Sex/Machine

How do cultural notions of gender affect what kinds of technologies are produced and for what purposes? How does technology affect gender roles, either by reinforcing them or destabilizing them? What is the significance of sex and gender in the use of technologies such as cosmetic surgery and reproductive procedures that manipulate the body? Does "sexual difference" have any implications for the development of technology? What does "gender" mean in a technologically influenced world? Technology--from personal computers and cyberspace to artificial wombs and sex reassignment surgery--has opened up the possibility that sex roles as well as the gendered notions we have of human identity are subject to radical change. This engaging anthology examines long-standing stereotypical associations of men with technology and women with nature and assesses the impact of technologies that have necessarily blurred distinctions between the sexes on these traditional views of gender. An illuminating and often unsettling picture of the ethical, moral, and legal issues that shape experience, culture, and identity in the late twentieth century emerges from this thought-provoking collection. Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Technology--Don Ihde, general editor