September 2009
16 posts
Look this over, do you agree? What are some of the... →
Gender Script
“Clearly, the gender script of the shavers cannot force users to invoke these gendered identities: women can reject the script (e.g. by shaving with a men’s shaver or not shaving) or even modify the script (e.g. see it as a technological challenge to open the clicked Ladyshave)” (Oudshoorn, 2003, p.12).
Although Oudshoorn suggests that the gender script of shavers can be rejected by women’s use...
Intersection of Arisaka and Lin
In the discussion of the cultural nature of technology, Arisaka (2001) claims that “what appears inefficient to an outsider is no guarantee that the users find it so, and it may lead to an adoption and development of different technologies” (p.13). This statement can be applied to the case of cybercafés in Taiwan, which is discussed by Lin (2008). Gathering in a cybercafé to play online games -...
Female Desire/Sexuality
For example, technological/scientific developments involving sexuality are particularly influenced by cultural/gendered conceptions of sexual desire.
In the early twentieth century, Sigmund Freud postulated a theory which suggested that women only experience clitoral orgasms during adolescence, and 'graduate' to vaginal orgasms upon reaching puberty. As no psychologists or doctors at the time believed it necessary to ask women how and when they reach orgasm, many subsequent theories about female sexuality were based on this erroneous presumption (which suggests that women who achieve orgasm through clitoral stimulation have either not fully reached puberty or have defective sexual organs). When one considers research which incorporates female input, such as 2008 survey from the UK which found that 46% of women surveyed are either rarely or never capable of achieving orgasm through sexual penetration, while 96% are capable of achieving orgasm through clitoral self-stimulation, it becomes apparent how damaging theories such as Freud's might have been. Moreover, it points towards the way in which these heteronormative, patriarchal conceptions of female sexuality/desire would have been incorporated into the scientific/technological developments of the time.
The emphasis on male sexuality continues to dominate despite growing recognition that females are also sexual beings. How is it that pharmaceutical industries have developed medication such as viagra which has virtually eradicated male erectile dysfunctions while the scientific community have yet reached a consensus about the existence of the g-spot orgasm, and has yet to achieve an elementary understanding of the female orgasm? It is yet 'unknown' whether vaginal, clitoral and/or g-spot orgasms exist separately or in conjunction with one another, and little is known of their nature and function. This is certainly one area of scientific/technological development which seems particularly clouded with presuppositions about gender and female sexuality, and would hugely benefit from more inclusive methods of research/analysis.
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Inclusive Technologies
In light of Arisaka's discussion of more inclusive (anti-racist, anti-colonial, anti-patriarchal) approaches to technological development, can you think of any technologies that might improve from this approach? If so, which adaptations would you suggest?
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Social Construction of Artifacts
After reading the Pinch & Bijker article about bicycles, I thought about the influence of women on the development of musical instruments. Although musical instruments may not be categorized in the field of “hard” technology (excluding electronic ones), women must have been involved in the history of musical instruments, at least as players, from a quite early stage. It might be interesting to...
For those who haven't done the readings yet, I'd suggest reading the Pinch and Bijker article before the Lie and Berg article!
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Constructivism in Berg & Lie's Article
When reading through Berg and Lie’s article, I was a bit unsure of Berg and Lie’s use of the term constructivism. Constructivism has occurred as a ‘movement’ in the fields of Mathematics, Philosophy, Art, Architecture, Linguistics and Psychology (each having various implications within each framework). While Berg and Lie are obviously talking about constructivism in the...
