Critical Annotated Webliography Question 4

Wong Lok Ting, Lottie 10451467
Guiding Question No.4
1. Sex and the Body in TechnologyBoyle, Jen. "Sex and the Body in Technology - Extensions and Interfaces, Technological Power and Sexuality, Technology of Shifting Scales, speculum, virtual reality, artificial intelligence ." Science Encyclopedia. Web. 15 Mar. 2011.

< http://science.jrank.org/pages/63427/Sex-Body-in-Technology.html >

In a traditional view, body and technology are two separate aspects. When the development of technology grew rapidly, people started to treat the relationship of body and technology as an inextricably thing. The boundary between human and technology became blurred. We all believed that technology can help human to improve lives, to cure some diseases that is incurable in the past. By the great development of DNA study, doctors can predict healthiness of the embryo. Furthermore, there is eugenics which can let people select breeding. Of course, it can prevent the babies suffer from some incurable diseases or hereditary diseases. More deeply, it can foresee that parent may request the gender selection. It may cause gender imbalance and it involve the problem of ethic and go against the regular pattern of reproduction. In the later part of the article mentioned about the idea which cyborg can change the traditional thoughts of reproduction. That is “test tube reproduction”. As the normative heterosexuality, the sex is aim for reproduction. Test tube reproduction can help those couples who are infertility. Moreover, this technique can also help queer couple. Since reproduction became not a problem to them, pressure from outside factor can be released.

2. So You Wanna Be A Cyborg Mommy? Tania, Kupczak. "So You Wanna Be A Cyborg Mommy? Queer Identity and the New Reproductive Technologies " refugia.net. Web. 17 Mar. 2011 <http://www.refugia.net/domainerrors/DE2g_queer.pdf >

Article is focusing on the reproduction issue. Like the previous article, it is about the relationship of technology and reproduction. But writer had discussed this aspect more deeply. Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) help people who do not want to form kinship. Also ART can also fulfill those queer couple desire, having babies. As I mentioned before traditional people only accept normative heterosexuality because the hidden aim is continuing the family line. Women are seemed as a tool to breed babies. So Gay or Lesbian will not be accepted in traditional family. The reason is very easy, two homosexuals cannot have reproduction. By the help of ART, even queer also can have their own babies. Family and queer can no more mutually exclusive. Family factor is one of the reasons that encourage queer couple to have ART for reproduction. If they can solve the reproduction problem, there are less pressure on them to put the accusation of unfilial bear on the shoulder. Surely, reproduction though ART would have some problems. In the later part of the article, writer also brought up some risks of using ART. The healthiness or the uncertainty of HIV status prohibits of the donor both are the existed risks.
3. My, is that Cyborg a little bit Queer?Miyake, Esperanza. “My, is that Cyborg a little bit Queer?”. Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts . March, 2004. Web. 15 Mar. 2011.< http://www.bridgew.edu/SoAS/jiws/Mar04/Miyake.pdf >

This article mentioned several aspects of cyborg and the feminist issues by using Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto(1984) and the queer theory of Stein and Plummer (1996). It also mentioned the three boundaries that Haraway’s bring up. The boundary of Human and Animal, Human and Machine, physical and non physical. There is an idea which is important to me. It is cyborg wear “women” skin, it will be treated as a women. However, the cyborg without skin is only an unengendered machine. Haraway claimed that the boundaries between human and technology are blurred. But we are still affected by the traditional thoughts; women are always subordinate to men. When cyborg wear skin, it fall into the existed gender category. Conversely, without the inherent gender category cyborgs can bring a “no genders” world. There is no more gender identities, everyone are equal. The class of men and women will no longer exist. If they wear skin they are still suffering from the masculinity society. It is not a real freedom.

4. Are Cyborgs Queer?
Lykke, Nina. “ARE CYBORGS QUEER? biological determinism and feminist theory in the age of new reproductive technologies and reprogenetics.” Web. 15 Mar. 2011.<http://www.women.it/quarta/workshops/epistemological4/ninalykke.htm >

As title said, it is about cyborg and the queer. By the technology development, technology can help queer to do the things which is heterosexuality can do. Since the primary purpose for human to have sex is to breed the next generation. The article talked a lot of the new reproductive technologies. To have a look how technology can bring a new page for the idea of reproduction which is so bred in the bone in everyone’s mind? I also agree that cannot treat the idea of sex as a natural theme. Sex and sexuality are constructed basing on histortical and social culture. People normally believed that normative sexuality is heterosexuality which can have reproduction while those sexuality with non-reproductive people will defined as queer. Such as homosexuality and some preversions. Compare with Queer, Cyborg can show the diversity of sexual performances. Article take a feminist cyborg as an example. The initially focus are not the performances of existing bodies. In contrast, she focus on the production of new bodies though fusions of organism and machine.

5. Cyborg Babies and Cybergods: The Baby Makers' New Origin Stories
Mette, Bryld. "Cyborg Babies and Cybergods." Odense University. Sep 2000. Web. 15 Mar. 2011< http://www.women.it/cyberarchive/files/bryld.htm >

This article is focus more on the babies who “create” though new technology. At the beginning, this technology served some infertility couples. There are more and more test tube babies being “created”. Article quoted an extreme example of this approach is Lee M. Silver's Remaking Eden (1998) which deliberately renders normal every individual desire within the field of human reproduction. Writer also talked about two cases of test tube babies by books which are written by someone who want to get their own child. That two books are trying to normalise their cyborg babies. But it also involve the ethics problem. There are still have to discuss a lot about the problem of Cyborg babies.