"If this website had been like, about shopping, at least, it would have been about something important." This is a direct quote from one of my subjects from the usability research I've been conducting this fall. And yes, the subject was female, and no, she was not the only one to voice similar opinions. I don't know if there is research on demographic groups' (gender, age, cultural background, etc.) attitudes toward shopping in general. I assume there must be, and I'd be interested in hearing about it. Some of the Pew research and other research has shown that women and men do not do the same things online. Women: - seek health information - seek religious information - research jobs/employment - seek travel information - play games Men: - seek news information - purchase items (AKA shopping) - seek financial information/stock trading - participate in auctions (AKA shopping) - access government websites - seek sports news/information Now, the study David is quoting shows a shift in this use, a shift showing women outdo men in online shopping now. Whether that's good or not, it's certainly not a bad thing. I assume that much of this shift also simply derives from Christmas shopping traditionally being the mother's responsibility. So, maybe we should see if this trend holds up after Christmas before we draw conclusions. Also, David's subject line (buying socks online) brings up an excellent point. What is it that these women and men are buying online? And, can we rank online purchases as to their "seriousness?" And who would define those criteria? Some kind of Intellectual Internet Elite? That alone is problematic, I think. So, finally, to David's question: "Does the quote suggest that women are thinking of the Internet in a more serious way *because* they use it to shop?" IF the quote implied that all women think of ALL shopping as serious, and IF the quote implied that they ONLY think of the Internet as a valuable tool BECAUSE you can shop there, and IF this only applied to women (and to ALL of them at that), and not to men, THEN I'd think it very problematic. However, maybe this one single, reported on trend is just one of many indicators that women are a) using the Internet more, and b) are thinking of the Internet in a positive way, assessing it useful in a variety of ways? More comments? Ulla Bunz