Have you ever had any conflicts online because of your gender? Have you wondered or even thought about gender as you chatted online, whether or not the 'other' person behind the screen was really who they said they were? 

To understand gender online, we have to explore the history. The internet was "created by men. Even today, science and engineering fields are dominated by men and many scholars have examined this." (Gurak, Laura. Cyberliteracy, pg 67.) Perhaps that would explain why some would view the internet as "gender biased" today.  The internet was originally developed by scientists and engineers in the 1950s as a Department of Defense technology. Even today, we can see that science and engineering fields are dominated by men and many scholars have examined this issue. Technology is ultimately created by people and "within the norms of a given period, a history of the internet must ask about the culture of this time, particular-

ly the culture of the engineering world." (Gurak, Laura)