Technology Diary 2: Birth Control
The piece of technology I would like to speak about for this week is Birth Control. When it first came out, different forms of birth control allowed women to take control of their reproductive decisions and it was met with a lot of stigma from society. Women who used diaphragms or went on the pill were looked down upon as “whores” and some health care professionals who gave out forms of birth control, particularly those who worked with universities and other academic institutions, were threatened with termination of contract if they continued handing these items out to their patients. We have come a long way since then and now women have control with easier access to contraceptives. Politics comes into play often and a woman’s right to choose comes into question way to often but Planned Parenthood has a lot to boast about.
My question is that with a pill for women, why do we not yet have a pill for men? There are so many products that enhance the sexual experience for men or help them go for longer periods of time so I do not understand why there is not enough funding for research to find something that would prevent sperm from being released besides just a condom. The pill for women started as an increase in control but has quickly turned into sole responsibility of the female. Making a pill for men would mean that they would now have to share the responsibility if something were to go wrong.
The other factor is the modes of birth control that exist for men is mainly used superficially, meaning that a condom is temporary assistance that fits like a glove. The pill on the other hand has to do with hormonal changes and if a woman is not on the right form of the pill or the patch or any other type that delivers chemical signals, the side effects can be really harmful. The birth control disclaimers always warn to stop use if thoughts of suicide begin forming. Why must women put such powerful things in her body to ensure that she does not have a child before she is ready. As we speak about traditional gender roles and how they need to be broken, we must bring the issue of birth control to the men as well. Women need to work and the age women are deciding to have children is getting older. The responsibility must be on both the male and the female equally and if such a pill was devised, it would help share the responsibility and further decrease the chances of an unplanned pregnancy.
Technology is…
The best and worst thing to happen to our society.
Feminism is…
Empowerment, rights, uniform, movement, revolutionary.
Reading Response: De Lauretis
In our society, we constantly look for a way to put a label on things, a way to identify and categorize, and as our society evolves our labels also evolve to suit the way we’re thinking, to accommodate how we are shaping our world.
When we think about feminism, the first thing that usually comes to mind is women. Feminism is about the rights of women, it is about gender equality, it is about empowerment and control by the “underdog.” These are the labels we have put on the term. Now imagine describing, representing feminism in a way that actually goes beyond the sexual differences, that smashes all those paradigms, paradigms our ideas have actually created. Plot twist, I know.
In her essay, De Lauretis describes how the way we have grouped women, as one single entity even, equal to their male counterparts limits the woman… Well, how can we explore all that each individual woman has to offer when we have deemed the term ‘women’ as a group all clumped together. Always together. These differences go beyond the sexual, they are differences that force us to take a closer look, to explore and appreciate each tile that makes up the mosaic that is a woman.
One of the most interesting points I felt like Lauretis makes in her article is that we are essentially the creators of our society. Through technology, the media, our most powerful medium, we set boundaries, we decide what is right and what is wrong, we agree to accept or to deny. With our tools we have created a world for our gender, we have created a label in our minds of how a feminist, and how a female in general should act. What are the unspoken qualifications? We set the limits, and people scramble to reach the expectations, the images, the labels that society has created for us–our longing for acceptance. But, for us to truly smash all paradigms we have to question and prove what we (our society) have deemed correct. Women have been fighting for rights, they have been fighting to remove the labels, but essentially the women who are fighting have created labels for themselves.
Rosser/Freedman/Fausto Sterling
Rosser, Freedman’s and Fausto Sterling’s passages all touch upon people view feminism and how the ideology of “gender” has affected us in today’s society. Where Freedman focuses on the workplace and Fausto Sterling on gender roles. Rosser gives a good breakdown on the different types of feminism and how there is an umbrella of things that could be categorized under how these different types of feminists would go about different ways and have different things they prioritize.
Sterling’s piece “Sexing the Body” especially stood out to me because the differentiation between someone’s sex and gender has become more apparent in today’s age. She talks about how someone can be born biologically as a male or female but personally feel another way. People now associate gender as more of a societal thing. Where those who have certain characteristics are automatically given a certain role. I like how Fautso Sterling talks about homosexuality as well and how the idea of it has changed over time. In the past, especially during the time of ancient Greece, homosexuality was quite normal. Older men would often have younger apprentices and take advantage of them. Now however instead of it being only a sexual thing, homosexuality has become more of an identity where it’s not only about sex but also the personality of them person themselves. I think it gives a good insight on how gender has become more of an identity.
In Freedman’s passage when she talks about which woman feminism represents shows us that in the past feminism was not truly for equal rights for all woman but rather equal rights for white wealthy woman. This reminds me of a past article I read that Sojourner Truth wrote and how she talked about how she too was a woman yet she was not receiving the same treatment that other woman were receiving. The beginning of feminism was still very biased. Women were fighting for equal rights yet it was only a certain privileged classed that reaped the benefits in the beginning. Others still had to overcome the issues of class and race. She also talks about how people are less willing to say they are feminists. The definition of what feminism is has become very broad in society and often times people just see it as empowerment of woman yet their main goal is for equal rights for both women and men.
Technology Diary 1
I find that the online gaming community has been primarily unwelcoming to the female population. Besides just playing games where women’s armor is more useless than wearing plain clothes, as shown by this satirical video, the advertising for all these games is specifically geared towards men. By showing new cars, powerful guns and scantily clad women, commercials appeal to the limbic part of the male brain. The companies do not care that there is a large portion of women who are interested in video and computer games. They would rather keep appealing to the audience they already have than step out into the untapped potential of making games for the female gender by simply fixing the ones that already exist by making them more realistic.
The online gaming community and forums are really helpful for those who seek others who have similar interests to their own. Users can discuss cheat codes and strategies and speculate on the successful of a new game that will be released soon. The technology allows for people to connect no matter where they are. Not surprisingly, the anonymity that comes with being behind a computer screen allows for a false sense of bravery and causes people to say things they would not be able to say to someone’s face.
Girls who are into games and online technology and have expert knowledge on any “male dominated” matters are often labeled as “unattractive” or “fake” and less often, “hot.” I have different issues with all these characterizations. For the first, why does the fact that a woman decides to fearlessly follow her passion have to mean that she is unattractive or that she is merely into video games because she is trying to get male attention? With the second, I feel that men feel that anyone encroaching on “their” activities is being someone else or again, just in it for the attention and I do not understand why that it. With the last label, the strategy, thought and skill that goes into playing video games is diminished when a woman is being objectified by merely her looks. On Reddit, several comments calling girls who actively participate in different forums are called “gold-diggers” and other derogatory terms, and these are the comments that get the most “upvotes”.
I am not a “gamer girl” and in all honesty, this analysis is getting me nowhere near spending hundreds of dollars supporting an industry where I am clearly not a valued customer, or be extended the same courtesy online that my brother would.
Reminder about class requirements
Hi Everyone,
Thanks to Vita and Caroline for getting the ball rolling with blog posts.
I want to remind everyone that since this is a hybrid class you are required to participate in the class forum. You can think of that as our online classroom. Please join conversation there by the Monday prior to a class meeting/check in day. It is very appropriate–encouraged!–for you to join forum discussion before you have completed all readings. Better yet, post questions and ideas there as you read. It’s the place where we can bounce ideas around and get to know one another.
So:
- By each Monday: Join forum discussion
- By each Thursday: Make your blog post
Happy talking. May the odds be ever in your favor!
Class Readings and Materials
Books
Estelle Freedman, No Turning Back
Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games
Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake
Articles and Excerpts: See Documents section
Judith Butler, “Imitation and Gender Insubordination” (from Inside/Out)
Teresa deLauretis, “The Technology of Gender” (from The Technology of Gender: Essays on Film, Theory, and Fiction)
Donna Haraway, “A Cyborg Manifesto” (from Simians, Cyborgs, and Women)
J. Jack Halberstam, “Automating Gender: Postmodern Feminism in the Age of the Intelligent Machine” (from Sex/Machine: Readings in Culture, Gender, and Technology)
Anne Fausto-Sterling, “Dueling Dualisms” from Sexing the Body
Sue V. Rosser, “Using the Lenses of Feminist Theories to Focus on Women and Technology” from Women, Gender, and Technology
Siobhan Somerville, “Scientific Racism and the Invention of the Homosexual Body” (from Queering the Colorline)
Films
Sleeper
Alien
Multimedia Materials
FemTechNet Dialogues (posted to the FemTechNet Commons)
Additional readings, including timely articles from blogs, newspapers, and online magazines, may be assigned. They will be linked on the course site.
Syllabus
Hi Again! You can find our syllabus under the Documents tab. But here’s a link to the syllabus.
The syllabus is arranged chronologically. Have the readings/assignments completed *by* the associated date. Please let me know if you have any questions.
