Discussion: Study 1
Are MOO statements perceived as gendered? The results of this study show
that some statements are considered to be more feminine or masculine by
the participants. The sex of the participants made
a difference in their answers to some questions. The results also suggest
that some questions had more deviance in answers by
sex. However, when averaged, the deviation in answers by sex was nearly
equal.
These results suggest that gendered language
sexist perceptions are, in fact, brought to at least MOOs,
and possible other internet media. Despite the opportunities of MOOs that
may allow gender to be less visible (others can only "see" the
gender through special commands or pronoun use) and more flexible (the
person behind the character chooses from a long list of possible genders)
it appears people still apply gender to MOO statements. Perhaps this has
something to do with perceptions of gendered language,
perhaps the participants feel feminine and masculine can be determined
by word choice and use. These results suggest that the gendered language
found by some sociolinguists in non-internet communication exists on MOOs,
and it may exists for the same reasons it exist in the "real world."
The research also suggests that females and males consider certain statements
to be more feminine or masculine than the other sex does. Thus, it can
be implied that the different sexes have different
ideas of what is feminine and what is masculine. These results imply
that MOOs have not become an internet media that can collapse boundaries,
flatten hierarchy, and makes social cues invisible as some (such as Gurak
and Bayer) have hoped for. It appears as though gendered statements do
not disappear on the MOO and people do consider some statements more feminine
or masculine. The results suggest the stereotypes about language in the
face to face world also exist online. In Study Two,
I examine these language stereotypes along with participants'
perceptions of gendered language.
Study One:
Procedure | Analysis and Results: Question 1, Question 2, Question 3, | Discussion