Internet chat rooms: A comparison of conversations among women's, men's, and mixed online groups

Sociological literature indicates that the Internet in general and online chat rooms and discussion groups in particular are in many ways male-dominated. Researchers have found that women are often a minority voice in these groups, that women have often been shut out of conversations, their topics have been ignored and ridiculed, and they have even been harassed by male participants. As a result, some women have started their own women's-only or women-dominated online chat and discussion groups. In these groups, they are able to discuss topics that are often shut out of male-dominant chats, and they can avoid harassment. But what are these topics? What are the differences in conversation in women's, men's, and mixed-sex conversational groups? To investigate these questions, I performed a combination participant observation and comparative content analysis study of women's, men's, and mixed-sex Internet chat rooms.;Findings include several main differences among the three types of chat groups in the areas of overall frequency of topics, sexual talk, rules, advice and support talk, expressions of empowerment, and criticisms of gender roles and relations. These findings are discussed in terms of notions of silencing and resistance, drawing on sociological and communications literature that analyzes gender and interaction from the "dominance" perspective. I found that the women's chats in particular function as sites of both silencing and resistance. Another major point of discussion in this work focuses on the necessity of creating new kinds of sociological methods to adapt to the unique circumstances of conducting research in cyberspace.;I conclude with a discussion of what is important about this work, centering on the methodological and theoretical contributions it makes. I describe how certain unique features of the Internet may facilitate networking and empowerment among oppressed groups in new ways. I also consider issues which need to be investigated further, including problems with access to technology, the relationship between online behaviors and offline action, and dominant and oppressive groups' use of the Internet. Finally, I outline suggestions to guide actions which could increase the social utility of the Internet.