Klepto Compulsions 🖼
This semester (Spring 2016), my introduction to internet art, my personal, evolving experience with technology, and newly- learned knowledge of artworks of previous artists, have shed light on the topics of social communities, sharing online, ‘gifting’ content, and role-playing. This project, Klepto Compulsions, quite literally addresses sharing and stealing in both the real and the virtual world.
In 2014 and 2015, a handful of news outlets including Vice, Dazed (and Confused), Jezebel, Tech Insider, and Bustle published various articles on shoplifting blogger accounts exposing this online community to the public. Online ‘lifters’ document and disperse pictures of their ‘hauls,’ the fruits of their illegal behaviors on their personal Tumblr accounts, with hopes of being put up on pedestals in the community. Many of these users state that their habits are merely for roleplay purposes as somewhat ironic security measures, and yet very vividly express themselves as a part of this cult-like community. The community itself, however, is one that is very supportive, inclusive, and protective. Users feed off of each other by circulating posts, memes, and videos, and generate new content by posting their own haul pictures, narrating lifting experiences, reblogging “goal” hauls, and liking and reblogging both old and new content.
In Krasinski’s article on roleplaying in Brody Condon’s “Level5,” she confessed that through her own roleplay of another character, she was able to discover herself, reorient her meaning in life, and break out of a shell with a new and refreshed outlook. The prospect of removing oneself from one vessel and transferring to an empty one can be juxtaposed with the creation of online profiles, the fresh and empty slate we can recreate ourselves with. Readings from The Dark Net touch on various, dangerous communities of the Web. The harm and effect of interactions online are never fully fathomed because of the seemingly bulletproof partition we are all placed behind. The shoplifting community is one of those harmful communities, enabling its users rather than supporting the moral good, claiming to help its users but more likely harming them. The topics of borrowing, sharing, and stealing of content are also relevant to shoplifting, wherein the sharing of physical stealing takes place. Meaning is generated through the sharing of stealing, which provides both affirmation of deeds, and confirmation of acknowledgement.
Upon the analysis of research on active users, current posts, news articles, and Lifterblrs themselves, I have found that the lifting community is more than just a supportive one. Bonded by obsessions, compulsions, or addictions to steal, the community as a whole justifies their own actions, reveling in their criminal success. In this project, I uncover the significance of sharing stolen items on the internet, the displacement of meaning and quality in interactions in reality, and the replacement of meaning in virtual space. I organize the constituents of the community in separate idea bubbles, in efforts to condense and explain my research of shoplifters on Tumblr.
The Interactions
Throughout the course of the semester. I have been scrutinizing this enabling, highly supportive community of shoplifters online. I was immediately drawn towards creating meaningful relationships with these anonymous, faceless users online, and I wanted to explore the constraints and limitations of this community (if any). Although this project began as extensive research into the community, I wanted to test just how accepting and enabling these group of online users were. I started by direct messaging users with my personal Tumblr account, one with posts from a few years back, to gain rapport with the members of the community.
Through these interactions, my predispositions of the community were verified. First and foremost, I found that users were open to answering questions regarding the physical process of stealing. Using their firsthand experiences, they provide tips and other forms of advice to aspiring shoplifters in hopes of sharing memories and experiences with new friends.
I posed myself as a “new and fleeting lifter” and asked for advice or tips on going on my first lifting spree and creating my own hauls. Out of all three interactions, I found that the one with princessklepto was the most significant. The longest interaction with also with princessklepto, the most infamous and longlasting lifter still active on Tumblr.
Despite the media outing in the past years, princesslkepto has been more than active for the past four or so years. Disregarding her reputation, she was the most open and responsive among all the users. From her Tumblr page and my interactions, I suspected that princesskeltpo was in high school, possibly sixteen or seventeen years of age. She commits a lot of effort and time to produce original and more importantly, helpful, content for her visitors. She has a page specifically dedicated to her guides which include detailed, step-by-step directions on how to properly steal from stores. Because I was so eager to receive princessklepto’s messages, she reciprocated that eagerness with her own excitement through the exchange. Trying to examine the threshold and extent of her compassion, I tried keeping the interaction going for as long as possible.
Kleptomania
Kleptomania, an impulse disorder previously listed in the (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders) DSM-IV, has been removed from the DSM-V. Kleptomania, with a handful of other self-control relating behaviors because of “insufficient evidence to retain them as distinct behaviors.”
Kleptomania, or the extreme enthusiasm shared by many people for stealing or shoplifting, is very real.
The evidence?
On Tumblr.
Although operatively defined as a mental disorder, I will be using kleptomania to refer to the shoplifting culture of users on Tumblr, and their obsession of sharing the stealing.
This project’s purpose is to ethnographically study the shoplifters of Tumblr and in turn, create a Tumblr that analyzes the constituents of the community.
Users
Tumblr is a platform that allows the customization of both blogs and communities with an artistic flair. As an internet platform, the social media site allows users of all over the world to connect over shared interests, hobbies, and materials. Tumblr is most commonly associated with aesthetically pleasing pictures or words and is a tool specifically designed for the sharing of art.
Demographically, the majority of users on Tumblr between the ages of 14 to 30 and are female. The collection of shoplifters I was able to expose myself to were all female and were between the ages of 14 to the late 20s.
With the research I have done, I composited a profile of the shoplifter on Tumblr:
Name: Jane Smith
Age: 16
Weight: 100 lbs
Height: 5′5′’
Ethnicity: Caucasian/White
Occupation: Student, sophomore in high school
Personality: very likeable, charistmatic, sweet talker
Hobbies: Going to the mall
Social relations: exclusive, sticks to her clique
Dislikes: Teacher’s pets, parental authority, people
Role Playing
For security purposes, lifters state that their blogs are for roleplaying purposes only. That they are only pretending to be the individuals they collage themselves out to be: thieves.
In class, we read an article regarding Brody Condon’s art piece, “Level5,” where volunteers participated in LARP, or live action roleplay. The article touches on the processes of of self actualization through the roleplay of someone else. In order to completely look at ourselves, we must first remove the self from the body completely, we must separate the spirit from the vessel.
Being cluttered with stressors of the modern age, our lives have become cluttered with so much technology. We are constantly creating the same versions of ourselves, stamping our faces onto every social platform, and creating a virtual presence in fear of losing some degree of human interaction.
Roleplaying on Tumblr, although it is suggested that all users to decrease the chances of being caught, lifters on Tumblr are roleplaying as their true selves, and possible roleplaying as “other” in their own realities. Tumblr creates a space in which people can indulge in their vices, feed each other’s egos and addictions, and most importantly, identify with other lifters online.
#HAUL
#haul is the hashtag used social media platforms to represent the amalgam of materialistic items an individual has gained at once. It is a symbol of wealth and is used for public bragging or private inventory. #haul was and still is one of the most popular hashtags used on Tumblr, a jumbled, virtual space wherein individuals crave the tangible and the intangible. When typing in #haul on tumblr’s main page (www.tumblr.com/tagged/haul), pictures of lifter hauls outweigh real bought hauls. The lifter community on Tumblr is definitely regenerating itself and is capable of doing so for a very long time. With lifter hauls noticeably bigger and more expensive when juxtaposed to real ones, feelings of curiosity, greed, or envy are sparked within oneself. From books to bras, cameras and clothes galore, lifter hauls aren’t visual representations of socioeconomic wealth, but rather are indicative of personal crimes against the law, and are meant to show other lifters – and the public – just how much they can get away with.
The Community
Clicking through reposted pictures of hauls, memes, and questions of various lifters is how I found the community. The community is an enthusiastic one, a helpful one, a protective one, and an obnoxious one.
Shoplifters of Tumblr circulate memes, hauls, and posts to maintain interaction; the sharing of stealing is done in many ways. Veteran users post how-to guides and pro-tips, others like and reblog jaw-dropping hauls, some users even upload tag removal videos to aid newcomers and novices. Reblogging and liking posts are virtual behaviors that show appreciation and show solidarity to the community.
Users are commended for their hauls and seemingly impossible feats when they are validated through the actions of users. Most commonly through comments insinuating “goals,” social quips used to state one’s inspirations and future goals.
After the news blast in 2014-2015 of the existence of the shoplifting community online, many users backed out of the scene fear of getting caught, or because of the exposure and the attention. Some Many users deactivated their accounts, while a few kept posting regularly despite the new audience. Fear of the lifter community growing smaller and smaller exists, with a few users leaving sporadically.
Yet, it seems as if the existing users are making up for the lost presence and new and old users are interested in the scene. While haul prices were near the hundreds when the community was fledging, they are now in the thousands, per haul.
The sharing of information in the virtual is cushioned by anonymity and a sense of privacy. Users connect through processes of identifying with one another through similarities and empathy. The social interactions in the virtual space are more valuable than ones in reality to many lifters, the lifting community a cushion they can always fall back on for support, comfort, or motivation.
Lifter a la Lifter
Like any other online community, a sense of duty and protection over members is implemented. In the shoplifting community, this is done through tips & tricks on methods to cheat the law, the sharing of personal experiences and stories, and reblogging posts directly on one’s wall to share and spread random but relevant information
Such a supportive community blurs the lines between sharing, enabling, and supporting, with the sense of support convoluted with the act’s criminal nature. As a member of the online bling-ring, one must have each other’s backs to provide back.
Lifters support each other directly by participating in public debates with non-lifting strangers and wanderers. The peace of the community is disturbed, but imitating reality, the two distinct sides of the argument are present.
A sense of social activism seems to also be deeply-rooted in the community, with the moral compass turned upside down. Users feel like it not only okay to steal, but that everyone is deserving of the choice to steal. Some shoplifters steal from specific corporate companies such as one’s that test support and part take in animal testing, one’s that have enough money, and also ones that have enough supply. It is a general rule among lifters to not steal from small stores or ma & pa shops because it would be considered “wrong.”
The Void
In this virtual space, shoplifters from all over the nation feel as if they are in a safe space. Sharing pictures of hauls, guides and how-to’s, and even personal narratives on Tumblr is routine for these users. However, the virtual space is an unrealistic one. It is one that is ever-changing and is an experience in which one navigates through him or herself. Yet, lifters of Tumblr cherish this place, maybe even prefer it to reality.
There is a displacement of meaning in reality to virtuality. Stealing is not the act lifters are passionate about doing, it is sharing stories, pictures, and tips on how to steal: the sharing of stealing things is the passion.
Most, if not all, societies condemn stealing; we look down at criminals. However, the lifters of Tumblr boast about their habits, flounce their luck, and offer advice to those seeking refuge in a criminal community. It is an all-inclusive community that enables its users, that feeds on the addiction, and that constantly reminds users of endless reasons to steal.
The community itself is irreplaceable, as the sense of affirmation and likedness cannot be found anywhere else to shoplifters. Because the community is online, there is a barrier between physical contact, but no barriers between the emotional. The existence of technology unites these people who commit crimes against the law, creating an intangible space in which nothing else can duplicate.
