Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!xanth!mcnc!ecsvax!pedersen@cartan.Berkeley.EDU
From: pedersen@cartan.Berkeley.EDU (Sharon L. Pedersen)
Newsgroups: comp.society.women
Subject: Re: Women and Usenet
Message-ID: <6227@ecsvax.uncecs.edu>
Date: 12 Jan 89 22:58:53 GMT
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Organization: University of California, Berkeley
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Comments-to: comp-women-request@cs.purdue.edu
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In article <6218@ecsvax.uncecs.edu> you write:
>
>I am very curious why more women don't post to the net and I'd
>like to find out why.  

It's OK to post this.  It is long--about 80 lines.  

First, do women post in proportion to their _access_ to the net?  
(I know, I apologize, this is the kind of bonehead question that
sometimes makes me think, "Who cares what the statistics say is to be
expected, I want to hear more women's voices!", or "Who cares what men
are doing, I hear about them from dawn to dusk, I want to know about
women!"  Even so, it seems that the answer to this question has some
relevance, although finding that answer won't be easy.)

I sometimes post to the net.  Thinking back over the past months, I
recall posting:

 -- requests for information, e.g., "What's the law on carrying ID?"
	"What kinds of bicycle panniers do people like?"

 -- new information I've discovered that's made a difference in my
	life, e.g., "Ibuprofen relieves menstrual cramps completely!" 
	"How to cycle effectively in traffic!"

 -- contributing a different viewpoint to a discussion, e.g.,
	"_The_Princess_Bride_ isn't _completely_ wonderful, because of
	the idiot way the character Buttercup is presented" (in
	response to a posting that TPB was a fantastic movie)

 -- contributing stories of my (or my friends') experience to a
	thread, e.g., "A Tale of Two Math Majors" (to a thread about
	women and being encouraged or discouraged from math).
	Sometimes these stories present a different view from what's
	been said so far; sometimes they enthusiastically "second the
	motion"--"Gosh are you ever right, let me tell you what
	happened to _me_!"

I sometimes refrain from posting, even though I've had definite
thoughts in response to an article.  Sometimes I feel OK about not
posting.  For example,

 -- I agree with a posting and it reminds me of something in my life,
	but I don't think what I have to say is sufficiently different
	from what anyone alse has said on the subject to be worth
	using the bandwidth.

 -- I disagree vehemently with a posting, but I don't think I'm going
	to change anybody's mind by what I could say.

Sometimes I don't feel OK about not posting.  I want to post, but I
don't quite know what to say.  For example,

 -- I disagree very much with someone, and think that I could change
	some people's minds, but I feel like any response I make will be
	rude to the original poster.
    (Maybe I could learn that disagreeing does not make me
	disagreeable?)

 -- My reaction has its roots in my feminism, and I'm afraid I'll get
	flamed for introducing
	"irrelevant/whining/stupid/over-sensitive/reverse-sexist
	politics" into a nice apolitical newsgroup.  Which I don't
	agree with--the personal is political, and, other people's
	worldviews are as much a part of their posts on _any_ sumject
	as my worldview is of mine, and, anyway, feminism is the only
	reasonable way to think :-)--but still the fear of being
	attacked makes me hesitate to post.  
    It's one thing to be told, "I didn't experience it that way."
	It's quite another to be told, "I didn't experience it that
	way, and you shouldn't have either, and even if you did, I
	don't want to hear about it."

-- 

--Sharon Pedersen
  pedersen@cartan.berkeley.edu,  ucbvax!cartan!pedersen