We live in a culture of gendered language and sexist stereotypes. Language reflects the ideas, views, and structure of the society it represents, along with creating human thought, attitudes, beliefs, and feelings. Our language and culture work together to foster sexism. Some feminists see the internet as a potential solution to the sexism and stereotypes in society. They see the internet as having the power of making gender fluid and even invisible. These feminists think the fluidity and invisibility of gender could change perceptions of gender on and offline. But does the fluidity and invisibility change people’s perception of gendered language or is it enforcing the stereotypes of “real world” culture?

My study seeks to examine what is really happening online. I begin by examining sexist language in today’s culture and move to the views of people who see the internet as a solution and those who think it is not the solution. Then I move into my studies. In these studies, I explore the ratings of feminine, masculine, and neutral and the perceptions of statements from a MOO (online synchronous virtual reality) log to see if people are reading and perceiving these statements as gendered.  In my first study, I survey students to see if they rate statements from two MOO logs as feminine, neutral, or masculine. In my second study, I focus on perceptions of gendered language. To examine the perceptions, I interview eight people. The interviews examine perceptions of language through questions asking why the participants rated certain statements as feminine, masculine, or neutral and then inquiring as to what the participants own thoughts on gendered language are. My research suggests that the internet is not saving us. Even in a medium where gender is fluid, people still perceive statements as gendered, thus carrying “real world” stereotypes and sexism online. It is we, as participants in the society both online and offline, through changes in ideas, views, and structure of the society, that can do the saving.