Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941) writes and speaks about social and political issues, often from a feminist or socialist perspective, and contributes to many magazines such as The Nation and Mother Jones. Her books include Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers (co-authored with Deirdre English, Feminist Press, 1973), The Hearts of Men: American Dreams and the Flight from Commitment (Anchor/Doubleday, 1983), The Worst Years of Our Lives: Irreverent Notes from a Decade of Greed (Pantheon, 1990), and The Snarling Citizen (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1995). This essay appeared in 1995 in the newsmagazine Time for which Ehrenreich writes a regular column of social commentary.
"Put Your Pants on, Demonboy"
(Composing Cyberspace p. 80)
1. How would you describe Ehrenreich's goals or motivations for "wandering" into an America Online chat room? How much experience in cyberspace did she seem to have before this incident, and how can you tell?
2. Ehrenreich writes that she's "not even sure whether to call this sexual harassment" (¶ 3) when "Demonboy" propositions her. Would you call this behavior harassment? Why or why not?
3. In what ways does Ehrenreich seem to feel that "the promise of cyberspace" (¶ 6) fails or disappoints, and how does she explain these failures? How fair a test do you think she has given the potentials of cyberspace?
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