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> FROM THE ARTICLE
> The first line in the article:
> "Cyberspace is inhospitable to women."
I think the comments in the article may accurately reflect the situation
in subscriber services such as America On Line's "chat rooms." During
the short time I was on AOL using up my freebie hours, I saw a lot of
evidence to support claims such as
> In general, men are more extroverted online.
> Because men are horny, women tend to get bombarded...
> especially if they use female names."
I've also seen many threads in Usenet news groups invaded by (apparently)
teenage boys with an excess of testosterone. Then again, I've seen some
really provocative stuff posted by (apparently) girls. I use the terms
boys and girls because I would not expect to see such posted by adults.
But I think the article also reflects a general media ignorance about
cyberspace. AOL != cyberspace. When you log on to AOL, you aren't
even on the Internet. Chat rooms are far different from Internet
discussion lists. And those who feel obligated to degrade a thread into
talk about sex represent (I hope) a small minority of users.
> "Huff's [the St. Olaf prof] research on sex bias in
> educational sofware found that designers created 'programs
> written...with only boys in mind.' By assuming that girls
> will make do with the same programs that boys enjoy, they
> make 'the computer more alluring to boys than it is to girls.'"
Well, I can't say about educational software -- I haven't checked any
out lately -- but this does seem to be the case with entertainment
software. Wait, I do have Microsoft's Creative Writer and Young Artist
(I think those are the titles), and I can't say that I've noticed any
gender bias. But then, I don't have any daughters, so maybe I just
haven't noticed.
> "[Sherry Turkle, MIT sociology prof, says] ...as point-
> and-click software replaces...Unix and Pascal, it makes
> computers more accessible to the many women who are more
> comfortable with a tinkering, experimental learning style..."
This sounds like something a sosh prof would say -- comparing three
distinct items -- an interface, an operating system, and a programming
language -- in the same list. She may as well have said, "...as steak
replaces pans and aluminum."
> "[Turkle further says]...But [women] get a lot more
> considerate attention than they do when they log on as
> men. Women are offered a lot more help in these enviroments."
Women log on as men? Is this really common? I've never seen it.
> FOCUSING THIS POST
> 1. Do you feel a gender bias exists in the Internet
> resources you use a technical communicator?
No.
> Are there areas that seem to be directed towards one
> gender, somehow, either in the material or in the way
> the material is presented?
No.
> 2. Do differences exist between the way men and women learn
> and use [insert your product here, my happens to be
> computer software] that we can justify generalization as
> this article did? I'd rather look at learning styles
> that span both sexes.
Well, there are some major differences in learning styles. Can you tie
any of them to a specific sex? Not absolutely, of course. But (and I'm
probably treading on thin ice now) I do think that, in GENERAL, women
need more interaction than men. For example, I think that women talk
more and that they need to be talked to more. (I have seen big
exceptions in both sexes, though.) This probably reflects itself in how
they learn and use software. Here's a test:
Some people just insert the disk and run a:setup. Others actually
read "How to Install this Software" first. Still others have to
attend the $99 all-day class.
I've never taken a poll to determine the % of each category by sex. Has
anyone here?
Interesting topic. I really haven't thought much about gender bias,
mostly because I grew up in an era in which it either didn't exist or
wasn't perceived as such. And no, it wasn't the Paleozoic Era. :-)
John Wilcox <john -at- syntax -dot- com>
Senior Technical Writer
Syntax, Inc., 840 S. 333rd St., Federal Way, WA 98003-6343 USA
voice 206-838-2626, fax 206-838-9836, http://www.syntax.com
