Haraway & Halberstam Reading Response

The readings by Haraway and Halberstam were a mixed blessing for me. On the one hand, they delved into a fascinating conversation of Marxist Feminism and how technology and postmodernism can fit into this framework. On the other hand, they were quite dense (especially Haraway), not unlike a lot of Marxist literature.

Both authors utilize the objet of a cyborg to examine how the use of technology can be made into a tool to advance feminist thought. The current gender roles of capitalism consist of men being thought of as the ones who hold the intellectual power and dominance over the world, while women are emotional and are in-sync with nature and are dominated. The concept of a female cyborg breaks from these contraints and uses technology to reverse gender roles and put women in a place of intellectual and structural equality. Despite the technophobia of most feminists, technology here is actually being used to level the playing field.

Although I don’t entirely agree with Haraway and Halberstam’s theory, I do appreciate how they are the ones to introduce a counterpoint to the relationship between women and technology. On the basis of our class discussions, as well as various readings, feminists and technology are often antagonistic. Technology is often seen as an extension of male identity and a tool of patriarchy to oppress women. In this alternate view technology can be co-opted by feminists to advance their own views.