Marokkaanse jongeren en virtuele discussies

Samenvatting

Moroccan youth and virtual discussions. This article focuses on the forums of two Moroccan websites and the postings of Moroccan youth sent to these messageboards. It seems that no topic is anymore taboo in the virtual world, which is quite opposed to the physical reality. In face-to-face situations boys and girls have to follow strict social rules and they are not likely to discuss sensible subjects as sexuality. Besides, in Islam sexuality is only allowed in marriage, as a consequence girls have to be a virgin when they marry. The reputation of a girl is also related with the honour of the family and is therefore an important element of the construction of identity. I suppose that analysing those virtual debates give insight in what topics Moroccan youth perceive important. Regarding the content of those messages is the question whether they discuss their own cultural boundaries. Research has been conducted on two messageboards of Moroccan websites: the girlsboard of Maroc.nl and the marriage magazine Yasmina.nl. One of the purposes of the websites is to give Moroccan youth a forum to express themselves, and when we look at the many messages they posted, it can be called a success. Most of the themes refer to subjects about the relationships between boys and girls, marriage, sexuality and Islam. Observing the content of the postings, a great diversity of meanings comes up, we notice that they discuss the cultural boundaries, however, without transcending them. Interesting individualistic tendencies can be distinguished, for instance an Islamic rule will be followed not for collective but for personal motives. Bastani emphasises in her research on a Muslim Women Network that the main issue is identity and not anonymity, in the case of the Moroccan forums both issues are the basis for success. The Moroccan messageboards fulfil a need for Moroccan youth to express themselves on their own terms.