Tonight I began the first chapter, the one after the "Preview", of Eve Shapiro's book (Gender Circuits) entitled "A Social History of Technology and Gender." Before I go there though and to be fair to anyone who might pick this book up to read it based on something said in these blogs, I just want to mention that the organization, for me at least, is a bit haphazard, jumping from one place to another and then back again. However, I think this might simply be the nature of the topic, and I only notice it from time to time.
Ok, that being said, this chapter continued to discuss how society and technology have affected gender throughout history. I think I have always, to a degree, understood that societal norms change--sometimes slowly, sometimes more quickly--with the passage of time. I guess I never really considered, though, technologies influences on these changes. I think it is important to understand what Shapiro means by technology. As Shapiro points out, "technology is often defined in terms of machines, its linguistic origins, meaning 'the expression of a craft,' suggest its scholarly use to refer to anything people develop to manipulate the natural environment" (46). I had never thought about technology like that. So one example Shapiro uses is the vitamin supplements men use to enhance their masculine appearance (54). The supplements are a technology used to change a persons natural appearance.
Which leads us to the corsets, which are also a technology used to change a woman's natural figure. Corsets were advertised as helping women maintain a healthy existence, and an ad for a girl's corset implies that "girl's and women's bodies need corseting to develop both physically and morally" (64) Apparently, had I been corseted as a young girl, my life would be sooooo much healthier both physically and morally. I'm simply relieved to finally know where I went wrong!!
At any rate, Shapiro's text has been an eye opener thus far. She discusses how technologies have been used, as above with the corset, to control gender and set the norms that society holds for those genders. While some see technology as always progressive and innovative, the fact of the matter is that it is often used to keep the status quo and control social norms and gender scripts. As Shapiro states, "there has not been a single new contraceptive developed for men in the last 100 years" (51). Uh-huh!!
Ok, that being said, this chapter continued to discuss how society and technology have affected gender throughout history. I think I have always, to a degree, understood that societal norms change--sometimes slowly, sometimes more quickly--with the passage of time. I guess I never really considered, though, technologies influences on these changes. I think it is important to understand what Shapiro means by technology. As Shapiro points out, "technology is often defined in terms of machines, its linguistic origins, meaning 'the expression of a craft,' suggest its scholarly use to refer to anything people develop to manipulate the natural environment" (46). I had never thought about technology like that. So one example Shapiro uses is the vitamin supplements men use to enhance their masculine appearance (54). The supplements are a technology used to change a persons natural appearance.
Which leads us to the corsets, which are also a technology used to change a woman's natural figure. Corsets were advertised as helping women maintain a healthy existence, and an ad for a girl's corset implies that "girl's and women's bodies need corseting to develop both physically and morally" (64) Apparently, had I been corseted as a young girl, my life would be sooooo much healthier both physically and morally. I'm simply relieved to finally know where I went wrong!!
At any rate, Shapiro's text has been an eye opener thus far. She discusses how technologies have been used, as above with the corset, to control gender and set the norms that society holds for those genders. While some see technology as always progressive and innovative, the fact of the matter is that it is often used to keep the status quo and control social norms and gender scripts. As Shapiro states, "there has not been a single new contraceptive developed for men in the last 100 years" (51). Uh-huh!!
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