The funny thing is I intended this blog to be about cyberfeminism and I have not really ever posted on that. So, tonight seems to be the perfect time. I have a complicated relationship with technology and thankfully, so do many cyberfeminists. The first cyberfeminist writing was full of Utopian notions of virtual spaces. Writers saw virtual reality as new territory ripe for redefinition and liberation. Donna Harraway writes about how the complex mixing of flesh and machine challenges the traditional gender binary.
But see, pan-capitalism and the commoditization of virtual reality hindered this utopia from development (this is not to exclude resistance). In the practical applications of virtual technology real life structures were imposed on the virtual structures. To signify virtual spaces as feminine the typical pink, babies, shoes and cosmopolitan bullshit was implemented. While the technology can be somewhat democratizing (depending on what country you live in, your wealth and level of access) many virtual spaces are used to make us better consumers. Hey look now you can buy shit 24/7 and it will just show up to your door!
Cyberfeminists critique the industrial side of the Information Communication and Technology industry. Faith Wilding articulates a need to analyze the invisible maintenance labor of our highly technocratic culture. Think about the people who are manufacturing technology and performing data entry positions. Think about the impact on the environment. Think about how the speed of technology forces us to be more efficient, but at what cost to our well being?
While technologies like the internet can be very useful for organizing, informing and creating, such technologies also come with a hidden cost that the privileged refuse to see.
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