Gender issues on the frontier

   I've often heard the Internet compared to America's wild west, and I use that analogy myself. The men and a few very adventurous women went out there first - to claim the land and seek fortune and glory. There were few people, fewer laws, and almost no one to enforce them anyway. Very dangerous for the pioneers, but the adventure and rewards lured them. Women were in the minority, but as they moved west their presence brought order and conduct control, and more flowered curtains on the cabin windows. The Internet started out as a lawless and male-dominated place and even now, after the towns, cities, and shopping malls were built, some of its characteristics remind us of that frontier.

   Like most analogies, this one breaks down quickly when you carry it beyond the superficial. Cyberspace is not physically dangerous and superior writing, typing, and technical skill mean more than superior strength. When you see on a billboard you know civilization has arrived. Yet some elements of that frontier may linger a bit longer than others, and more rigid gender stereotyping is probably one of them. This applies not just to women, whose more assertive contributions to the Internet discussions can be met with anger and annoyance, but to men who are expected to play out that masculine stereotype online. A male colleague of mine confided that he would love to use more emotional expressiveness in his email and his online submissions to some forums, add a few emoticons, a here and there. But he said, "I know I sound pretty cold online, but I just can't do that. They'll think I'm a woman."

   Women are entering cyberspace in vastly increasing numbers now, and as the gender ratio becomes more equal, some of the psychological phenomena I described in this chapter should certainly change. In a forum with just one or two women in it, the male participants react to them as people react to any token minority. Their views, for example, will be seen as representative of their gender, rather than those of an individual with separate experiences. For their part, women will act like token minorities often do - acutely aware that their contributions are perceived as coming from the "woman" participant, not just "a" participant. Yet some of the factors that make the Internet a place in which gender stereotypes are more persistent will not go away so easily.