Journal entries for the week ending April 16 focused on technology as it is used in the United States. Technology is utilized as a broad term that encompasses reproductive technology, the Web, and other recent advancements. The majority of these journals discussed readings by Haraway and Mies/Shiva, addressing technology and its implications for women. Specifically, they looked at how technology can both subjugate and empower women. They also examined the intersections and disjunctures of nature, technology, and women in the United States.
Women are often dominated through an association with their bodies, and therefore nature. Reproductive technology often replicates this old connection. Many journals took on the topic of reproductive technology and its implications for women. Renee described reproductive technology as giving choices to women, while at the same time, taking away the spiritual element of reproduction. Others also saw many reproductive technologies as problematic because women have little control over their development, application, and availability. Sarah articulated this by saying: "As technology becomes more 'advanced' it seems that voices get further silenced." I believe, like many others, that women own the majority of these voices. This silencing is due to medicine's patriarchal nature and history of male control. Although some believe that reproductive technologies also silence those who are not able to afford such procedures, Sarah Hall believes that this is just inherently so because of the high costs of these procedures. But it is precisely this fact that makes this technology elusive, because its price delineates who can use it and who can't. Overall, it seemed that everyone agreed that women must seize control of reproductive technology in order to dictate how it can be used, by whom it can be used, and whose control it should be under.
Other journals focused on the World Wide Web, its problems, and potential. Jayna points out how we use technologies such as the Web for the distribution of our culture and how this, if left unchecked, could be explotive to others. The 'other' within our society is usually women. Hydi saw the Web as exploitive because of the negative representations of women that can be found online. Although this aspect of the Web limits female agency and women's positive portrayal in society, she also saw the Web as potentially empowering for women because it can be used as a source of information about our lives and health. Again, this example illustrates how technology can be useful for women if created and utilized for women's purposes and interests.
A handful of journals also focused on the connections between nature and technology. Jayna illustrates how we are removing ourselves from nature by new technology. She also articulated how Ecofeminists look for these ways that technology is disconnecting us from nature. When discussing the relationship between nature and technology, Karen felt that these discussions should not be either-or ones. She believes, like many others, that the environment should be further incorporated into discussions of technology. If this middle ground was explored further, perhaps a place for women (often thought of a representation of nature) could be incorporated into the technological paradigm.
Generally, it seems that everyone agreed that technology could be both oppressive and empowering for women. In order to make it advantageous for women, we must seize control over all forms of technology and use it for our own agendas. With technology advancing at such a fast rate, women must grab a place for ourselves as soon as possible.
-- Jocelyne Fliger