Unfulfilled promise of the internet (ch. 35)

Kramarae believes that with the coming of the internet, women still are closed off from certain forms of communication. By the year 2000, while half of the Internet users were female, those within the technological circle predominantly male. While there are still opportunities for women to be able to communicate freely with each other all over the world, many of the websites, search engines, even content appeals to a large male audience. She goes further to discuss four metaphoes (new frontier, democracy, global community, and information superhighway) to explain how women are continuously muted as a gender group. Although Kramarae brings up many interesting points, I do not feel that I can completely agree with what she says. I think that a lot of her theories are too personal and make it seem like men have ultimate control no matter where we go. I think I am more of an individualistic thinker, and I feel that if a person wants to enhance their intelligence beyond what society says they're supposed to, or play the specific role that society gives them, then it is their fault and not the fault of another gender. True, there are times when women feel that men have to be the dominating force, and allow them to be such, yet at the same time I feel that it is mainly up to the person to decide how they want to live in their life.