After perusing Margaret Morse’s excerpt Virtually Female: Body and Code I found several aspects intriguing and thought provoking. I thought it was interesting when she talks about Western culture implementing an ideal on women to lack technological knowledge and aptitude. She also explains that despite the fact that she strives to gain competence with technology, her feminine identity seems to hold her back. So here I wonder, why is it culturally ideal for females in America to lack technical skills? Why does this make them more feminine and “beautiful”? Morse’s notion that computer cyberspace is largely a male dominated realm seems to be justified by Licklider’s ground-breaking piece, Man-Computer Symbiosis. Simply in looking at the title and reading the first few paragraphs, notice how Licklider ties the associative relationship with computers to “man” and not “humans” or “man and woman”. This may seem elementary and unintentional, but it appears to be a natural cultural response for Licklider to relate the computer to the male. Later, Licklider writes: “no where to my knowledge is there anything approaching the flexibility and convenience of the pencil and doodle pad or the chalk and blackboard used by men.” I wonder, was this a precursor or springboard for graphic design programs such as Microsoft Paint? Just some food for thought.