ERIC Number: ED298946
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1986
Pages: 15
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Turing's Man, Turing's Woman, or Turing's Person?: Gender, Language, and Computers. Working Paper No. 166.
Rothschild, Joan
This essay compares two recent books on computer technology in terms of their usage of gendered or gender-free language. The two books examined are "Turing's Man: Western Culture in the Computer Age" by J. David Bolter and "The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit" by Sherry Turkle. It is argued that the two authors' gender differences in language usage and style (with Bolter using gendered language, and Turkle using gender-free language) reveal gendered differences in approach to subject matter, questions asked, content, and cultural and philosophical assumptions. The impact of this critique for teaching is examined, with specific consideration of use of the critique for raising gender issues in the classroom. (7 end notes and 21 references) (EW)
Descriptors: Computers, Creativity, Feminism, Language Usage, Man Machine Systems, Sex Fairness, Sex Role
Publication Type: Information Analyses; Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Wellesley Coll., MA. Center for Research on Women.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
