Technology's Influence on Gender and Sexuality

Feminism

What is it? And what is its purpose?

A political movement concerned with women’s oppression and the means and ways to empower women

To eliminate a long established patriarchal society

Not all societies have a patriarchal view

History

1920—Women’s Suffrage

1968 Bra Burning—protesting Miss America pageant

1980s and ‘90s--Post-Feminism

Technology’s role?

Television and radio helped to spread the ideas of Feminism

Technology’s role now?

Blogs and Internet are the new medium for communication

Feministing

Feministe

Our Bodies Our Blog

Jezebel

Broadsheet

Male dominance in technological fields

20% CS majors

27% in CS jobs

down from 30% a decade ago

The growth of feminism has caused it to shift to post-feminism

Most people generally believe in the idea of women’s rights, but the ideals of feminism is now defined by each individual

 Zack in dress

Zack is late—comes in with dress on

Colette ask class to define Zack’s gender and sexuality from 3 different perspectives

1) First day of class

2) Right now

3) How he perceives it

Gender

Sex vs. Gender?

Is there really a difference?

Historically

gender was defined by cultural appearance

sex was defined by biological appearance

Now?

The line between gender and sex has been blurred due to technology (communication, medical)

Femininity and Masculinity

How do we define our technologies?

Google Glass

YouTube

Smart Board

Yoga Balls

Pebble Watch

GroupMe

Snapchat

Re-Walk

Arduino

Ancestry.com

Autismate

My Fitness Pal

Infrascanner

Wolfram Alpha

23 & me

Everyone’s were different

not everything can be strictly labeled as Male or Female

What is Masculinity and Femininity?

Socially and Self-defined

Reference technology picks.

Reference to Zack in dress

Reference to feminism

What’s blurring the line?

Medical

Sexual Reassignment Surgery

Transexuals increases by 14% each year and the average age is rising--LGBT Health Summit in Bristol UK

Communication

Online dating

The stigma associated with it has completely changed in the past 10 years

Similarly, Instagram and Pintrest

Have molded photography from a male dominated field to a female hobby

Facebook profiles (show a FB profile)

Defining our gender and sexuality

Only allows for Male and Female (no other option), but does allow different sexualities

Appeals to varying sexual orientations but not genders

Sexuality

Differences in sexuality are more culturally accepted than differences in gender

i.e. It’s more socially acceptable to be gay than to be transgender

This is why Facebook allows for a variety of sexual orientations, but not genders

What is sexuality?

Someone’s self defined expression of feelings of desire, attraction, and excitement towards others

When boiled down, it’s a desire for sexual experiences

Do sexuality and gender go hand in hand? –poll the class-

Sexuality is different from gender!

I could decide to only dress like this (im wearing a dress) every day from now on, but still date women (that’s my gender changing)

I could decide to only date boys tomorrow, but continue to want to be a man (that’s my sexuality)

Clearly these aren’t just a decision to be made, but these two instances are very real

Technology’s role?

Created a more post-feminist world

blur the line between sex and gender

defined the difference between gender and sexuality

Thank you for your time!