Technology Diary 2: Big Machinery

As I sat down to write this blog post, I realized that my blog posts in the technology diary are probably very different than those of my other classmates. Being the only man in the class, I find myself comparing the usage of technology from a man’s perspective to that of a woman’s, rather than just discussing the relationship between feminism and technology.

Regardless, this week I want to talk about something that is very stereotypically male, an obsession with big machinery. This is probably one of the biggest male gender roles out there, but I often find it to be true. I even find myself (even from a young age) having a strange attraction to cars, construction equipment, and other large machinery. I think some of this can be contributed to what Rosser said when discussing the different theories of feminism; men’s usage of technology is representative of their outlook of the world, to conquer and shape aggressively, and thus machinery that does that is appealing. But this is not he sole reason, part of it, I think, can also be attributed to men historically being the designers and operators of these types of technology and it thus becomes so closely weaved into our gender roles that it lacks a real explanation.

But then there are outliers. There are men who are completely disinterested by these types of technology, and women who are completely fascinated by it. It could be a social anomaly lacking a single explanation, or it could be the antithesis of the stereotypical male obsession with big machinery. Regardless I’d like to open up the discussion to the community.