Do men and women write differently and if so, do these stylistic differences represent differing world
\iews and/or do they indicate divergent decisions that are made by the gendered individual with respect to
the positioning inherent in the interactive communicative process?
In this thesis I consider how men and women write and interact, as well as the topics of their
conversations, by examining the postings that characterize a specific semiotic Internet site: Anthro-
L@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu. Created solely by and through language, a net community is the ideal
environment in which to conduct a field study which examines the use of gendered language. In cyber
'public' space, where social interaction in largely stripped of bodily cues, net participants rely on the power
of discourse to convey the 'self.
I shall show that men and women make different choices as to how they will represent themselves in net
public space, and that these choices are conveyed through the preference of specific styles of writing.
Although conceptualizations of public space, academic praxis, and individual socialization all contribute
to stylistic differentials, I illustrate through my methodology that Gender is the master status that
primarily informs communicative decisions. 'Legitimate' language in our culture is constructed on the
rational paradigm which characterizes public institutions; this paradigm is the fundamental principle
which informs our system of [male] Langue. Posting acts on Anthro-L offer evidence that those who do
not 'speak', or choose not to speak within the framework of this model, are conceived as 'other1, and are
silenced through desertion, by - play and trivialization. / 29 cm.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:ALU.w.uleth.ca/dspace#10133/347 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Creators | Beaulieu, Hendrika H., University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science |
| Contributors | Indra, Doreen |
| Publisher | Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Arts and Science, 1995, Arts and Science, Department of Anthropology |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Relation | Thesis (University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science) |
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