June 24, 2008
Men More Willing to Share Than Women ... Online, at Least
Want your man to open up and share? Get him a broadband connection.
A new survey says men are more likely than women to share their creative works online, even though both sexes participate in creative activities at roughly equal rates.
Researchers at Northwestern University surveyed 1,060 freshmen from the University of Illinois at Chicago. They found that, on average, two out of three men and two out of three women engage in creative writing, art photography, music, or film/video generally. But while almost two-thirds of men reported posting these types of creative works online, only half of women reported doing so.
“Because sharing information on the Internet today is a form of participating in public culture and contributing to public discourse, that tells us men’s voices are being disproportionately heard,” Eszter Hargittai, a co-author of the study, said in a news release.
The release also noted that when researchers “controlled for self-reported digital literacy and Web know-how…they found that men and women actually posted their material about equally.”
The most popular type of creative content posted online was creative writing, followed by videos. —Catherine Rampell
Posted on Tuesday June 24, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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Thank goodness Eszter Hargittai uncovered this injustice to women. Another testosterone conspiracy foiled…
What I would like her to find out is why MEN are disproportionately participating in the shaved head/goatee craze that is sweeping the nation!
Don’t try to deny it—I’ve seen 14 bald men with goatees today, but NOT ONE WOMAN. I demand an explanation, and right now, mister!
— Snake Jun 24, 02:49 PM #
Given that your snippet here states that when researchers “controlled for self-reported digital literacy and Web know-how…they found that men and women actually posted their material about equally.” isn’t your headline misleading and disingenious?
— deborah Jun 24, 03:08 PM #
Couldn’t this also have been titled “Woman are More Protective of Intellectual Property than Men”?
And why would this be a bad thing?
— buddy Jun 24, 05:06 PM #
As a man, I feel compelled to share this with all of you. I haven’t read the above article. Nor do I intend to. I don’t really need to do that in order to share. Please tally me as a man who shares. Now that I’ve shared, I feel much better. And isn’t that what it’s all about — feelings?
— HL Morgan Jun 24, 06:05 PM #
Women could be less willing to share something as intimate and revealing as creative writing, art, or photography. In this day, the next thing you know, you’ve got a stalker or some other pest on your case. That does make a person more discriminating about posting personal information anywhere. In fact, I wouldn’t be posting here now if I had to show my real name and email address. It makes one feel vulnerable in situations that ought to be perfectly safe, but aren’t. Before the comedy routines begin, let me add both men and women, have participated in getting us to this sorry state. And no, I do not care to engage on who has done the most damage,…there is enough to go around.
— TT Jun 24, 06:19 PM #
Simple observation could tell you this. Men share items more readily than women. Ask any women who is reading a newspaper for a part of the paper that she has completed reading – then do the same with a man, the results are astounding.
— Duck Dodger Jun 25, 08:38 AM #
The article doesn’t detail why women might be reluctant to share their creative work online. There are perhaps several reasons but one might be insecurity about the quality of one’s work and worthiness of it being posted for all to see. We should be (if we are not already) educating women to not only be creative but to also have enough self-confidence to display/share one’s work.
— doc Jun 25, 09:53 AM #
How is 1,060 freshmen an appropriate sampling size? Isn’t this study showing more how college freshman share online? It does not speak for the entire internet.
— CC Jun 25, 10:00 AM #
Maybe women are more sensible about not giving stuff away for free. I fail to understand how someone who has “created” something worthwhile is compelled (by what? ego? desire for fame and glory? what is it?) to simply post it for all to see without hope of financial reward. Is it not possible that testosterone once again turns out to be less valuable than we think?
Dr. Johnson put it pretty well, imho: “None but a blockhead, sir, ever wrote but for money.” But today people write it and post it and apparently just don’t ever wonder why there are no royalty checks.
Maybe women don’t fall for this simply because they’re more perceptive than we are.
— Dan Jun 25, 11:56 AM #