Posted by zazenduckie on January 27, 2007, at 16:03:23
In reply to Re: thanks, anybody else?, posted by Dr. Bob on January 21, 2007, at 3:06:02
I read this old but intriguing article and it led me to wonder about the role of gender at Babble.
The rules seem to be distinctly feminine at least as described in the article.
All 6 of the deputies are female. 37 % of the posters are male. .
What percentage of the blocks particularly the long blocks are given to male posters? It would be interesting to see if they are given more blocks or blocked with fewer warnings than posters who are identified as female.
Is there a higher turnover of male than female posters? Do more males try it and can't fit in (adapt to the feminine style outlined in the faq)?
There has been a slight increase in male posters since the first year you report statistics. What would account for that?
The article
Gender differences in computer-mediated communication
http://www.eff.org/Net_culture/Gender_issues/cmc_and_gender.article
4. Different styles
As a result of these findings, I propose that women
and men have different characteristic online styles. By
characteristic styles, I do not mean that all or even the
majority of users of each sex exhibit the behaviors of each
style, but rather that the styles are recognizably -- even
steoretypically -- gendered. The male style is characterized
by adversariality: put-downs, strong, often contentions
assertions, lengthy and/or frequent postings, self-promotion,
and sarcasm....Less exclusively male-gendered but still characteristic
of male postings is an authoritative, self-confident stance
whereby men are more likely than women to represent themselves
as experts, e.g. in answering queries for information....The female-gendered style, in contrast, has two
aspects which typically co-occur: supportiveness and
attentuation. 'Supportiveness' is characterized by
expressions of appreciation, thanking, and community-building
activities that make other participants feel accepted and
welcome. 'Attenuation' includes hedging and expressing doubt,
apologizing, asking questions, and contributing ideas in the
form of suggestions.Entire lists can become gendered in their style as
well. It is tactily expected that members of the non-dominant
gender will adapt their posting style in the direction of the
style of the dominant gender...
Most members of the non-dominant gender on any
given list however end up style-mixing, that is, taking on
some attributes of the dominant style while preserving
features of their native style, e.g. with men often
preserving a critical stance and women a supportive one at
the macro-message level. This suggests that gendered styles
are deeply rooted -- not surprising, since they are learned
early in life -- and that some features are more resistant to
conscious reflection and modification than others...flaming is tolerated and
justified within a system of male values
One might even say
there is a striking *lack* of proscription against flaming,
with the exception of a few women-owned and women-oriented
lists.
poster:zazenduckie
thread:709392
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20070123/msgs/727216.html