Like their counterparts in the South, the barrier of high costs reveals itself to be a form of economic censorship. Why there are relatively few women using the Internet can be explained by discussing a few key factors. Men tend to dominate bulletin boards and usenet group conversations. Such outlets for on-line conversation and expression are often the exclusive domain of men. Many women are, at the very least, apprehensive about entering a domain where the perception still lingers in many quarters that pornography, much of it degrading to women and children, is, if not rife, at least prominent.
Women are understandably reluctant to interact in a medium where such perceived hostility exists.
More generally, women, by virtue of not being key players in the creation, development and management of the new technology, are distanced from accessing and using the Internet to promote themselves and express their own points of view. While there does not exist a male monopoly of the new technology, it is fair to say that it is close. The danger is for women not to take advantage of the new technology, which is, relatively speaking, still in its infancy. While women finally gained a strong foothold over twenty years ago in the print medium through the sprouting of women's publishers, bookshops and university courses where they are in charge of their own information, they must now contend with a new information revolution. After having had such a short time to savour the fruits of their success in the print medium, they must now contend with this rapidly-expanding electronic medium of expression.