A number of telling critiques have been made of the male dominance of computer culture (Kirkup 1992; Kramarae in press; Linn 1985; Turkle 1984; Wajcman 1991). It is only within the past several years, however, that researchers have started to undertake empirical investigations of gender in computer-mediated communication (CMC), the human-to-human text­ based interactions that take place by means of computer networks. Although computer network technology was originally hailed as a poten­ tially democratizing influence on human interaction (Hiltz &. Turoff [1978] 1993; Kiesler, Siegel, &. McGuire 1984), it is already becoming apparent that men dominate computer-mediated interaction much as they dominate face-to-face interaction: by "talking" more, by taking an authoritative stance in public discourse, and by verbally harassing and intimidating women into accommodation or silence (e.g., Herring 1993a; Kramarae &. Taylor 1993).