
   RX: Apparently the women conference areas on the Internet are being
   taken over by men. A lot of people feel this is men trying to become
   more feminine, and understand the female psyche. Do you think this is
   true?
   
   SJ: How do you know they're men? I'm no lady, darlin'. How do you know
   I'm not a man? How are you going to let only genuine gyno-type
   double-X, Barr-body bearing, real virtual women into your virtual
   salon?? As those adventure games put it, "I see no genitals here." If
   they say they're women, I say they're women, and should be treated
   just like the rest of us _ badly.Anyway, I think it's touching that
   men should become transsexual moles, to try to understand women this
   way. It may be that this is the only way the alien sexes can honestly
   converse _ when they're bodiless, nothing at stake, behind the masks
   of their pseudonyms. Online you can learn to be fearless, you can
   afford to be bold. I've found myself saying things on the telephone
   that I wouldn't say face2face, and the Net subtracts even the human
   voice. When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose. I can play
   amazing pranks, or I can do something even more outrageous: I can be
   honest. Say stuff so personal and real that my mind boggles to think
   about it now. This could be a breakthrough for humans learning about
   humans, not just men and women learning about each other. Sounds OK
   to me.
   
   RX: If you had a word to describe what you do when using this
   electronic medium what would it be?
   
   SJ: I'm a future-hacker; I'm trying to get root access to the future.
   I want to raid its system of thought. Grr.
   
   RX: If you could design a machine what would it feel, look and act
   like, how much grunt would you give it, and would you let it wear your
   black leather jacket??
   
   SJ: Machines disappoint me. I just can't love any of these warez, hard
   or soft. I'm nostalgic for the future. We need ultrahigh-res! Give us
   bandwidth or kill us!! Let's see the ultraviolet polkadot flowers
   that hummingbirds see, and smell 'em like the bees do.
   
    stjude@well.sf.ca.us
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