Can the internet itself engineer a hostile environment toward women in chat rooms, etc?
Lets just assume that the internet IS biased against women, if this is true it isn’t necessarily intentional. Robert Moses’s bridge construction appeared to be racist in motivation. What if his goal was to make things easier for people, and it just happened to not help the poor blacks as much as the rich whites? I get the idea the same dynamic was in play as the internet has mutated over the years. Each person that has mutated the internet’s function and form haven’t been trying to make hurdles for noobs, or women; they have been developing faster and easier ways for themselves to navigate, and the hurdles have been a side effect.
2 comments:
While I think you are right to point out how much has changed since Sterne was originally published, I am not sure sexism depends on a sexist intent. It doesn't matter if the internet was created with the intent of being anti-sexist if it is being used in a sexist way. The lack of intent to create hurdles does not reduce the amount of responsibility (I really hate that word responsibility for it will suffice for now) we have for fixing those hurdles. I think that ulimately the internet isn't 100% sexist or anti-sexist; it is probably used in both ways.
i agree that intent isn't as important as the fact that it is happening, but is the internet itself the reason it is happening at all? i don't think so. how many other sources of media have been criticized for being sexist, (i'm pretty sure all of them)
Post a Comment