Gender Clues and Cues: Online Interactions as Windows into Lay Theories about Men and Women

Abstract

The Internet allows the process of “doing gender” (West & Zimmerman, 1987 West , C. , & Zimmerman , D. H. ( 1987 ). Doing gender . Gender & Society , 1 ( 2 ), 125 – 151 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) to be examined in ways previously unavailable. In the studies presented here, dyads conversed online while (a) knowing or, (b) not knowing each other's gender, or (c) with one participant feigning the opposite gender. Not knowing gender had a surprisingly small effect on the interaction. The results further suggested that successful detection of categorical gender when it is not known may be limited to circumstances in which conversational content is gender stereotypical, and particularly when it surrounds gendered interests or activities, yet these topics occurred infrequently in spontaneous conversation. The results have implications for a theoretically broad understanding of how gender manifests in social life.

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