This articlecompares two extended interactions that took place recently on the Internet, one from a recreational Internet Relay Chat (IRC)channel, and the other from an academic listservdiscussion group. The two interactions exhibit similar gender dynamic s, which can be characterized as harassment of female by male participants. This harassment takes different forms, in keeping with the possibilities inherent in the two modes of computer-mediated communication. Whereas female participants on IRC are kicked off the channel, in the discussion group harassers must rely exclusively on language to intimidate and silence. This ª rhetoric of harassmentº crucially invokes libertarian principles of freedom of expression, constructing women’s resistance as ª censorship.º A rhetorical analysis of the two harassment episodes thus sheds light on the means used to construct and maintain asymmetrical gender and power dynamic s in different modes of CMC.

financial support for this project. Many people have been involved at various stages of my work on this dissertation. It was frequently the subject of conversation in many of the car journeys up to the Hebrew University, both with the car pool regulars and a large number of casual riders. An early formulation of some of my ideas was discussed by a reading group of Prof. Illouz‘s graduate students. Yael Hashiloni-Dolev read a draft of Chapter 3. I am grateful for these contributions to my work—both formal and informal alike. Michal Frenkel and Michael Shalev were particularly supportive and helpful throughout, offering advice and friendly encouragement and always taking an interest in how things were coming along. I am very lucky to have had Eva Illouz as my supervisor for this work. Her incisiveness and vision helped me formulate the ideas behind this study. As it evolved beyond its original premises, taking me to fields I had not expected to venture into, Eva let me explore and develop my work as I saw fit. When I needed her input, though, her direction was invaluable. By inviting me to collaborate with her on a