From: willdye@typhoon.unl.edu Subject: Re: Where are the Women? Date: 25 Mar 91 22:13:43 GMT Message-ID: Organization: University of Nebraska - Lincoln cyberoid@milton.u.washington.edu (Robert Jacobson) writes: >only two women have responded to the Roll Call...and as far as I >can tell, NO women have participated, even once, in the online discussions. >Is the newsgroup (and USENET in general) simply too esoteric to draw in >women discussants, who have better things to do? Or are we in danger, in >our virtual worlds, of nerding ourselves into a fraternalistic but >ultimately sterile social environment? As moderator, I am quite distressed... Chill out, Bob. If VR was dominated by politically-correct LSD-dropping vegetable-rights refugees from the Sixties, would you be wringing your hands that there just aren't enough Republicans in the group? Maybe you would, but you shouldn't unless there was some indication that the group itself was discriminatory. Groups of ANY kind will tend to develop a culture, attract those who like that culture, and repel those who do not fit in. Yes, we should be aware of that and keep our biases at a minimum. Yes, we may even have to correct ourselves on occasion, when our scientific findings reflect not science, but cultural bias. Nonetheless, I believe that we should not go into a sensitive-male hand-wringing session over statistics that do not match the overall population. 1. Be aware that a culture will develop irregardless of ANYTHING that we do about it. 2. Make sure that the door is open to others, but do NOT set up a quota system. 3. Make sure that any published findings are cleansed of cultural bias (as much as possible). 4. Wait for the group to grow. Growth will create diversity, even if we tried to stop diversity. As long as the group is small, cultural unity is inevitable. It was the same way with hackers back in the 70's, SIGGRAPH in the late 70's & early 80's, etc. etc. I await your outraged flames. Be sure to spell my name right. Unapologetic as always, --willdye [MODERATOR'S NOTE: Hearty discussion and not flames will be appreciated, in keeping with sci.virtual-worlds admirable decorum. Willdye makes some interesting points, many of which have considerable currency these days. And some may be right on. We look forward to YOUR commments. -- Bob Jacobson]