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GENDER AND COMMUNICATION STYLES ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB
(C)Tami Sutcliffe, 1998Conclusions:
Despite the promise of eliminating many blatant communication roadblocks, including some of those tied to gender, the tiny number of sites examined in this study Web would seem to reproduce the realities of the non-Cyber universe rather readily.
Trends within a culture, such as the predominance of mothers receiving legal custody of children or the tradition of men's amateur sports receiving the majority of financial support are currently reflected into the Web. Demographics of American life in particular are vividly mirrored online, in areas such as disease survival, divorce settlement and bereavement support. The numbers of sites related to these topics ties directly to their occurrence within the society.
Within the sites reviewed, some generalizations about gender and communication were supported in broad ways. The results of this study would seem to suggest that the most frequently indexed sites in these five interest areas are still reflecting the core of gender-specific communication traits. The male-oriented sites in this study tended to use authoritative language, stressing privacy and professionalism while ignoring personal interaction. The female oriented sites seemed to emphasize personal expression, communality and artistic efforts while relying on emotional interaction.
It seems important to note Grossman's point on people reacting to their perceived audience more strongly than to their own gender: these people were all genuinely trying to communicate with other people of the same gender. "In a world where there are no bodies and all that matters is the quality of your written thoughts, all those physical delineators like skin color, gender, or disability would vanish. The thing is, although physical objects don't accompany you into cyberspace, your personality and your experience of the real world do. (Grossman, 1997, 16).
Although these sites represent only a miniscule "snap shot" of communication on the Web, they seemed to suggest that the core of traditionally identified gender-specific communication traits is actively being transplanted into Cyberspace.
Last Updated: March 1999
Copyright © 1999 Tami Sutcliffe
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Watercolours by Manette Fairmont: "Tuscany" 15x15 and "Field of Angels" 15x15
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