"Common sense," the term, is not made up of tricky words; they are "common" and "sense." Boys chasing girls, girls giving boys the knee to the crotch--these things are all just common sense. In Amy Bruckman's essay, "Gender Swapping on the Internet," the reader is subjected to a bland and boring writing style that can only be described as mediocre. The content is not directly relevant to computers and writing, and the overall gist of the story is that women have it rough on the Internet and in the real world--surprise, surprise.

As if readers were unaware of this commonly known and for the most part commonly agreed upon theory, Bruckman repeats the thesis enough times for the reader to feel pains similar to those experienced in a dentist's chair. The reader is completely put off by the lack of creativity and specialization in the field at hand.

Men know women are treated poorly in real life and women know they are treated poorly in real life, so why does Bruckman think that life on the Internet would be any different? I am not sure, but apparently she thinks that the practice of gender swapping on the Internet will bring about an improvement in gender relations. Indeed, she asserts that online gender swapping has the potential to create a virtual utopia where people blissfully love, respect, and help each other.

My advice to Bruckman is, "Wake up!" The educated reader is not naïve concerning these online practices, nor are we (the educated public) such dupes that we cannot realize the problems which lie therein. My question to her is, "If she tells the reader that men can go online and use women's names and women can use men's names, is the reader any more aware of the problems of the Internet and if so, what will be done (if anything) because of this new found revelation?"

Bruckman's essay brings up a good point and begins to scratch the surface of an even larger issue; however, when she gets the ball rolling she immediately jumps off the bandwagon and starts to hitchhike. I think readers realize that there are massive amounts of gender swapping on the Internet; they do not need an author with questionable credentials telling them, "The network is in the process of changing not just how we work, but how we think of ourselves" (423). People are going to be whatever their hearts desire, and neither I, Bruckman, nor anyone else will ever be able to change that.

Bruckman, Amy S. "Gender Swapping on the Internet." CyberReader. 2nd ed. Victor J. Vitanza. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 1999. 418-423.