In adolescent and postadolescent recreational culture of chat-rooms (IRC) gender harassment and sexism tends to be crude, direct, and sexually explicit. In contrast, in discussion asinchronous forums oriented toward discussion among older users, sexism is typically rationalized by and masked beneath an intelectual veneer. When both types of on-line communications are compared and critically investigated, they emerge as alternative strategies for achieving the same goal: limiting the scope of female participation in order to preserve male control and protect male interests. When women attempt to participate on an equal par with men, they risk being ignored, trivialized and if they persist, accused of censoring or silencing male participants.
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