by Jessica Redmond
The gender gap is no big secret; anyone can identify with it, but only a few can deal with it. Gender conflicts are also evident on the Internet. Deborah Tannen writes, in "Gender Gap in Cyberspace," "Men want to force computers to submit. Women just want computers to work" (184). This idea is the general, almost Biblical sense of the difference between men and women. Most women do not want to "soup up" their computers like men do; they just want something that they use to keep in touch with the people they love. I can relate this theory to most of the males I grew up with. They all want super-duper trucks with all the extra's, while we females are content with something that will keep us going.
In the essay Tannen realizes that men and women use Email in different ways. Most women pour their hearts out to anyone--a relative, a spouse, even strangers on the street if they stand still long enough. Men, on the other hand, have trouble telling their problems to their Moms. But, men do not have a problem spilling out the juicy stuff on Email. Maybe Email seems a little less embarrassing to them, since they cannot see the receiver face-to-face. Maybe the Internet makes them believe they can get out all their inner feelings. Or, maybe this gender bender is what Tannen believes; "It's a combination of the technology (which [men] enjoy) and the obliqueness of the written word, just as many men will reveal feelings in dribs and drabs" (184). My Dad and I are the classic example of this--we have had some great discussions over the years, but the easiest way to communicate with him has been in the many letters of "you were right" I have written him. Sometimes it is so hard to admit we have failed, but more often than not we simply won't do it. In return, he has written letters to tell me how proud he is of me. Since I have been at college, we have continued our precious tradition of writing through Email.
Internet communication may separate men from women, but it has also brought many of us closer together. A woman wrote this essay and, to form a true opinion about the Internet and how it differs for the different sexes, I would have to read an essay written by a male as well.
Tannen, Deborah. "Gender Gap in Cyberspace." CyberReader. 2nd ed. Ed. Victor J. Vitanza. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 1999. 184-186.
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