Linguistic Representation of Gender Identity on the Internet

Linguistic Representation of Gender Identity on the Internet

The present study examines controversial findings in the literature on gender identity in computer-mediated communication environments and seeks to provide a better understanding of gender identity in the virtual world. The central research question is how women and men and different generations represent themselves in CMC environments such as chat rooms, weblogs, and instant messengers. In tackling this matter, the study analyzes the data collected from the students at an on-line university where the students were diverse in terms of their age. The students' age, gender and on-line names are subjected for this study. Inconsistent with expectations, it is found that 1)A bit more than a half (57%) of participants use gender-neutral names on the Internet. 2)More females than males choose gender indexicals rather than gender-neutral terms. 3)Younger generation uses various linguistic forms of on-line names including verbs and changes them frequently, while older one chooses usually their real names and hardly changes them.