The term "cyberspace" has been used uncritically to imply that computer-mediated communications constitute a new kind of space. Cyberspace, however, is not a place, but a metaphor. By examining these communications within varied contexts, this dissertation shows some ways in which the "spaces" of on-line interactions are not, as many commentators assume, intrinsically revolutionary. Rather, the communicative realms of cyberspace are created from and deeply imbricated with the historically entrenched gender and power relations of everyday life. Using a three-part framework derived from the work of Henri Lefebvre, this work examines cyberspace as it is constituted within three different but crucially connected domains: (1) the everyday world of computer workers in an international law firm, (2) in the pages of the "cyberpunk" science fiction of the 1980s in which the term was coined and (3) in the varied electronic fora of the Internet itself and in the technologies of virtual reality.; First, in the world of clerical workers, both physical and electronic space is highly circumscribed. Those at the top of the corporate hierarchy have unlimited access to clerical services 24 hours per day from wherever they might be around the globe. In fact the freedoms granted by cyberspace within the context of the global economy may rest upon the backs of office workers whose physical and electronic mobility is severely limited. Second, cyberspace arises out of the images of masculinist cyberpunk science fiction. The connotations of the term, as well as of the many nouns and verbs used to describe activity on the Internet, are rife with implicit and explicit sexist and colonialist assumptions. Finally, examining the medium qua medium, this study critically analyzes on-line practices and takes issue with those who argue that computer-mediated communications, in purportedly conferring new kinds of identities and positing new relationships to the body, are inherently liberating, particularly for women.; In conclusion, this new geography of cyberspace suggests ways to examine computer-mediated communications not in isolation but in their myriad connections to real-world gender and power relations.
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