Female Dominated Internet?

mowque

Banned
As opposed to our male dominated one? Any ideas?

The main problem is that for a LONG time computers were either A.) Involved wit the military or B.) work of basement hobbyists...neither groups have lots of women.
 
As opposed to our male dominated one? Any ideas?

The main problem is that for a LONG time computers were either A.) Involved wit the military or B.) work of basement hobbyists...neither groups have lots of women.

It going to be hard for such a thing to happen really, I suppose that if home computers start to promote themselves as a family product then it could be that housewives start to use them as a means to contract each other on primitive chatrooms and slowly start building up from there. It is unlikely but possible in such as case.
 
I actually did a very similar topic a few weeks ago. Instead of just the Internet, my challenge was for geek culture in general to be dominated by women. One of the replies there suggested that the reason men took over IT and geekdom was because Asperger's Syndrome, which often hurts social skills, affects far more men than women, but I feel that this alone doesn't come close to explaining the size of the disparity. There is a non-negligible amount of girls with Asperger's, and not all people with Asperger's are attracted to geeky endeavors -- some, for example, are more artistically-inclined. Plus, how much of the prevalence of Asperger's has to do with the fact that everyone and their dog is being diagnosed with it nowadays, thanks to pushy parents who want an explanation as to why little Johnny isn't making friends like he "should"? But I'm going way off-topic. The main reason for the male dominance of the Internet, I feel, is similar to mowque's explanation: the Internet was developed by the military.

A solution that I feel would work better than emphasizing the Internet's communicative abilities (which only came into their own in the '90s, by which time IT was already dominated by men) would be to go back to the feminist movement in the '50s and '60s, and have them latch onto technology as a means of liberation. To rephrase what I said in my original thread, technologies like microwaves and vacuum cleaners, as well as institutions like public schools and day care, have all reduced the domestic workload of women, allowing them to pursue jobs outside the home. Plus, IT and science-oriented fields are places where the traditional advantage of men -- physical strength -- no longer applies, creating an even playing field between the sexes. Someone like Gloria Steinem could take a look at this and realize, "You know, technology has done so much good for women. Shouldn't we be supporting science education for our daughters?" Even though nobody back then saw the computer revolution coming, an increased focus on getting young women interested in science will mean that a lot more of them will be headed for computer-related fields than in OTL. You may not see a female-dominated Internet in this case, but it will be a more egalitarian one.
 
It would be pink.
And fluffy.

Umm.

Traditionally, women have lagged behind men in adoption of Internet technologies, but a study released yesterday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that women under age 65 now outpace men in Internet usage, though only by a few percentage points. But the survey also noted that the disparity between women and men on the Web is even greater among the 18-to-29 age group and African Americans.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801403.html
 

ninebucks

Banned
Keep women out of the workplace.

Like, if the modern day was how it was imagined from the 1950s, with household maintenance heavily automated, but with a maintained sense that women still belong in the home, then you would be left with a very large sector of society with not a lot to do.

Its quite possible that the legions of bored housewives could latch on to the internet, and make it their own. They would dominate internet discussion and websites that would come to exist would exist to cater to their desires. Pornography would still probably be a significant element in the internet's early development, as the stay-at-home housewives seek a sexual release after years of their husbands staying late at the office...

Eventually, the internet would come to be seen as a woman's thing, and there'd be a pretty strong taboo against men spending their time on it, (much like there was a taboo against girls on the internet in the early days, but this would probably be stronger).
 
(to OP) Never been on Livejournal or DeviantArt, have you? :p

Women dominate the 'net. It's just ah.com and abhorrations like 4chan that lag behind. But don't you worry... We'll sort these out soon enough. It may take a few years...
 

mowque

Banned
(to OP) Never been on Livejournal or DeviantArt, have you? :p

Women dominate the 'net. It's just ah.com and abhorrations like 4chan that lag behind. But don't you worry... We'll sort these out soon enough. It may take a few years...

I don't know that first one, but DeviantArt....- Homemade art right?

But, I meant more..ingrained into the structure. Most IT guys were men and most of the big net innovators were men. I wanted to have more equal split between the two. Not users, per se.
 
Well, I brought up Asperger's because a friend told me a statistics saying 40% or so of engineers are Autistic. Since they are functional enough to have jobs and all, it means they're probably not the severe ones and I was under the impression AS was a milder form of autism.

Plus I thought there weren't that many females that have it.

In any event, IIRC I said it was an explanation, not the primary one.
 
I don't know that first one, but DeviantArt....- Homemade art right?

It's an art site. There are a lot of amateurs there (like me), and there are also professional comics artists and the like.

In the event I finish a book that needs illustrations, I might try to recruit from there. There are some DARN good artists there, who charge cheap rates.
 
I don't know that first one, but DeviantArt....- Homemade art right?

But, I meant more..ingrained into the structure. Most IT guys were men and most of the big net innovators were men. I wanted to have more equal split between the two. Not users, per se.

I'd like to take the time to comment that you are an enigma to me x.x
 
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