Cybersexualities: A Reader in Feminist Theory, Cyborgs and Cyberspace

383 Pages·1999·45.617 MB·English

by  Jenny Wolmark

Cybersexualities
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CYBERSEXU ALITIES
A READER ON FEMINIST THEORY,
CYBORGS AND CYBERSPACE
Edited and with an Introduction by
Jenny Wolmark
EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS
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© Jenny Wolmark, introduction,
selection and editorial materials, 1999
Transferred to Digital Print 2011
Edinburgh University Press
22 George Square, Edinburgh
Typeset in Sabon and Gill Sans
by Bibliocraft Ltd, Dundee, and
printed and bound in Great Britain
by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne
A CIP record for this book is available
from the British Library
ISBN 0 7486 1118 5 (hardback)
ISBN 0 7486 1117 7 (paperback)
The right of the contributors to be
identified as authors of this work has
been asserted in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.
CONTENTS
Copyright Acknowledgements vii
Introduction and Overview by Jenny Wolmark 1
Part 1: Technology, Embodiment and Cyberspace 11
Introduction 13
1. Mary Ann Doane:
'Technophilia: Technology, Representation,
and the Feminine' 20
2. Claudia Springer:
The Pleasure of the Interface' 34
3. Zoe Sofia:
'Virtual Corporeality: A Feminist View' 55
4. Allucquere Rosanne Stone:
'Will the Real Body Please Stand Up?
Boundary Stories about Virtual Cultures' 69
5. Sadie Plant:
'The Future Looms:
Weaving Women and Cybernetics' 99
6. Elizabeth Grosz:
'Space, Time, and Bodies' 119
Part 2: Cybersubjects: Cyborgs and Cyberpunks 137
Introduction 139
7. Anne Balsamo:
'Reading Cyborgs Writing Feminism' 145
8. N. Katherine Hayles:
'The Life Cycle of Cyborgs: Writing the Posthuman' 157
9. Veronica Hollinger:
'Cybernetic Deconstructions:
Cyberpunk and Postmodernism' 174
CONTENTS
10. Nicola Nixon:
'Cyberpunk: Preparing the Ground for
Revolution or Keeping the Boys Satisfied?' 191
11. Thomas Foster:
'Meat Puppets or Robopaths? Cyberpunk
and the Question of Embodiment' 208
12. Jenny Wolmark:
'The Postmodern Romances of
Feminist Science Fiction' 230
Part 3: Cyborg Futures 239
Introduction 241
13. Chela Sandoval:
'New Sciences: Cyborg Feminism and
the Methodology of the Oppressed' 247
14. Jennifer Gonzalez:
'Envisioning Cyborg Bodies:
Notes from Current Research' 264
15. Kathleen Woodward:
'From Virtual Cyborgs to Biological Time Bombs:
Technocriticism and the Material Body' 280
16. Donald Morton:
'Birth of the Cyberqueer' 295
17. Donna Haraway:
'The Promises of Monsters: A Regenerative
Politics for Inappropriate/d Others' 314
Bibliography 367
Index 372
VI
COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to
reproduce material in this book previously published elsewhere. Every effort has
been made to trace copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently
overlooked the publisher will be pleased to make the necessary arrangement at
the first opportunity.
1. Mary Ann Doane, 'Technophilia: Technology, Representation and the
Feminine', from M. Jacobus et al (eds), Body/Politics, New York and
London: Routledge, 1990.
2. Claudia Springer, 'The Pleasure of the Interface', from Screen, 32, No. 3,
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.
3. Zoe Sofia, 'Virtual Corporeality: A Feminist View', from Australian
Feminist Studies, 15, Adelaide: University of Adelaide, 1992.
4. Allucquere Rosanne Stone, 'Will the Real Body Please Stand Up? Boundary
Stories about Virtual Cultures', from M. Benedikt (ed.), Cyberspace: First
Steps, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1991.
5. Sadie Plant, 'The Future Looms: Weaving Women and Cybernetics', from
M. Featherstone and R. Burrows (eds), Cyberspace, Cyberbodies,
Cyberpunks, London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage, 1995.
6. Elisabeth Grosz, 'Space, Time, and Bodies', from Space, Time and
Perversion by E. Grosz, New York and London: Routledge, 1995.
7. Anne Balsamo, 'Reading Cyborgs Writing Feminism', from
Communication, 10, Lausanne: Gordon and Breach Publishing Group,
1988.
8. N. Katherine Hayles, 'The Life Cycle of Cyborgs: Writing the Posthuman',
from M. Benjamin (ed.), A Question of Identity, New Jersey: Rutgers
University Press, 1993, © N. Katherine Hayles.
9. Veronica Hollinger, 'Cybernetic Deconstructions: Cyberpunk and
Postmodernism', from L. McCaffery (ed.), Storming the Reality Studio,
Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1991.
10. Nicola Nixon, 'Cyberpunk: Preparing the Ground for Revolution or
Keeping the Boys Satisfied?', from Science Fiction Studies, 19, Greencastle:
De Pauw University, 1992.
11. Thomas Foster, 'Meat Puppets or Robopaths? Cyberpunk and the
Question of Emobodiment', from Genders, 18, Austin, Texas: University of
Texas Press, 1993.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
12. Jenny Wolmark, 'The Postmodern Romances of Feminist Science Fiction',
from L. Pearce and J. Stacey (eds), Romance Revisited, London: Lawrence
and Wishart, 1995.
13. Chela Sandoval, 'New Sciences: Cyborg Feminism and the Methodology of
the Oppressed', from C. Gray (ed.), The Cyborg Handbook, London and
New York: Routledge, 1995.
14. Jennifer Gonzalez, 'Envisioning Cyborg Bodies: Notes from Current
Research', from C. Gray (ed.), The Cyborg Handbook, London and New
York: Routledge, 1995.
15. Kathleen Woodward, 'From Virtual Cyborgs to Biological Time Bombs:
Technocriticism and the Material Body', from G. Bender and T. Druckrey
(eds), Culture on the Brink, Seattle: Bay Press, 1994.
16. Donald Morton, 'Birth of the Cyberqueer', from PMLA, 110, New York:
Modern Language Association of America, 1995.
17. Donna Haraway, 'The Promises of Monsters: A Regenerative Politics for
Inappropriate/d Others', from L. Grossberg, C. Nelson and P. Treichler
(eds), Cultural Studies, New York and London: Routledge, 1992.
ILLUSTRATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
2.1: Metropolis, courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art/Film Stills Archive,
New York; 2.2 and 2.3: Cyberpunk, courtesy of the Innovative Corporation,
Scott Rockwell and Daryl Banks; 2.4: Interface, courtesy of James D. Hudnall
and Paul Johnson; 14.1: UHorlogere, courtesy of Bibliotheque Nationale de
Paris; 14.2: Hannah Hoch, Das schone Madchen (The Beautiful Girl), 1919-20,
35 x 29 cm, private collection; 14.3: Raoul Hausmann, Tete Mechanique.
UEsprit de notre temps, courtesy of Musee National d'Art Moderne, Centre
Georges Pompidou, Paris; 14.4: Robert Longo: All Your Zombies: Truth Before
God, courtesy of Robert Longo; 14.5 and 14.6: Silent Mobius (Part One, Issue
6), courtesy of Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co, Tokyo 102-0071, Japan; 17.1:
A Few Words About Reproduction from a Leader in the Field, courtesy of Logic
General; 17.2: Ortho-mune, courtesy of Logic General; 17.3: There are no
missing links in MacroGene Workstation, courtesy of Pharmacia LKB
Biotechnology Electrophoresis; 17.4: Realize the potential of your cell line,
courtesy of BioResponse; 17.5: The link between science and tomorrow:
Guaranteed. Pure., courtesy of Vega Technologies; 17.7: Understanding is
Everything, courtesy of Gulf Oil Corporation; 17.8: HAM, courtesy of World
Wide Pictures, © Henry Burroughs, 1961; 17.10: Nilsson: The Body Victorious
1987, courtesy of Bonnier Fakta Bokforlag AB, Sweden; 17.11: Evolution of
Recognition Systems, from Immunology at a Glance, Blackwell, Oxford; 17.12:
Cyborg, courtesy of Lynn Randolph.
viii
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
Jenny Wolmark
Over the past ten years or so, there has been a great deal of general interest
within feminist and cultural theory in two related but distinct metaphors, that
of cyberspace, and the cyborg. In the context of the contemporary post-
industrial, postmodern environment, it is perhaps not altogether surprising
that these particular metaphors should have acquired such cultural resonance.
They are an especially apt expression of the simultaneous fascination with, and
anxiety about, the rapid changes brought about by the new information and
biotechnologies, the development of which seems to occur both haphazardly
and without restraint in the global environment of transnational corporate
capitalism. In the face of such rapid change, the once stable boundaries
between time and space, human and machine, self and other have become
increasingly uncertain, raising interesting and challenging questions about
accepted definitions of space, place and identity in the post-Enlightenment
present. Despite, or perhaps because of, their science fictional overtones, these
metaphors have become increasingly visible across a range of cultural texts;
they operate on a number of different levels, and are capable of carrying
complex and often contradictory meanings. As such, they have become highly
charged signifiers which are not only fully implicated in the gendered politics of
science and technology, but are also eminently suited to deliver a critique of
those same politics. Since the mid-1980s there have been a number of
occasionally unexpected but always highly engaging and creative encounters
between cultural theory, feminist theory, cyborgs and cyberspace, and it is the
purpose of this collection of essays to chart some of the key issues that have
emerged from those encounters.
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