ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the specific sociological research and interpretations concerning gender and technology. It examines the theoretical implications of formal to applied sociology and, at the same time the growing impact of virtual technology and its influence on gender. Modern philosophy is dominated by several dichotomies: mind/body, reason/passion, and nature/culture. The association between women, nature, passion, and the body are very influential in contemporary thought. Women’s choice is restricted to either adapting to male values or to developing a completely different model of computer usage which is based on what has been traditionally assumed to be female: emotion and person-centeredness. Ethnomethodology does not assume gender specific differences as given, but rather assumes that different people use different strategies. Sometimes, tendencies to overcome the feminine/masculine dichotomy appear in an unexpected form. Within the text-based virtual reality environments on the Internet, it is possible to pretend to be the opposite gender.
