Brenston, Margaret. “Worlds Apart: Women, Men, and Technology.” Medias and Values, (Winter 1990).

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In “Worlds Apart,” Margaret Brenston argues that there is a serious gender divide when it comes to computer literacy involving men and women. Brenston explains that women prefer computers for more artistic meanings than men who wish to conquer the technology; women feel belittled when speaking to a male partner or friend about a technical issue with a computer largely because of these attitude differences. Brenston addresses an audience of avid computer users, both male and female, who must use computers on a regular basis. Her goal with this article is to demonstrate that the divide does exist, and to urge those who are computer literate to begin bridging the gap.

Though Brenston’s article is nearly twenty years old, and the divide between men and women has diminished, this speaks to the idea of control and power on the message boards. Women, in large numbers, have overcome the problem of technological power to an extent where they, as a gender, have created female dominated message boards. Though the article is not directly related to my study, it is helpful to be able to put a time frame on how far women have come over the past twenty years.