Processed Lives

We live in a world saturated by innovative technology. A world which has seen a dramatic profileration of new devices, methods of communication, biological and biomedical developments and creative domestic machinery. But are these new technologies and machineries helpful for our understading of gender? Are they merely reflecting our concepts of masculinity and femininity, or can they shape these notions? Processed Lives analyzes the interrelations of gender and technology. It considers how the terms of gender are embodied in technologies, and conversely, how technologies shape our notions of gender. The contributors explore the complex territory between the lust for technology and the fear of technology, commenting particularly on the ambivalence women experience in relation to machines. Discussing topics such as embryonic fertilization, the virtual female, networking women, the sexuality of computers, the male criminal, the inexact science of gender, bathrooms, and the emancipation of Barbie, Processed Lives asks the question, who actually benefits from technology? Barbie Liberation Organization, Ericka Beckman, Lisa Cartwright, Gregg Bordowitz, Sara Diamond, Judith Halberstam, Evelynn Hammonds, Kathy High, David Horn, Ira Livingston, Bonita Makuch, Margaret