Discussion

This study was very limited in scope and suggests many avenues for future research. A broader interview base and repeating the survey and interviews at different schools and in different areas would lend validity and reliability to this study. It would also suggest whether the results are due to the context of the university where I researched this phenomenon or if they are more universal. It would also be good to examine my research questions numbers two and three more, perhaps through more interviews, to see if correlations, similarities, or differences that suggest possibilities can be obtained. Since the participants were not familiar with MOOs, it would also be good to research experienced MOOers to see if they answer differently.

Language reflects the ideas, views, and structure of the society it represents, along with creating human thought, attitudes, beliefs, and feelings. Thus, language is more than a communications device, but is a vehicle for society's culture and social structure as George contends. Gurak and Bayer suggested that the internet could disintegrate the sexist sociopolitical structure still inherent in American culture. However, for culture to disintegrate or even change, language must change first. Without a change in language, or even a change in the perception of language, culture, which is shaped by language, can not change. Even on the internet, where boundaries can be blurred; social cues adjusted - if not changed; - and gender fluid and more varied, language is still essential. Language is the communication device of internet communications, and MOOs are even more based in textual language than many other internet media. Despite fluidity, boundary collapses, and lack of social cues, it is the language which is brought to the internet that shapes it. As my research suggests, this language is not neutralized of the views, ideas, and structure of the society it represents. My results indicate that participants bring their cultural ideas of gender to the reading of statements made online. These ideas of gender appear to be stereotypes of gender/sex, whether these stereotypes are general stereotypes or stereotypes applied to particular people they know. In both studies, statements were rated as gendered, and my second study shows the gendered perceptions inherent even in the participants who mostly chose neutral ratings for the statements. My research suggests that the internet may not yet bring the genderlessness feminists such as Gurak and Bayer contend is possible. However, there is hope, as several of my participants suggested that the boundaries between feminine and masculine language are changing. With these changing boundaries it is probable culture will soon reflect these changes. The internet may contribute to this change by presenting media where gender can be fluid or even invisible, however it is not until the language-based cultural perceptions of gender change that any text-based medium can become truly free of the gendered perceptions of sex.