The Pseudonym Debacle: A Safe Space in the Digital World
“Should I use a pen name or my real name when I write?”
The age-old question.
A question that consisted of a simple answer once upon a time. Pseudonyms have provided an outlet for countless of authors. Authors have, in turn, regaled us with great literature, and not so great literature.
I’ve found myself scouring the internet for an answer to this grand debate time and time again. Pen names are either for the established and best-selling authors who want to delve into an entirely different genre; or for authors of an unforgotten past where female writers donned a male persona to publish.
A past where writers of a certain religion, or none, needed a pseudonym for their safety. A safe space.
Certainly not in this digital age where privacy is nothing but an illusion. Pen names are a waste. Pen names are too complicated for the editors, too messy for the audience, too much red tape for the publishers.
Today, privacy is an illusion I read again and again. Even more so in articles about whether or not new writers should be using a pseudonym. “All you need to do is Google your name to prove it,” one of the articles said.
In my quest for an answer I did. I typed up my name on the search bar and cringed at the result.
As someone who highly values her privacy my stress levels shot up.
A MySpace I didn’t remember existed immediately struck me. One I didn’t even have an email for in order to delete. A plethora of new sites that existed solely to gather all of your information (all social media accounts, phone numbers, current physical address, arrest records, Yelp reviews, any piece of writing you wrote online) and hand it over to anyone that had your name.
All a person searching you needed to do was promise they wouldn’t use the information against you for any purpose other than their own innocent knowledge, and swear they wouldn’t use it to stalk you (yes, the site did use the word stalk) by clicking on the box with the check mark and hitting Accept.
Images of myself hyper-ventilating rushed forward.
How come my current address was sealed in court documents for a restraining order but all that person needed to do was swear they wouldn’t use that information against me by clicking a button? After all, any stranger searching for all your background information is doing it merely for their own personal enlightenment. Are they not?
The author of that pseudonym versus using your real name article I read was correct. Privacy in this digital age is nothing but an illusion. Nonetheless, there are those that need the illusion.
A safe space.
This is what I had been hoping I’d find. I wanted someone to validate my feelings of wanting a safe space for my writing. Someone to tell me it was perfectly acceptable to use a pseudonym when it came to releasing my writing into that very intrusive digital space we’re now surrounded by.
What happens to the writers who want to share their stories, but don’t have the privilege of doing so due to personal reasons, on the boundaries of what they’re comfortable with? What happens to the women who want to come forward to say “me too” but don’t feel safe attaching their name to their genuinely personal story?
We all know writing is therapeutic, writing can be healing, it serves many as a way to decompress.
“I want to share my thoughts with the world but I want a sliver of my privacy intact.”
I understand it can be seen as contradictory. But don’t you deserve at least that illusion, that safe space? A way in which you can share with other individuals without having your coworkers, friends, and family hammering at the door with unwanted opinions on your thoughts? Besides, isn’t that what the very Internet is for? You might as well stick with receiving those opinions from strangers on social media.
The purpose of it all? It would be your CHOICE.
You’re making the decision of where and who to share it with, you’re electing to set boundaries on what you know is best for you.
Your identity is your choice.
Share your writing using your real identity, share your writing using a pen name, share your writing.
As long as you stay true to your content, I’m confident your audience will stay true to you.
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