Friday, March 11, 2005

Now women can chat about their laundry. . ONLINE!

I do hope that I greatly misread this article because I was given the impression that women are frightened of computers, math and science and the only use computers have for them is to connect them in a chat format. I for one am fresh out of college and have rarely used chat programs, I don't spend inordinate amounts of time on the phone yet I would spend hours on the internet. I have never once felt that computers are gendered in any direction and I happily used them--even if they were in "dimly-lit areas" that are apparently unacceptable to women. And as for online harassment. . . ? I don't even know what that could be. I do hope that I missed her point because if I got it I'm rather disgusted. Does anyone else feel that the internet has to be made useful for women and that it isn't now? Has anyone ever gotten the feeling that it is unapproachable to women? I can't exactly agree or disagree that the computer sciences aren't exactly welcoming to women as I have never pursued something like that and I attended a women's school as an undergrad and we could feel free to do whatever we wanted. Perhaps I just lucked out and the world is not at all how I see it now.
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2 comments:

  1. Kelly11:02 AM

    You posted this while I was working on my long "Pretty Computers" post, above.

    As Eric says, the online world was very different ten years ago when this article was written. I was on some local BBSes that had a lot of female users, but Usenet, the Web, and the different online games were male-dominated and could be really hostile and sexist. The Light article mentions that alt.feminism had far more male than female posters, but it doesn't say that the group at that time (I don't know if it's changed) was primarily devoted to men CRITICIZING feminism and women in general. It was a place to go if you wanted to see what horribly sexist stuff people had to say (I remember people arguing that women shouldn't have the vote!), not a place for discussion of feminism or women's issues.

    Now the presence of women online isn't so unusual, and there is much more varied content. Ten years ago the Web skewed a lot more heavily towards "Star Trek" fansites, and good luck to you in finding anything else!

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  2. Kelly11:05 AM

    By the way, which women's college were you at? I'm a graduate of Randolph-Macon Woman's College in VA.

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