Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: In light of cultural discourses that position femininity at odds with technology, I was inspired by the work ofDonna Haraway to examine how women amputees experience and negotiate feminine embodiment withprosthetic limbs. In her germinal Manifesto for Cyborgs, Haraway theorised the cyborg as a feminist symbol of autopian post-gendered world, asserting that techno-hybridity has the potential to destabilise embodied genderedsubjectivityprompting a rethinking of sex, bodies, gender and humanity. In this paper, following a criticaldiscussion of Haraways work, I argue that the cyborg continues to be a provocative concept in feminist sociologiesof the body, enabling us to explore the complex new subjectivities that are made possible through femininetechno-embodiment. Through an empirical exploration of women amputees experiences of living with prostheticlimbs, I found that women can embody and incorporate prosthetic technologies into their feminine selves inmultiple, complex, gendered ways. My findings indicate that cyborgian hybridity may have the potential todestabilise some aspects of gendered embodiment and performance for women with prosthetic limbs, which canbe experienced as both limiting and liberating.
Author: Ruby Grant
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Gender equality
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2174900337