This essay was originally published in Wired_Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace, Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Weise, eds. (Seattle: Seal Press, 1996): 207- 223. It is placed here with the permission of the author.
You see a beautiful, pale-skinned young white girl. A flimsy negligee hangs half-open from her shoulders revealing the first dim red half-circles of her aureolae. She's wearing slight white lace panties with a little pink bow at the rise of her mons veneris. Her dark red eyes glower at you like volcanic coals, and in her left hand is a four-foot stick bound in black iron bands, tipped with a steel ball studded with sharp, well-used spikes.
--"Amnesia" character description from BlueSky MUD
How meaningful is gender online? On most current online forums, all communication is through text. Theoretically, people can name themselves and describe themselves however they choose. Does this ability to hide identifying characteristics "level the playing field,'' creating new opportunities for equality among male and female participants? Does gender identity become more fluid under these circumstances? Those were some of the questions I had a year ago when I started researching MUDs, which are online, text- based interactive forums.
I've been on BlueSky, a social MUD, for about a year.[1] I've made several friends and have come to like the rowdy atmosphere and scatological humor there. Sometimes, I sit laughing hysterically at my computer until the man I live with comes to read over my shoulder, wanting to know what's going on. This has led to jokes between us that I'm "turning into an eleven- year- old boy." And yet, if I hadn't had a research agenda--if I hadn't been motivated to figure out what was going on online no matter how offensive I found it--I never would have stayed on BlueSky or, for that matter, on any of the other MUDs I've visited. The rudeness and obnoxiousness I've been exposed to, the constant references to "babes," the penis jokes, the blow- job jokes, and so on, would have chased me off long ago, and they still sometimes weary me. Most women don't have my research agenda, and most are unlikely to find much of interest to them on MUDs, unless they are science- fiction fans or, like me, have an unusually graphic sense of humor or a high tolerance for people who do. Even these women are likely to find most MUDs unwelcoming.
But, as in my case, women who stick it out may find friends and other worthwhile contacts online. Perhaps more important, it is worth considering what these online forums will mean if they remain male-dominated. Given these considerations, I discuss here some of the ways in which gender operates online.
The acronym "MUD" originally stood for "multi-user dungeon." Some MUD participants also now translate it as "multi-user dimension" or "domain." As the original terminology suggests, MUDs started as interactive role- playing games similar to Dungeons and Dragons. Currently, hundreds of MUDs are available on the Internet, and many still provide an environment for this type of game; people (in some cases, hundreds) can log on to the computer on which the MUD program is running and interact with each other and with the computer, solving puzzles and staging battles. Many MUDs, however, emphasize types of role-playing that are more like interactive theater. These MUDs are frequently based on popular science-fiction and fantasy works such as Star Trek,Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Bern stories and Roger Zelazny's "Amber" series, among others. Still other MUDs are loosely organized around various imaginary themes, but are less games than settings for getting together with others and socializing. A few MUDs are also being developed for use as professional and academic spaces. My comments are based primarily on observations of social MUDs, where the main activities are hanging out and chatting.
People interact on MUDs through "characters." Characters are programmed objects that act as surrogates for the participants. Each character has a name and description, as well as a gender "attribute," all of which are chosen by the participant. Descriptions are available to other participants using the look command. (A sample description is Amnesia's at the beginning of this essay.) The gender attribute allows the MUD program to assign the appropriate pronoun to the character in text referring to that character.
All interaction with the MUD program and with other participants on the MUD takes place through typed text commands. On the social MUDs, the commands used most often are those that enable the participants' characters to "speak" and "act"; the text of these communications is sent to the screens of other participants. The command to speak is known as the say command and the action command is called pose (or sometimes emote). Most MUDs are composed of several "rooms." Each room has a description and may contain several programmed "objects." Short commands, usually compass directions, enable movement from room to room. Here is a sample of MUD interaction. My character is called Wombat on this MUD; the commands I typed are after the > prompt symbol. (Note that when I use the pose command, the MUD program inserts my character name, Wombat, but when I use the say command, on my screen, the program inserts the pronoun You")
> look Corridor
There are stairs going down to the west here and the
corridor continues to the east. There is an unmarked door to the south. A door
to the north leads to the guest bathroom, and to that door's right is a narrower
door that probably goes to a linen closet.
> west
Stairwell
The
corridor from the west ends here with short flights of stairs going up and down
to the east South leads to one of the master bedrooms.
Changer is
here.
Changer says "hello.."
> pose waves
Wombat waves
Changer
says so,. whats everyone up too?"
> say not too much
You say "not too
much"
Participants usually see only the text generated by people in the room they're in, but it is possible to page messages to people in other rooms on the MUD. In addition, the whisper command allows one to send a message to someone in the same room, but keep it hidden from other participants. Text may also be generated by interactions with programmed objects, using commands like open box. The effect of all these features and commands is to create a feeling of space--a virtual location--in which several participants can communicate with each other and interact with the program.
MUDs can be very disorienting at first. During busy times, text scrolls by on your screen at an alarming rate. In the party atmosphere that usually prevails when many people are in the same MUD room, several different conversations may be going on simultaneously. Unlike at a physical party, conversational groups don't separate off into different corners of the room. All conversations occur in the same "space," and unless whispered, are audible to all in the room. Thus, different strands of talk intertwine in bizarre juxtapositions that can be extremely difficult to make sense of without practice.
In addition to the general disorientation, MUDs may feel particularly foreign to women. On some MUDs, portrayals of females as sexual objects become part of ritual-like interactions. These rituals are important because they demonstrate belonging to, and shared history with, the group. On BlueSky, for example, a common form of word play is the "objoke" (for obligatory joke). Objokes are puns based on word endings. Here is the standard (nonsexual) response to a participant's use of a word ending in -us:
McKenzie says what's the rumpus?"
Parker says Rumpus? it nearly killed
us!"
The more common form of objoke (probably in part because the word ending is more common) is based on words ending in - er. There are two standard responses (in the first example, the .o O (notation indicates a cartoonlike thought bubble):
Stem4 says "Pedants are sticklers for correct spelling."
elflock .o O (
you brought 'er you stickler )
Ronald Ann just gets her cable through the heater vent from the apartment
downstairs... no choices
henri says "HEATER VENT"
Mender says "heat 'er
vent? I hardly know `er"
The latter response is so common that most participants do not complete it, leaving the remainder of the joke to be called up in the minds of the others. Here, two participants race to be the first objoke respondent:
Parker says "it's all the Badger's fault"
elflock says "Badger, i
hardly"
henri says "badger why I hardly"
elflock winz
henri
loses
The dominant motivations for objokes are probably the satisfaction of engaging in punning wordplay, and the use of an element of group subculture, in this case a running joke, to maintain group ties. However, the joke also evokes the image of a generic female sexual object (and not a particularly desirable one at that--note that the "you brought 'er, you __________ 'er" response implies the passing around of an unwanted toy). This can make BlueSky an uncomfortable, if not downright hostile, environment for women participants.
Far fewer women than men participate on MUDs, although the exact ratios vary from MUD to MUD. As in other areas of the Internet, participation by women is probably increasing, but newly arriving women encounter a social environment and behavioral norms formed largely by men. In some cases, these norms may be disturbing enough to discourage further participation by women. As one MUDder explains:
Women get treated differently from men. It's not that they get more slack or anything, but they get chased out differently. Part of it is that most women tend not to talk immediately, just by normal socialization. Guys are much more likely to mouth off early. But women often get turned off by less nasty hazing than men.
On the various Usenet newsgroups and email lists devoted to discussions of MUDs, MUD participants mainly worry about the effects of sexual harassment on women participants. The following stories are typical:
I recently (last week) showed a female friend how to MUD.... We were
sitting side-by side in a comp.lab during her 1st session.. and although she
used a more or less male name. She marked her sex as female. The male character
who soon found it his mission to pamper her in the game was very nice to her.
All seemd well, and I went back to writing something in emacs on my
screen.
After about 15 minutes (and 30.. maybe 40 newbie questions from my
friend ;) This guy in the game started making advances on her..
A female friend of mine lagged out on one MUSH and another player took advantage of the situation and "posed" himself as raping her. When she untagged, the person in question was gone and she was left with the equivalent of an obscene phone call on her screen.[2]
Generally my reaction was to foofoo that there was any problem except that I recently was able to get my wife interested in mudding. I could NOT believe what she had to put up with just to play. I got very angry at what seemed like a bunch of children trying out 'social' commands that they wouldnt ever do in public. It went far beyond role-playing.
Although it's unclear how prevalent this type of harassment is, it's only the extreme end of a range of behaviors directed at female characters (who, it should be kept in mind, may or may not be operated by female participants). Participants running female characters may find themselves the focus of constant sexual interest and innuendo.
MUD participants also describe other forms of differential treatment, especially overly helpful treatment of female characters:
Beryl whispers "the main area you notice it is when newbies log on. a female newbie will be given more breaks & more attention, even (especially?) by women"
In this situation, gender becomes almost a stance of relationship to the MUD--a way to designate one's desired treatment, rather than a statement of identity. Thus, some men portray female characters because they are dissatisfied with the "neutral" reactions they get when portraying male characters:
Amnesia whispers "'Oblivious' was my male persona briefly, but it was less
fun"
You whisper "less fun? how so?" to Amnesia.
Amnesia whispers "hard to
say. Perhaps less attention is paid male characters."
You whisper "hmmm. I've
heard that from other people as well." to Amnesia.
Others specifically portray female characters for the sexual adventure of engaging in TinySex with other male characters.[3] This led one participant to comment:
i think the rule should be: If you are a homophobe, don't have tinysex cuz that cute broad might be a guy in real life. If you aren't bothered by this have fun.
Meanwhile, many women portray male characters to avoid the very behaviors these men are courting.
Amnesia stares at CH. "Oh, no, you don't actually admit to being female on
line, do you?"
Amnesia notes that she didn't mean to imply that CH was not a
female, but rather that anyone who really is female canonically ought to pretend
to be male
It is true that any woman who doesn't like the way she is treated when she logs on as a female character can change her identity to a male or neutral representation. However, this solution leaves intact a status quo in which being female, especially if you are new, means being hit on. Many MUDders, male and female, see this as a problem and are working to change it
But differences in treatment of male and female characters are only part of the story. Even on MUDs where everybody is treated more or less the same, norms of behavior, as well as topics of discussion, contain gendered meanings and expectations. Here for instance, performances of swaggering masculinity by anonymous guests are accompanied by intimations of homosexuality used as put-downs:
Blue_Guest says, "I said, "Are there any EXTREMELY DESPERATE women in the
house?"
Titwillow [to Blue_Guest]: and i asked why you wanted to
know!
Blue_Guest says, "For my own info. dude!"
Green_Guest says, "
......... Mike Lloyd is gay..... he sucks
Steven
Bruckner....."
Ebony_Guest says, "Fuck all of you
muthafuckas"
Blue_Guest says, "Eat me Blissful, you must be a fag!"
In the milder example below, friendship between two male participants is expressed through a joking negotiation for the possession of female sexual objects. This conversation took place in a public room in which women participants were also present:
henri says "[Mender], if we meet a couple of supermodels in NYC, the rule
is: you take the brunette, I take the blonde"
Mender says "what if they are
both blonde?"
henri says "you take the shorter one"
Mender says
"hsm"
henri says "you are shorter than me after all"
Mender says
"OK"
fnord says "what if you meet a short blonde and a tall
brunette?"
Mender says "trouble"
henri says "hair color overrides
height"
henri says "domehead and I used to use the blonde/brunette system
when scoping babes (from afar) at basketball games"
Puss-n-Boots is a beautiful, female felinoid. She stands about 5'3" and has beautiful cream colored fur all over her nicely curved body She is a seal point Siamese, so her coloring is accented by dark brow thigh- high boots and dark brown elbow length gloves. Her Asian features are accented by her bright blue eyes. You notice in the top of her boot, an ornamental Canto knife, from her native homeland .
You see, this is her newest form, and this time, she has no mortals to answer to. Around her neck is an Italian 500 lira coin given to her by someone very special to her. As you continue to stare, she looks at you and whispers seductively, "You like what you see?"
--Puss-n-Boots character description from AniMUCK
MUDs form a subculture that intersects with several other subcultures, most of which are also male-dominated. These include the role-play gaming subculture; comic book fans (including particularly strong connections with fans of Japanese comics); science-fiction fandom in general; fans of particular elements of science fiction, such as the stories upon which many role-playing MUDs are based; and Furry fandom, around which several social MUDs are organized.
AniMUCK is an example of a MUD that caters to Furry Random. AniMUCK generates considerable controversy in the MUDding community for several reasons: (1) many character descriptions are overtly sexual; (2) the Furry theme, derived from comics, science-fiction stories, and artwork involving anthropomorphic animals (known as Furries), is considered silly and perverse by some MUDders; (3) TinySex is rumored to occur frequently on AniMUCK; and (4) AniMUCK has been featured in several sensationalized popular press articles about MUDs, which many MUD participants feel paint an inaccurate picture of MUDs and MUD behavior in general. Flame wars concerning AniMUCK and Furry fans are fairly frequent on the Usenet newsgroups devoted to discussion of MUDs. Most of these flame wars are initiated by a few individuals, often in reply to newbie questions regarding AniMUCK. However, once initiated, the battle is enthusiastically joined by Furry supporters and detractors alike. Despite frequent pleas from newsgroup participants to let it drop, these battles can go on for weeks, only to be rekindled again a short time later.
Although AniMUCK is very different from BlueSky and ostensibly has a less masculine atmosphere, the status of women there is similarly problematic. Some of the controversy concerning AniMUCK simply reflects the fact that sexual behavior, rumored to occur there frequently, is controversial. However, the charge of sexism on AniMUCK also occurs. This charge frequently relates to the larger community of fans of Furry art and stories, not all of whom participate in MUDding. As one female participant commented in a posting to a Usenet newsgroup:
I was at a Worldcon [a science-fiction fan convention] a few years ago, and a Furry Party was widely advertised. Out of curiousity I walked in the room, and I'm afraid it was out of repulsion I left.... Most of the artwork was of pornographic nature, women with huge breasts in sexual poses, sometimes with men (with horse-sized genitalia--i wouldn't mention it but it was so memorable!) involved in the pictures. I left the room, gasping from the cigar smoke but mostly from the intense anti-feminine atmosphere
Although several Furry supporters commented on this posting, suggesting that the described gathering was atypical, my perusal of nonpornographic Furry cartoon art available online by FTP (there are also examples of pornographic Furry art available) tends to support this analysis of Furry fandom. The male anthropomorphic characters depicted in the graphics files range from "dark-and-mysterious" wizard types to "happy-go-lucky-catboy-and-his-computer" types. None of these male characters are overtly sexualized. The female characters, on the other hand, have a much smaller range of variation and are almost always large-breasted and seductively posed. In contrast to the range of tools shown with male characters (some hold nothings others are depicted with staffs, computers, etc.), almost every female character is wielding a gun, sword or similar weapon. This juxtaposition of large breasts and pointed weapons gives them a hypersexual "phallic female" appearance.
This is not to suggest that all participants on AniMUCK are sexist, or even that sexist behavior is encouraged. However, at the least, the cultural intersections with Furry fandom create a MUD cultural norm in which the female gender identity in particular is highly sexualized. Thus AniMUCK, like BlueSky, adopts a norm and tone of interaction largely set by men; one which is limiting, if not uncomfortable, for women.
Choosing a gender-neutral or male character may free a female participant from fears of direct harassment or overeager sexual interest, but regardless of the gender of her character, a female participant observing the types of conversations previously related is continually reminded of the male-dominated environment in which she moves. Furthermore, choosing one gender or another does nothing to change the expectations attached to particular gender identifications.
In theory, choosing a neutral gender designation would mean escaping the dualism of male and female gender expectations. (After all, in our face-to-face interactions, we don't meet many people we would designate as gender-neutral, and therefore we don't have a clearly assigned role for such persons.) In fact, it would appear that a significant number of MUDders use neutral designations just for this purpose. GammaMOO, for instance, has the following choices: neuter, male, female, either, Spivak, splat, plural, egotistical, royal, and 2nd. "Neuter" designates the character with the pronoun it. "Either" uses the s/he and hirn/her convention. "Spivak" uses a set of gender-neutral pronouns such as e and em "Splat," similarly, uses *e and h*. As might be expected, "plural" uses they and them, "egotistical" uses I and me, "royal" uses we and us and "2nd" uses you
As of October 17, 1994, out of 8,541 total characters on GammaMOO, 23 percent (1,991) were neuter, and only 2.5 percent (216) were anything else, other than male or female. Significantly, only 21 percent (1,770) of GammaMOO's characters were designated as female. Thus, male characters outnumber all others put together, and more people choose some form of neutral designation than choose female. But almost all the gender-neutral characters I have met were guest characters who had not yet set their gender designation, so it is unclear to me how well this strategy works. My guess is not very well, for the very reason that we do expect everyone to be either male or female. No one encountering someone using the pronoun e is likely to believe that this expresses their "true" gender, and is thus likely to treat the character's gender designation as a mere mask. Some may respect this desire to "hide" gender, but others probably will not.
Consider, for instance, that at least in areas where guests or other anonymous characters are common, the question "are you male or female?" is frequent enough to have acquired joke status among experienced MUD participants.
Copper_Guest says, "Infrared, Are you male or female?"
Infrared_Guest
says, "male"
Copper Guest says, "Cool! Lets chat. So, you're from Austin,
right?
Infrared_Guest says, "copper are male or female
Copper_Guest says,
"I am most definitely female."
Yellow Guest [to Copper_Guest]: *most
definitely*?
Copper_Guest says "Just wanted to stress the fact, since you
can't see me and all..."
Furthermore, since everyone knows that character gender need not reflect the face-to-face gender of the participant, setting one's gender doesn't make one immune to the "male or female" question.
Previous asks, "are you really female or is that just your
char?"
achina [to Previous]: that question kind of surprises me. Why do you
want to know?
Previous smiles at you.
Previous says, "just
checking"
Previous says, "best to catch these things early.. people here tend
to switch sexes almost as often as clothing"
achina is female in real
life.
Previous says, "good :)"
achina still isn't sure why you need to
know my RL gender, though.
Previous says, "I don t like being switched
genders on, so I make sure early on so l don't inadvertently use the wrong
social mores with anyone"
Some experience a later change in gender as a deep betrayal, particularly if they considered the relationship to be intimate. One MUD participant said:
Back when I viewed MUDS as a REAL reality, I fell in love with a female character.... But anyways turned out "she" was a he. Since then my personal policy is to NEVER get involved with anyone on a mud in a deep personal way.
As these examples demonstrate, choosing a gender, even a neutral gender, doesn't free people from standard gender expectations. Such expectations also affect how participants are able to enact the gender identities they do choose. Consider, for instance, Amnesia's description at the beginning of this essay. Amnesia is the female character of a male participant. I had a long conversation with Amnesia about his/her portrayal of a woman character, some of which I've excerpted here:
You whisper "so I'm curious--if everyone knows you're not female, why
still the female pronouns? Continuity?" to Amnesia.
Amnesia whispers
"'Amnesia' is a woman, and always has been. Amnesia was (is) my 'ideal woman',
and so is more caricaturist than any real woman can be. I think that means her
femininity shows through easier via text."
You whisper "your ideal woman' is
caricaturially female?" to Amnesia.
Amnesia whispers "no, I mean that I have
no real experience in being a woman, so can only draw a crude image with a broad
brush when I'm acting."
Amnesia's belief that one can portray a female character well only if one has been a woman reflects a cultural belief that women and men are substantially different from each other. Yet, by playing into these beliefs Amnesia was in fact quite successful. According to both Amnesia and other participants on BlueSky, Amnesia successfully masqueraded as female for over a year and only had to give up the guise when he met several other MUDders in person. Note especially that Amnesia's "jeune femme fatale" description, a weird juxtaposition of Lolita-esque pornography and Dungeons and Dragons-type iconography, seems not to have impinged on his ability to be convincingly female, despite its clear references to male- oriented literature.
Amnesia's successful masquerade thus probably relies in part on the wishful thinking of the predominantly male MUD participants. But it also depends upon the wider cultural beliefs that certain behaviors are feminine and certain behaviors masculine. This puts all MUD participants in the position of "masquerading" as their chosen gender, regardless of their "real life" gender identity. Everyone is in "drag" on MUDs; being more or less female has no relationship to one's gender identity off-line, as Amnesia and I discussed:
Amnesia whispers "when I was full-out a woman, the differential was
unbelievable and measurable."
You whisper "but you know, I haven't really
noticed [being treated different]. 'Course, I haven't been on here as a male,
but comparing myself to other people, it doesn't really seem to me that I get
more attention. Heh. Maybe if I was male, I'd get *no* attention." to
Amnesia.
Amnesia whispers "you don't `act female' in the traditional sense,
as far as I've seen."
You whisper "ah. I suppose that's true. So maybe it's
not females that get more attention, per se. Am I less a woman than Amnesia? ;)"
to Amnesia.
To a certain extent, this is not significantly different from face-to-face interactions. We are all expected to perform certain roles and meet particular gender expectations in all of our social interactions. However, both subcultural norms and technical limitations of MUD communication can limit gender performance on MUDs to stereotypical caricatures. Conversations move quickly, and one's presence in the conversation is apparent only when one continues to speak. In the limited bandwidth of text, typed conversation is the only means of communicating gender identity, and communicating it in a complex or nuanced way can be very difficult.
Given that the stereotypical characteristics attributed to men are more valued than those attributed to women, it is not surprising that the limitations inherent in online gender portrayal work out a bit better for men than for women. As indicated above, I've made no special effort to portray myself as specifically female, merely designating my gender and including information indicating that I am female in my character description. This has worked acceptably for me, perhaps partly because my known role as researcher has deflected attention from my gender and partly because I'm not particularly "feminine" in my face-to-face interactions and therefore do not attempt to portray this type of personality online. But other women I've met have indicated that attempting to "just be themselves" online produces less than desirable results.
Several female BlueSky participants feel that their lack of computer knowledge in particular affects the type of identity they are able to enact. One infrequent female participant said she wasn't interested in all the "tech talk" that occurred on BlueSky, and that "they all consider me a bimbo here." Another more frequent participant, Sparkle, said:
In the bar [on BlueSky], I most likely seem more flakey than I am, but that's mostly because they don't talk about things I know anything about. All I can do is crack jokes and laugh when I read something that's funny to me.... For the longest time, I was too scared to talk to anyone on here, I just hung out in the bar and laughed - which is why people think I am a ditz
Masculinity similarly becomes a mask to be performed, but even extremes of "masculine" behavior such as obnoxiousness and bullying are less likely to reject negatively on the performer than similarly extreme forms of "feminine" behavior such as coquetry or flattery. This is particularly true because, in the interwoven subcultures that make up the MUD social environment, intelligence is highly valued and attributed more often to males. Textual obnoxiousness can at least sometimes be read as the incisive application of a keen wit, whereas demureness or other feminine virtues are likely to come across as merely dumb. Sparkle's shyness and laughter earn her the reputation of stupidity (reported to me by several other BlueSky MUDders), while even the most notorious of bullies on BlueSky are credited with high intelligence and even appreciated for their humor value.
I don't present these examples of MUD behavior as typical--there are hundreds of MUDs on the net, and I spend time on only a few. What I've tried to show are some of the ways in which gender gets enacted online. What's important, I think, is that the social context on any given MUD significantly limits what kinds of identities can be enacted there. You can set whatever gender designation you want and describe yourself as you will, but if no one believes your presentation, it won't be effective. If no one likes the way you present yourself, or thinks you're dumb because you present yourself in a stereotypically feminine way, that too will be limiting. In this way, online socializing is little different from face-to-face socializing. Social expectations shape who we can be.
The stereotypes of masculine and feminine identity found on MUDs aren't new. Nor is the higher value placed on the "masculine" characteristics of intelligence and aggressiveness. But the greater male presence online and the limitations of this form of textual communication create a context in which these stereotypes are relied upon to a greater degree. So the answer to the question with which I began my research is that gender, in fact, has a great deal of meaning online. Although individuals can choose their gender representation, that does not seem to be creating a context in which gender is more fluid. Rather, gender identities themselves become even more rigidly understood. The ability to change one's gender identity online does not necessarily result in an understanding that gender identity is always a mask, always something merely performed. Rather, there can be an increased focus on the "true" identities behind the masks. Further, what I've found is that the standard expectations of masculinity and femininity are still being attached to these identities.
Given all of this, is there a reason to be concerned about women's relative lack of presence on MUDs? I think there is cause for concern. Like other social forums, MUDs can be a place for meeting people with similar interests and for exchanging useful information. I could list dozens of examples of people (men and women) who've found jobs, relationships, etc., through MUDs, and many, many more examples of the exchange of useful information. BlueSky in particular often functions as a forum in which to discuss computer programming and network administration. People frequently log on from work with work problems, which other participants help them solve. To the extent that MUDs remain a hostile environment for women, they may become similar to "men's clubs" in which networks are formed for the economic and social benefit of members, largely to the exclusion of women.
Also, as my own experience shows, merely adding more women might not affect the situation greatly. I trade objokes with the rest of them on BlueSky (although I've noticed that with one other exception, I'm the only woman who does so). While I'm less likely to participate in other forms of gross and blatantly sexual forms of humor, I rarely object to them. Like any newbie, I want to fit in, and the social context into which I must fit has been largely set by men. It is this social context that needs to change before MUDs can be truly beneficial spaces for both women and men.
This is the point at which I should suggest a possible solution, but solutions are, of course, more difficult to identify than problems. At the least, it is important to note that the online environment is not itself a solution. Understandings of gender and the hierarchical arrangements based on these understandings do not simply disappear in forums where we can't see each other. We carry these understandings with us and re-create them online. Therefore, the appearance of more women on MUDs, and online generally, is likely to help only if both women and men make specific efforts to counter the types of stereotypical understandings I have identified. Ultimately, I think the situation on MUDs, and online generally, is more a symptom of wider social problems than a cause in itself. The status of women, and understandings about gender, need to be addressed societywide. Otherwise women on MUDs are unlikely to be much more than the objects of objokes.