The Meaningful Contradictions of Our Hidden Identities: A Response to Reviewers

In this essay, I respond to my reviewers by expanding on some of the core themes I develop in my book, Anonymous: The Performance of Hidden Identities (2023). I argue that anonymity and pseudonymity are in constant tension with personal identity. By putting on a mask of some sort or donning a fake name, we act as though the distinction between the cover representation and the “true” self is meaningful, and in doing so, we make the meaningful contradictions between the hidden and the visible central to our interactions with various audiences. I reflect on my argument and the method of social pattern analysis, the misleading distinction between performance and personal identity, the moral significance of my analysis of different cases, the centrality of power in the performance of hidden identities, and some issues related to typification and the analysis of anonymous acts.