The Muted Group Theory

The unfulfilled promise of the internet found in chapter 35 brought up points that I would not have thought of. The fact that all the early designers and users of the internet were male was a little disturbing, since I can remember the conception of the internet. The four common metaphors Kramarae points out regarding the internet is that gender equality and the muteness of women are not fulfilled. The metaphors consist of information superhighway, new frontier, democracy, and global community. Information superhighway is described as the earlier conception of the internet and how social and economic structures were not considered nor were they affordable to women. The new frontier refers to bullying for computer usage at a young age and that women sometimes will present themselves as men on the internet to avoid harassment. The privacy to state your own opinion on the internet is described as democracy, but anyone can post anything and this is where women are skeptical which something that they have learned over time. The global community was referred to as a place where likeminded women can communicate about topics all over the world.