It is true today that science and technology are imbedded into the structure of our society, and both play an integral part in it. However, science throughout history has been a male-dominated sphere, where science fiction writing and advances in technology, to name a few, have been part of a world which subjugates women. It is only in recent years that women have become far more involved in science, and technology in society. In techonology today, women are ever present in the cyborg figure. This mainly has to do with Donna Haraway's Cyborg Manifest, which changed the way feminists thought about science, and the way that science thought about women. Below are five online sources, found from all different areas of the Internet, which support of critique Haraway's cyborg manifest from a feminist point of view.
1. Campbell, Kirsten (2004). 'The Promise of Feminist Reflexitives: Developing Donna Haraway's Project for Feminist Science Studies', Hypatia, 19:1, 162-180. Accessed 19 August 2008.
This article focuses directly on Donna Haraway's ideas of feminism in the world of science. The article argues that Donna Haraway "provides an important account of science studies that is both feminist and constructive." As well as changing the identity of the cyborg, Haraway has also changed the way feminists view science studies. This article talks mainly about these issues, and is also very supportive of Haraway's ideas on science studies.
2. Sharp, Sharon (2007). 'Fembot Feminism: The Cyborg Body and Feminist Discourse in The Bionic Woman,' Women's Studies, 36:7, 507-523. Accessed 21 August 2008.
Sharon Sharp's article, 'Fembot Feminism: The Cyborg Body and Feminist Discourse in The Bionic Woman' talks about the first cyborg on television, Jaime Sommers in The Bionic Woman. This article focuses on how the female cyborg came into popular culture. The Bionic Woman was one of the most popular television shows of the 1970s, and was about a woman whose body was reconstructed with similar parts to man. The article mainly talks about the success of the television show, and audience's reactions to it. However it does also briefly mention about the cyborg aspect, and touches on how most people in today's society have been "reconstructed" in one way of another.
3. Plant, Sadie (1996). 'On the Matrix: Cyberfeminist Simulations', in Rob Shields (ed.), Culture of Internet: Virtual Spaces, Real Histories, Living Bodies, London: Sage, 170-183. Accessed 20 August 2008.
Sadie Plant is a very well known advocate for cyberfeminism. She argues "for a radical break with deep-seated gendered perceptions of technology." Having a strong feminist view on technology, Plant feels that women's minority can be of an advantage to them in the digital world and that they are inherently superior in cyberspace. This article by Sadie Plant also talks about the wealth of opportunity for women in cyberspace, as it is such a broad and never-ending arena that women are able to progress in the world of science. This article does not refer to Donna Haraway, yet talks about cyberspace as a whole.
4. Scott, Krista (1997). 'The Cyborg, the Scientist, the Feminist and Her Critic.' The Feminist eZine. Acccessed 21 August 2008.
This article focuses on the image of the cyborg, in critiquing yet also agreeing with Haraway's view of the cyborg in feminist understandings. Haraway states that the image of the cyborg is "a cybemetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction." The author of this article focuses on this, and wether the cyborg is gendered or non-gendered. The author also focuses on science in society and where feminism is involved. Like Haraway, she seems to believe that feminism needs to move forward with science, not against it.
5. Caddick, Alison (1992). 'Feminist and Postmodern: Donna Haraway's Cyborg.' Arena Archives. Accessed 22 August 2008.
This article comes from a very left wing website, which makes it different from the rest of the articles. It has a strong argumentative and critical tone, which critiques and supports Haraway's writings. The article talks about second-wave feminism, class and race subjugation, white patriarchal society in Australia and America, and how these relate to the cyborg. The author of this article questions wether the cyborg really is an ideological figure, or just a mere construction.
All of these articles focus on the idea of the 'cyborg.' In today's society, are we all cyborgs? Is the cyborg really an ideological figure? Is the cyborg gendered? And has feminism finally embraced the cyborg? All of these questions are answered in the above articles. Donna Haraway's cyborg has helped feminists embrace science, and enabled feminists to be a part of the world of science and cyberspace. No longer a field dominated by males, Haraway has advanced women in the field of science through her cyborg manifest and ideas about the cyborg. All of these articles either challenge of embrace Haraway's view, yet all come from a feminist point of view. The cyborg has redefined what it is to be human, with feminists taking up this form of technology in what was once a male-dominated area.
REFERENCES
Caddick, Alison (1992). 'Feminist and Postmodern: Donna Haraway's Cyborg.' Arena Archives.
Campbell, Kirsten (2004). 'The Promise of Feminist Reflexitivities: Developing Donna Haraway's Project for Feminist Science Studies', Hypatia, 19:1, 162-180.
Haraway, Donna J. (1985). 'A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist Feminism in the 1980s," Socialist Review 15(2), 65-107.
Plant, Sadie (1996). 'On the Matrix: Cyberfeminist Simulations,' in Rob Shields (ed.), Culture of Internet: Virtual Spaces, Real Histories, Living Bodies, London: Sage, 170-183.
Scott, Krista (1997). 'The Cyborg, the Scientist, the Feminist and Her Critic.' The Feminist eZine.
Sharp, Sharon (2007). 'Fembot Feminism: The Cyborg Body and Feminist Discourse in The Bionic Woman,' Women's Studies, 36:7, 507-523.
Tolfetti, Kim (2007). Cyborgs and Barbie Dolls: Feminism, Popular Culture and the Posthuman Body. New York, Tauris.
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