Sex Categorization in Computer Mediated Communication (CMC): Exploring the Utopian Promise

Cue-lean media lack the physical information people traditionally rely on for social status attributions. It is possible the absence of this visible physical information reduces the influence of categorizations such as biological sex. If this were true, then cue-lean media may facilitate more egalitarian participation in interactions where all voices are equal (Hert, 1997; Lea & Spears, 1992; Rice & Love, 1987; Siegel, Dubrovsky, Kiesler, & McGuier, 1986). These predictions are part of what has been called the utopian promise of cue-lean media. At the same time, these social status attributions are mentally salient, perceived to provide useful information, and frequently used in the person perception process (Bodenhausen & Macrae, 1998). It is possible that the mental salience of these categories sustains people's reliance on them whether the physical indicators are visible or not. These contrasting predictions were tested using a between-subjects experimental design. Forty-two undergraduates at a large Midwestern university took part in this experiment. Participants engaged in the desert survival task across networked computers using text. Following the interactions, more than 1/3 of participants did not assign their partner to a sex category. The majority of those who made an attribution of their partner's biological sex were inaccurate. Those who did not assign their partner to a sex category felt more immediacy and credibility as compared to those who did. Female participants reported the medium as being able to provide more social presence than did male participants. Implications for the utopian predictions in computer-mediated interactions are discussed.