Recent feminist theory has proposed many ways in which electronic technology helps women writers find a strong writing voice and an audience. However, putting these theories into practice can result in unexpected failures, or temporary derailments. In this presentation, I review recent feminist theory about women and technology, with an emphasis on the ways in which technology can transform these writers, giving their voices power and strength. I then analyze student writing, particularly writing about their use of technology in a first year writing class. I compare the ways these women students believe they have changed as writers, with the changes in their writing I have observed over the course of the semester.

In particular, I focus on the ways that participating in an electronic forum, the Intercollegiate Electronic Democracy Project , as well as the use of electronic bulletin boards within a class and e-mail to the instructor, enhanced, or alternately, thwarted, students' development as writers, particularly in the area of voice and audience awareness. Additionally, I discuss and illustrate, through student writing, how technology affects (or in some instances, does not affect) the ways in which students move from merely following the instructor's directions, to entering into dialogue and ultimately, into negotiations with the instructor, about writing assignments.