What does it mean to be female in a technological world? While it poses an interesting idea, I think this question does more harm to the author’s direction than help. In Virtually Female: Body and Code by Margaret Morse we are given the author’s insight and experience inside a technological world and its effects on the gender question. My question, however, is why ‘cyberspace’ needs to have a gender at all?
The internet, cyberspace, is a place of anonymity. In this virtual world you are free to be, to act and to do precisely as you choose. When a person sits behind a computer and begins to traverse the tangled webs of the internet the computer cares not of the gender of the captain at the helm. A woman, or a man for that matter, is free to search out whatever their heart desires with freedom from scrutiny and prying eyes. We see many people, of both genders, that have a freedom to express themselves online, behind this veil of anonymity, more openly, accurately and effectively than they would in the flesh. How can this concept of freedom and anonymity lead to the ‘genderization’ of the internet?
The examples that the author cites are very charged and biased in my opinion. These MUD’s, for example, have a history of being ‘male dominated’ long before the internet. Multi-User Dungeons are based off the tabletop gaming system of Dungeons & Dragons where the primary goal of the game is to ‘roleplay’ with other players while slaying vast hordes of monsters in order to gain experience, equipment and glory as well as progress in level to face even more impossible challenges. This setting, for the longest time, was primarily relegated to ‘geeky’ college males who were fascinated with science fiction and fantasy world settings.
In this example the game itself is geared towards young males and has been since its conception – and as Maggie had mentioned gaming of all sorts has always been frowned upon for girls. On the same token, where a female interested in this sort of game may have been shy in approaching it in person, the anonymity that the internet provides could allow her to explore this game free from scrutiny and speculation.
Even more modern examples of technology have been shown recently to break the gender barrier. Text messaging, for example, seems to be more wholly accept and used by females than males. Myspace is yet another example. These sorts of tools are allowing people to communicate more broadly and frequently than ever before and seem to have a lasting appeal towards the feminine nature.
Ideally the internet is a virtual space that is ever changing. I don’t believe that it is prudent to say that males or females dominate this virtual space by way of cultural difference but by sheer desire and we are beginning to see the single gender trend fading more quickly than ever before.
As for the trend with gaming we are seeing a change in the trend here as well. Video gaming, in particular, was once an arena that only children were allowed to enjoy with the exception of some adults still young at heart. Now we are seeing a massive shift in the gaming market, moving away from targeting children alone but having systems geared for a more mature audience with more mature desires. Women are included in this changing trend as well as we’ve seen with more modern online games as well and PC and console games. The Sims was a rather successful attempt to attract the attention of women in computer gaming. At the same time we are seeing the first of all women gaming groups. Here are some examples:
And for the YouTube tie-in, here is a video concerning the matter as well. This is a Russian group of girl gamers that have entered into the world ranking for gaming.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ_fbOVkN64
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