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Research has shown that female teachers in higher education are often targets for student agression in the form of harassment. Because women have not traditionally held positions of power within academic institions, their ability to maintain authority is often challenged by students who are uncomfortable with female authority figures. As higher education moves online in the form of internet courses, MOO discussions, and email and listserv conversations, female instructors may be subjected to virtual harassment. Here I analyze conditions of cyberspace that may prove problematic for female instructors and offer suggestions for dealing with such issues.

Contents

Masculine Space
Sex Differences in Computer Expertise: Real and Perceived
Responsibility (or Lack Thereof)
Invisibility: It's ONLY E-mail
Notes
References

The movement toward online instruction is quickly sweeping across the globe. Those involved in this process are touting the benefits of education on the Web - not without good reason. Students gain more experience writing when their discussions take place online; those who are afraid to speak up in face-to-face discussions have found the freedom of voice; isolated students now have access to courses; some disable students are more easily accommodated in virtual space; and our efforts to neutralize the teacher-centered classroom have gained new ground in the virtual world. Those of us who believe in the power of online instruction to improve our students' education and, on a more political note, to democratize the classroom are quick to point out these benefits. And rightly so if our goal is to convince others that computer- mediated instruction is well worth our time. It is a mistake, however, for us to ignore the problems that online instruction creates for women while unconditionally celebrating this new technology.

Previous research shows that student-to-teacher harassment is a very real problem for many female instructors in the traditional classroom, one that has yet to receive appropriate scholastic attention [ 1 ]. But what happens when we take education online? Does online instruction, as some claim, create "egalitarian discourses" [ 2 ] and "new understandings" [ 3 ]?

Perhaps in some ways it does. But I think we are far from being able to take such safety for granted. Feminist scholars of virtual spaces argue that the internet is, like real life, a very sexist and hostile environment.

In her address at the Virtue and Virtuality: Gender Law, and Cyberspace conference, Ellen Spertus suggests that sexism and harassment online is a reflection of the immensity of these problems in off-line society [ 4 ]. In other words, our online communities are conditioned by the same socialization patterns that occur in our society at large, and a significant factor in that society is discrimination against and harassment of women. While taking place through the medium of computers, virtual communication - be it e-mail, Web documents, MOOs, MUDs, or synchronous chat - remains human communication that is shaped by our beliefs, biases, and (mis)understandings.

However, computer mediated communication differs in some important ways from face-to-face communication. Karen Coyle explains that the online "exclusion of women and femininity is as obvious as the inclusion of male imagery. And when women do appear, it is often as objects of desire." She says,

"As if the more subtle ways that computer culture excludes women were not enough, the frequent presence of pornography in the computer culture alienates many of us as well ... . Computer trade shows are one of the few 'professional' situations today where women are confronted with pornography being displayed and sold openly. At a recent MacWorld exhibit, two booths sold CD-ROMS with such titles as Anal ROM, with the actresses present to sign copies" [ 5 ].

The exclusion of women in discussions about the computer world is illustrated most strikingly by Bill Gates who invited only two women out of 103 participants to his recent technology summit [ 6 ].

While I don't want to diminish the important contributions of women to computer technology, virtual reality is still seen as a masculine space, and both real and perceived differences in computer expertise between the sexes may contribute to discrimination against women online. Because computer-mediated communication often takes place anonymously, speakers/writers may feel less responsibility toward their immediate audience and show less consideration for that audience. And finally, problems women experience online are often disregarded because, after all, it's only e-mail.

Rather than creating a space for "egalitarian discourses" then, virtual space may actually intensify the problems faced by female teachers of writing. Though these categories are certainly not exhaustive, I will examine four conditions of virtual space that may prove to be problematic for female teachers: masculine space, real and perceived gender differences in computer expertise, lack of responsibility, and invisibility.

Masculine Space

Though feminine pockets do exist, such as the feminist pedagogy LISTSERV, Women on the Well, Systers, Geekgirl, and others discussion groups for and about women, the dominance of masculinity is "constantly reinforced in the computer culture and in the images presented in the consumer computing market" [ 7 ]. In her examination of hacker culture, Netta Gilboa suggests that woman are largely excluded from participation. She says, "Not that many women frequent the underground, and most that do come into it as transients while they are dating a hacker or as press to do a one-time story" [ 8 ]. The few women who do participate in this culture are often harassed as one woman who "had her phoned turned off by a hacker she would not have sex with" [ 9 ].

Even in virtual spaces created to focus on woman sexism and patriarchal domination are prevalent. L. Jean Camp explains:

"Consider a Usenet newsgroup specifically started to discuss issues about women: soc.women, where the posts by men outnumber women's. On the Internet, as in life, men dominate discussions about woman ... too often, when women try to create spaces to define ourselves, we are drowned out by the voices of men who cannot sit quietly and listen" [ 10 ].

Drawing on Susan Herring's linguistic research on computer-mediated conversation, Laurel Sutton suggests that online communication is male-dominated and male-oriented. "Generally, men tend to use strong assertions, self-promotion, authoritative orientation, challenge and sarcasm, while women use apologies, questions, personal orientation and explicit justification in their discourse" [ 11 ]. Michele Evard estimated in 1996 that less than ten percent of the public messages posted on Usenet newsgroups are written by women, despite the fact that 36 percent of Internet-accessing accounts belong to women [ 12 ]. Though the number of women online continues to rise, some estimating to 50 percent, this increase has not eliminated sexual bias and discrimination, and this reflects our larger society where women make up more than 50 percent of the population, but still suffer harassment and bias.

Also reflecting our larger society, participation in the computer world is segregated according to sex. Women outnumber men in the workforce, but men make up the large majority of high-level administrative positions. Likewise, women are less represented in computer science and engineering, while they are well-represented as users. MIT's department of electrical engineering and computer science conducted a study of female enrollment in 1995 and found that "imbalance does indeed exist. Women at MIT are about half as likely as men to major in EECS ... . For example, for 1991 S. B. degrees granted, Computer Science had the lowest ratio of women to men of any major at MIT with more than a few students" [ 13 ]. Women are currently making numerous important contributions to the computer field and in online communities, and the proportion of their contributions continues to rise. Currently, however, just as in our larger society, public and professional space online remains male-dominated.

Sex Differences in Computer Expertise: Real and Perceived

We know that school-age girls and boys are tracked into different fields: boys in sports, trades such as mechanics and engineering, mathematics, and the sciences, including computer science; girls into "softer" disciplines such as humanities, and social services, and feminine trades such as nursing, dietetics, family and consumer resources, etc. Our culture has created a very real difference in computer expertise: more men than woman are more knowledgeable about computers. Because of this, there is a significant chance that male students both have more computer knowledge and are more experienced with computer mediated communication than are their female teachers.

This reality creates a perception problem for those women who are computer experts. Students, both men and women, who believe that men are more skilled with computer technology, will have difficulty trusting the expertise of female teachers. This situation can lead to a lack of respect for the knowledge and authority of an instructor, and this circumstance is significantly connected to the frequency of student-to-teacher harassment [ 14 ]. Women are continually asked to prove themselves because our society's continued belief in the "weaker" sex extends past physical ability and into mental capability. When dealing with computers, students may transfer this societal bias against women's capabilities to their teachers and further challenge their authority with the attitude of "you can't teach me anything; everyone knows girls don't know much about computers!"

Elizabeth Klem and Charles Moran have addressed this issue in their article "Whose Machines are These?" in which they suggest that writing teachers may be at a severe disadvantage in the computerized writing classroom.

" ... working successfully in the new classrooms requires a knowledge of complex and powerful word-processing software and an ability to navigate and manipulate the network. Teachers, older than their students and, as degree candidates in English, humanists and book people, can be less computer-savvy than many of their students - therein lies a potential threat to their authority in the classroom" [ 15 ].

Responsibility (or Lack Thereof)

Many have pointed to the ability to mask or change one's identity online as a positive feature that lends itself to the creation of an egalitarian space online. As Judy Anderson puts it:

"Usenet, while it can be nasty ... uncaring and unsympathetic, is a truly nondiscriminatory society. It judges you only though your postings, not by what you look like, your marital status, whether you have a disability, or any of the other things that are traditionally used for discrimination" [ 16 ].

But the obscurity of virtual reality does not eliminate discrimination. Lori Kendall says

"Choosing a gender-neutral or male character may free a female participant from fears of direct harassment or overeager sexual interest, but regardless of the gender of her character, a female participant observing [discriminatory and insulting] types of conversation is continually reminded of the male-dominated environment in which she moves. Furthermore, choosing one gender or another does nothing to change the expectations attached to particular gender identities" [ 17 ].

Masking one's identity can in fact lead to significant problems online. In a discussion of MOOs and MUDs, Shannon McRae points out that "for some participants, never seeing the face of whoever they're dealing with in VR somehow translates to not having to be responsible for their actions [ 18 ]. An example of this phenomena can be seen in this moo transcript, sent to me by a female graduate student who took her first-year composition students to the moo (this transcript has been edited for clarity only; the teacher is identified as "you" in the commands line and "Joan" in the student texts):

You say, "so what did you think of the articles for class today?"
Grant_Guest says, "I am having problems and I want to go home now"
Bradley_Guest says, "have your wish you can leave this class."
Pulaski_Guest says, "Joan what do we do now that we are all together like a family"
White_Guest says, ""u just wish u could go to Florida with me instead of your woman!!! CALEB!!!"
Jefferson_Guest says, ""they're both sick of seeing someone"
Lonoke_Guest says, ""Are they feminine problems Grant?"
You say, "talk about the articles.... "

You say, "I wanted you all to experience one of the things they talked about in the Perseus Unbound article""
Phillips_Guest says, ""who brought up the Persues crap?"
You say, "phillips I did "
Prairie_Guest action Prairie pleads the 5th
Grant_Guest says, "I don't recall right now"
Phillips_Guest says, "i would have read it but I burned my book!"
Polly is not amused
Bradley_Guest says, "" i must exit the door the fire alarm is going off again."
Grant_Guest says, " I might burn my book to"
Polly can arrange for a quiz on wednesday if you'd like
White_Guest says, "NONONONONONNONONONONON"
Jefferson_Guest says, ""'cos I never made myself to finish 'em"
Phillips_Guest says, ""lets all get together and burn our books after class."
Grant_Guest says, "I like that idea"
Grant_Guest says, "books suck"
Polly feels a quiz coming on real fast
Phillips_Guest says, "all quiz's will be burned as well....."
Prairie_Guest says, "all this mooing is making me hungry""
Jefferson_Guest says, "yea, you shut up"
Grant_Guest says, "lets go home now"
Phillips_Guest says, "quiz's should be against the law"
Pulaski_Guest says, "moby dick"

You say, "look folks we can either start discussing the articles or we can have a quiz on wednesday before you do peer editing"
Phillips_Guest says, ""anyone caught quizzing should be kicked out of the country"

You say, "I think what he meams by the quote is that in a way, the computers extend the areas that we might be educated in ... in ways we wouldn't have expected before "
White_Guest says, ""whachu want?"""
Lonoke_Guest says, ""So now could you reiterate your question?"
Prairie_Guest says, "i want my sunscreen back"
Lonoke_Guest says, ""Grant, where are you?"
Pulaski_Guest says, "using the computer for research instead of a paper bound book. You know the information is out there because anything in the world can be found in the interet or hyper knowledge"
Bradley_Guest says, ""Lonoke"" Computers are just like wkiskey hard to consume."
Phillips_Guest says, ""i think the question a million hits on what needs to be answered!"
Grant_Guest says, "I went home"
White_Guest says, "it is up your A$$!!"
Lonoke_Guest says, ""Who said whiskey is hard to consume for everyone??"
You say, "white see me after class please"
White_Guest says, ""MEET ME OUTSIDE AND ILL SHOW U MY POINT!!!"

In this example, we see the instructor struggling to gain control of the virtual classroom. Finally that control is usurped by a threat made by a student the teacher could not identify.

When asked what advice she would give to other female teachers interested in Mooing with students she says:

"I would suggest that she require the students to introduce themselves at the beginning of a session. After this session, my view of Anonymity has completely changed. Students should not be allowed to have total anonymity. People have got to realize that there are consequences to what they say online. Don't get me wrong, but I think it's time that people start thinking about technology before they start saying 'Oh this is the best thing since sliced bread in the Composition Class.' There is little to nothing published about the bad incidents using computers in the classroom.

The ability to cloak one's identify may lead to greater participation one the part of some students, but we must realize that this ability may also provide fertile ground for student aggression."

Invisibility: It's ONLY E-mail

The final condition of computer mediated communication that can intensify problems faced by female writing teachers is that when problems do occur online, they are easier to brush off. Women who are harassed by students have an extremely difficult time gaining administrative support. Many are blamed for not "controlling" the class when they report problematic student behavior to their supervisors [ 19 ].

One of the most difficult problems teachers who have been harassed faced is the lack of support and understanding from their colleagues and administrators. In fact, many women who responded to our 1993 survey about student-teacher harassment in traditional classrooms said they did not report problems they had had with students because they feared ridicule or criticism [ 20 ]. One teacher wrote about a student who turned in "several papers filled with obscenities and accounts of violent sexual acts." When she reported this to the administration they told her to either fail the papers or let the student re-write them. They suggested she was overacting to want him out of her class. It is more difficult for us to convince others, and perhaps to believe ourselves, that written harassment can be as harmful and painful as physical harassment. The virtual reality of online communication exacerbates this problem. After all, it's ONLY e-mail! And yet, anyone who has experienced online harassment knows that the anguish of online harassment is just as harsh as in real life. Stephanie Brail, in her study of online harassment, says:

"While it can be said that [harassing] email is 'only words' and "not real," I can't help but wonder how many women are discouraged from speaking up online for fear of being targeted for some sort of sexual advance or another. I wonder how many women have stopped posting their words because they were sick of constantly being attacked for their opinions. I'll be the first person to stand up for good old-fashioned disagreement and even flaming, but I have a problem with women being silenced through sexist attacks and vague physical threats. It is the threat of the physical behind the virtual that makes online harassment a very scary thing" [ 21 ].

The "virtual" aspect of virtual reality creates a distance that makes it easy for us to ignore the very real human communication and interaction of such spaces. If we are to challenge these abusive attacks from students and the passive-acceptance of this behavior from administrators, we need to work collectively to convince others, including program administrators, to take us seriously. Student aggression, whether it takes place in writing, in person, or online, is a violation that creates a hostile or intimidating work environment; it is harassment and must be treated as such.

Like Brail, I wonder how many female teachers have stopped giving out their e-mail addresses, much like teachers felt obligated to request unlisted phone numbers to avoid crank phone calls from angry or aggressive students. How many women have stopped taking their classes to the MOO because they could not control the vicious and angry discriminatory attacks? How many give up teaching all together because of the hostile environment in which they are forced to work? The woman who sent me the above moo transcript said this in her final message to me: "After teaching this year, I've decided that I do not want to teach again for a while. I work fine one-on-one and in workshops, but not in the day to day classroom. Not sure that I want to teach again to be quite truthful about it."

I do not believe that virtual space is either evil or inherently masculine and patriarchal. What bother me is not the medium, but the lack of attention paid to how that medium may perpetuate sexism and violence against women. I agree with Lari Kendall who says, "the online environment is not itself a solution. Understandings of gender and the hierarchical arrangements based on these understandings do not simply disappear in forums where we can't see each other. We carry these understandings with us and re- create them online. Therefore, the appearance of more women on MUDs, and online generally, is likely to help only if both women and men make specific efforts to counter ... stereotypical understandings" [ 22 ].

Regardless of the medium, whether we are teaching in a traditional classroom or conducting classes in the Web, we need to consider the very real problem of student-to- teacher harassment. Also, we need to be aware that differences such as race, physical ability, and sexual preference affect our relationships with students. If we are to build effective pedagogies that address the needs of contemporary classrooms, we cannot disregard our differences by assuming that the authority maintained by one is the same for all.

About the Author

Julia Ferganchick-Neufang teaches rhetoric and professional writing in the Department of Rhetoric and Writing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Her book, Women Teaching Writing, which addresses student-to-teacher harassment, is underconsideration for publication. She has published articles about writing pedagogy and program administration in The Writing Instructor, Composition Forum, ACE, and TETYC.
E-mail: jfneufang@ualr.edu

Notes

1. K. Benson, 1984. "Comment on Crocker's Analysis of University Definitions of Sexual Harassment", Signs, Volume 9, pp. 516-19; Theresa Enos, 1996. Gender Roles and Faculty Lives in Rhetoric and Composition. Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois Univ. Press; Julia K. Ferganchick-Neufang, 1996. "Breaking the Silence: A Study of Gender-Specific Problems in the Writing Classroom", Composition Forum, Volume 7, Number 1, pp. 17-30; Julia K. Ferganchick-Neufang, 1997. "Harassment Online", Kairos, Volume 2, Number 2, at http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/2.2; Elizabeth Grauerholz, 1989. "Sexual Harassment of Women Professors by Students: Exploring the Dynamics of Power, Authority, and Gender in a University Setting", Sex Roles, Volume 21, pp. 789-801; and, Kathleen McKinney, 1990. "Sexual Harassment of University Faculty by Colleagues and Students", Sex Roles, Volume 23, pp. 421-38.

2. Marilyn Cooper and Cynthia L. Selfe, 1990. "Computer Conferences and Learning: Authority, Resistance, and Internally Persuasive Discourse", College English, Volume 52 (December), pp. 847-69.

3. M. Diane Langston and Trent Batson, 1990. "The Social Shifts Invited by Working Collaboratively on Computer Networks: The ENFI Project", In: Carolyn Handa (ed.), Computers and Community, Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook, pp. 160-84.

4. Ellen Spertus, 1996. "Social and Technical Means for Fighting online Harassment", paper presented at the Virtue and Virtuality: Gender, Law, and Cyberspace Conference, abstract at http://www.aimit.edu/peopl e/ellens/Gender/glc/, (viewed Sept. 28, 1997).

5. Karen Coyle, 1996. "How Hard Can It Be?", In: Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Reba Weise (eds.), Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, Seattle: Seal Press, p. 50.

6. Utne Reader, September-October 1997, p. 17.

7. Karen Coyle, 1996. "How Hard Can It Be?", p. 43.

8. Netta Gilboa, 1996. "'greyarea.' Elites, Lamers, Narcs and Whores: Exploring the Computer Underground", In: Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Reba Weise (eds.), Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, Seattle: Seal Press, p. 106.

9. Netta Gilboa, 1996. "'greyarea.' Elites, Lamers, Narcs and Whores: Exploring the Computer Underground", p. 107.

10. L. Jean Camp, 1996. "We Are Geeks, and We Are Not Guys: The Systers Mailing List", In: Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Reba Weise (eds.), Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, Seattle: Seal Press, p. 115.

11. Laural A. Sutton, 1996. "Cocktails and Thumbtacks in the Old West: What Would Emily Post Say?", In: Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Reba Weise (eds.), Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, Seattle: Seal Press, p. 175.

12. Michele Evard, 1996. "'So Please Stop, Thank You': Girls Online", In: Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Reba Weise (eds.), Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, Seattle: Seal Press, pp. 188-204.

13. Tracy Adams et al., 1995. "Women Undergraduate Enrollment in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT", MIT EECS Women Enrollment Committee, at http://www-eecs.mit .edu/AY94-95/announcements/13.html, (viewed September 29, 1997).

14. Julia K. Ferganchick-Neufang, 1996. "Breaking the Silence: A Study of Gender-Specific Problems in the Writing Classroom", Composition Forum, Volume 7, Number 1, pp. 17-30; Julia K. Ferganchick-Neufang, 1997. "Harassment Online", Kairos, Volume 2, Number 2, at http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/2.2.

15. Elizabeth Klem and Charles Moran, 1994. "Whose Machines Are These? Politics, Power, and the New Technology", In: Patricia A. Sullivan and Donna J. Qualley (eds.), Pedagogy in the Age of Politics: Writing and Reading (in) the Academy, Urbana, Ill.: NCTE, p. 77.

16. Judy Anderson, 1996. "Not for the Faint of Heart: Contemplations on Usenet", In: Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Reba Weise (eds.), Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, Seattle: Seal Press, p. 138.

17. Lori Kendall, 1996. "MUDer? I Hardly Know HER!: Adventures of a Feminist MUDder," In: Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Reba Weise (eds.), Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, Seattle: Seal Press, pp. 216-17.

18. Shannon McRae, 1996. "Coming Apart at the Seams: Sex, Text, and the Virtual Body", In: Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Reba Weise (eds.), Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, Seattle: Seal Press, pp. 242-63.

19. Julia K. Ferganchick-Neufang, 1996. "Breaking the Silence: A Study of Gender-Specific Problems in the Writing Classroom", Composition Forum, Volume 7, Number 1, pp. 17-30; Julia K. Ferganchick-Neufang, 1997. "Harassment Online", Kairos, Volume 2, Number 2, at http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/2.2.

20. Ferganchick-Neufang, 1996. op. cit., Ferganchick-Neufang, 1997. op.cit.

21. Stephanie Brail, 1996. "The Price of Admission: Harassment and Free Speech in the Wild, Wild, West", In: Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Reba Weise (eds.), Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, Seattle: Seal Press, p. 152.

22. Lori Kendall, 1996. "MUDer? I Hardly Know HER!: Adventures of a Feminist MUDder," pp. 222-23.

References

Tracy Adams et al., 1995. "Women Undergraduate Enrollment in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT", MIT EECS Women Enrollment Committee, at http://www-eecs.mit .edu/AY94-95/announcements/13.html, (viewed September 29, 1997).

Judy Anderson, 1996. "Not for the Faint of Heart: Contemplations on Usenet", In: Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Reba Weise (eds.), Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, Seattle: Seal Press, pp. 126-138.

K. Benson, 1984. "Comment on Crocker's Analysis of University Definitions of Sexual Harassment," Signs, Volume 9, pp. 516-19.

Stephanie Brail, 1996. "The Price of Admission: Harassment and Free Speech in the Wild, Wild, West", In: Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Reba Weise (eds.), Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, Seattle: Seal Press, pp. 141-57.

L. Jean Camp, 1996. "We Are Geeks, and We Are Not Guys: The Systers Mailing List", In: Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Reba Weise (eds.), Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, Seattle: Seal Press, pp. 114-125.

Marilyn Cooper and Cynthia L. Selfe, 1990. "Computer Conferences and Learning: Authority, Resistance, and Internally Persuasive Discourse," College English, Volume 52 (December), pp. 847-69.

Karen Coyle, 1996. "How Hard Can It Be?", In: Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Reba Weise (eds.), Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, Seattle: Seal Press, pp. 42-55.

Theresa Enos, 1996. Gender Roles and Faculty Lives in Rhetoric and Composition. Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois Univ. Press.

Michele Evard, 1996. "'So Please Stop, Thank You': Girls Online", In: Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Reba Weise (eds.), Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, Seattle: Seal Press, pp. 188-204.

Julia K. Ferganchick-Neufang, 1996. "Breaking the Silence: A Study of Gender-Specific Problems in the Writing Classroom," Composition Forum, Volume 7, Number 1, pp 17-30.

Julia K. Ferganchick-Neufang, 1997. "Harassment Online," Kairos, Volume 2, Number 2, at http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/2.2

Netta Gilboa, 1996. "'greyarea.' Elites, Lamers, Narcs and Whores: Exploring the Computer Underground", In: Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Reba Weise (eds.), Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, Seattle: Seal Press, pp. 98-113.

Elizabeth Grauerholz, 1989. "Sexual Harassment of Women Professors by Students: Exploring the Dynamics of Power, Authority, and Gender in a University Setting," Sex Roles, Volume 21, pp. 789-801.

Lori Kendall, 1996. "MUDer? I Hardly Know HER!: Adventures of a Feminist MUDder," In: Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Reba Weise (eds.), Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, Seattle: Seal Press, pp. 207-23.

Elizabeth Klem and Charles Moran, 1994. "Whose Machines Are These? Politics, Power, and the New Technology", In: Patricia A. Sullivan and Donna J. Qualley (eds.), Pedagogy in the Age of Politics: Writing and Reading (in) the Academy, Urbana, Ill.: NCTE, pp. 73-87.

M. Diane Langston and Trent Batson, 1990. "The Social Shifts Invited by Working Collaboratively on Computer Networks: The ENFI Project," In: Carolyn Handa (ed.), Computers and Community, Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook, pp. 160-84.

Kathleen McKinney, 1990. "Sexual Harassment of University Faculty by Colleagues and Students," Sex Roles, Volume 23, pp. 421-38.

Shannon McRae, 1996. "Coming Apart at the Seams: Sex, Text, and the Virtual Body", In: Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Reba Weise (eds.), Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, Seattle: Seal Press, pp. 242-63.

Spertus, Ellen. "Social and Technical Means for Fighting online Harassment." Virtue Ellen Spertus, 1996. "Social and Technical Means for Fighting online Harassment", paper presented at the Virtue and Virtuality: Gender, Law, and Cyberspace Conference, abstract at http://www.aimit.edu/peopl e/ellens/Gender/glc/, (viewed Sept. 28, 1997).

Laural A. Sutton, 1996. "Cocktails and Thumbtacks in the Old West: What Would Emily Post Say?", In: Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Reba Weise (eds.), Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, Seattle: Seal Press, pp. 169-87.

Utne Reader, September-October 1997, p. 17.

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