Guiding question 4: Is a cyborg queer? Discuss critical thinking on the intersections between sexuality and technology.
In reality, we all may only have one identity and gender but not in the case when we are on the Internet. The author had used her personal experience to clarify that it is so much easier for us or cyborg to change their identity just pressing a button. The reason why we have a desires to change our gender on Internet because we just curious about what if we turn to be a girl or a boy and we want to experience the feeling of our opposite gender; even we might use our gender as a mean to get more benefits (especially when we are playing online games). More interestingly, those online games are actually assumed the gender setting and these can also strengthen the boundary between male and female.
However, the author found that, it is much different from the real life, if you want to change your gender in reality; you have to do the “reassignment” surgery and pay a large amount of money to achieve this.
I found this article is so relevant to our week 5 lecture about the identity and what the author said in the article was actually simulated my mind to re-think what is sexuality means to us? Why we treat our gender so much trivial on Internet.
2. Lykke, Nina. Are Cyborgs Queer? Biological Determinism and Feminist Theory in the Age of New Reproductive Technologies and Reprogenetics. (retrieved on)
This is a research paper which tries to mainly examine two things, could cyborg be an element to break the norm in other to let people know the biological determinism is not something nature, but social constructed. In this paper, Dr.Lykke had mentioned about some approaches which referred to two scholars, Judith Butler and Michel Foucault. They both agree that sex and sexuality are not that neutral, they are all culturally and socially constructed, therefore, cyborg can actually deconstructs the dualities of men or women and human and machine etc.
Apart from this, another point that the researcher wish to look more deeply about is how the sexuality and technology could influence the new form of reproduction? Since most of the people assume that human reproduction is something regarded to heterosexual couple, but how about those queer or even cyborgs desires to make babies? With the development of technology, reproduction is no longer only related to sexual intercourse but also could happen in the laboratory. Who is the “real parents?” and how to decide the gander of the baby may becomes the most challenging question to all of us.
This research paper is very relevant to my guiding question; it had not only provided a lot different view points form different scholars for my reference, also it had given a lot of ideas on is a cyborg queer.
3. Maheu, Marlene. “Self help Magazine.” The Future of Cyber-Sex and Relationship Fidelity: Cyborg Theory. (retrieved on)
In this article, Dr Maheu illustrated that human cannot live without technology and we are now more and more depend on technology or Internet. She had also used two examples to explain her argument.
The first one is about a well-known scientist and writer who suffer from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This disease would causes muscle weakness and hey cannot use their own voice for talking, so they have to rely on a special microphone to make sound and talk, the sound which generated by this microphone sounds like robot talking. In this case, technology can help human to get over the problem of health difficulties or disabilities.
The second example is about a girl who called Rebecca. Mr. Robin Hamman had considered that Rebecca as a cyborg because most of her sex partner were came from Internet (AOL chat rooms). However, she would only engaged phone sex and cyber sex with her online sex partner as she thought that if it happened in the real world, it was an immoral problem that she could not accept.
The two examples that mentioned in this article is actually explaining technology could blur the borderline between human and technology and this article could become my back up reference if I will focus on what the differences when people act in cyberspace and reality.
4. McGinnis, Kati. Gender Performance, Transgression and the Cyborg in Battlestar Galactica. (retrieved on)
We are all cyborg, the boundary between animal and machine is blurred, and however, the traditional gender performance like women are subordinated and they are always be objectified etc, these kind of stereotyping are still exiting especially in movies or TV dramas. Ms McGinnis then used a TV series Battlestar Galactica as an example to explained how we could breakthrough all these traditional stereotypes. In some extent, these kinds of traditional stereotypes could also reflect some of the social reality.
This TV drama is a super-fiction that “challenges gender construction, and plays with the cyborg identity”. Female cyborgs in the TV show are more likely to be marginalized, they are not belonging to any human discourses, and they are just an object to be assigned some mission to achieve. Nevertheless, female cyborgs in Battlestar Galactica had empower to be a dominant characters, they are no longer that subordinated. Therefore, the TV drama can actually blur the boundary between science fiction and the reality; it also could be one of a way to liberate gender identity.
It is a detailed paper on how we can re-identify our body and gender with sound arguments. She also used example to explain the theory from Donna Haraway which I think this paper not only can help a lot on my guiding question but also let me have a deeper understanding on Haraway’s work.5. Syd, M. “Mbiim Blog.” Are Cyborgs a Trend/Threat for Humanization?.
This article is mainly about what does cyborg means to us? Are they just as a tool for protecting us during the war or for the scientific needs? Also, the whole article is chiefly based on the approach for Donna Haraway.
The author first try to let the reader had a more clear idea of what is cyborg. Cyborg means in
The author also illustrated the influences of the science fiction movies, books or TV drama on how we perceive cyborg’s identity. For example, in most of the science-fiction movies, cyborg is a creature that just subordinate to human being, why they are exist in this world because they need to help the human to achieve their political goal. However, we are always neglecting the gender and sexuality of the cyborg…
I have a more concise understanding on what is cybrog after I read this article and the dominant assumption which made by those movies and book are really useful which can let me look more deeply in my guiding question as well.
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