Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!xanth!mcnc!ecsvax!hplabs!joanne@hpccc.hp.com
From: hplabs!joanne@hpccc.hp.com (Joanne Petersen)
Newsgroups: comp.society.women
Subject: Re: Women and Usenet
Message-ID: <6283@ecsvax.uncecs.edu>
Date: 26 Jan 89 01:31:06 GMT
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I've posted in various groups (political and apolitical) and haven't been
flamed by anyone.  Now, it's possible that the content of my postings is so 
generic as to not offend anyone, or it's possible that they're so confusing
no one knows what I've said.  But I haven't had any personal attacks to either
my sex or race (when I was posting under my maiden name, Hiratsuka, which is
Japanese).  

As to why women don't post -- well, there aren't as many of them on the net,
I believe, as there are men, so there's a smaller population to begin with.
And then a lot of women are unwilling to take a chance on being flamed.  Some
are naturally shy and don't want to express themselves in public.  Whether we
(the net posters) could do anything to encourage non-posters ("lurkers" -- we
even give them a bad name!) is something I can't answer either.....

joanne petersen