Donna Haraway, "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism

in the ate Twentieth Cent!ry," in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of
Nature "#ew $or%& 'o!tledge, ())(*, ++,(-)-(.(,
A# /'0#/C D'1AM 0F A C0MM0# A#23A21 F0' 40M1# /# TH1
/#T12'AT1D C/'C3/T
This cha+ter is an effort to b!ild an ironic +olitical myth faithf!l to feminism,
socialism, and materialism, 5erha+s more faithf!l as blas+hemy is faithf!l, than as
re6erent worshi+ and identification, 7las+hemy has always seemed to re8!ire ta%ing
things 6ery serio!sly, / %now no better stance to ado+t from within the sec!lar-religio!s,
e6angelical traditions of 3nited States +olitics, incl!ding the +olitics of socialist
feminism, 7las+hemy +rotects one from the moral ma9ority within, while still insisting
on the need for comm!nity, 7las+hemy is not a+ostasy, /rony is abo!t contradictions
that do not resol6e into larger wholes, e6en dialectically, abo!t the tension of holding
incom+atible things together beca!se both or all are necessary and tr!e, /rony is abo!t
h!mo!r and serio!s +lay, /t is also a rhetorical strategy and a +olitical method, one /
wo!ld li%e to see more hono!red within socialist-feminism, At the centre of my ironic
faith, my blas+hemy, is the image of the cyborg,

A cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creat!re of
social reality as well as a creat!re of fiction, Social reality is li6ed social relations, o!r
most im+ortant +olitical constr!ction, a world-changing fiction, The international
women:s mo6ements ha6e constr!cted :women:s e;+erience:, as well as !nco6ered or
disco6ered this cr!cial collecti6e ob9ect, This e;+erience is a fiction and fact of the most
cr!cial, +olitical %ind, iberation rests on the constr!ction of the conscio!sness, the
imaginati6e a++rehension, of o++ression, and so of +ossibility, The cyborg is a matter of
fiction and li6ed e;+erience that changes what co!nts as women:s e;+erience in the late
twentieth cent!ry, This is a str!ggle o6er life and death, b!t the bo!ndary between
science fiction and social reality is an o+tical ill!sion,

Contem+orary science fiction is f!ll of cyborgs - creat!res sim!ltaneo!sly animal and
machine, who +o+!late worlds ambig!o!sly nat!ral and crafted,

(<=

Modern medicine is also f!ll of cyborgs, of co!+lings between organism and machine,
each concei6ed as coded de6ices, in an intimacy and with a +ower that was not
generated in the history of se;!ality, Cyborg :se;: restores some of the lo6ely re+licati6e
baro8!e of ferns and in6ertebrates "s!ch nice organic +ro+hylactics against
heterose;ism*, Cyborg re+lication is !nco!+led from organic re+rod!ction, Modern
+rod!ction seems li%e a dream of cyborg coloni>ation wor%, a dream that ma%es the
nightmare of Taylorism seem idyllic, And modern war is a cyborg orgy, coded by C?/,
command-control-comm!nication-intelligence, an @.- billion item in ().-:s3S defence
b!dget, / am ma%ing an arg!ment for the cyborg as a fiction ma++ing o!r social and
bodily reality and as an imaginati6e reso!rce s!ggesting some 6ery fr!itf!l co!+lings,
Michael Fo!ca!lt:s bio+olitics is a flaccid +remonition of cyborg +olitics, a 6ery o+en
field,

7y the late twentieth cent!ry, o!r time, a mythic time, we are all chimeras, theori>ed
and fabricated hybrids of machine and organism& in short, we are cyborgs, Ths cyborg is
o!r ontology& it gi6es !s o!r +olitics, The cyborg is a condensed image of both
imagination and material reality, the two 9oined centres str!ct!ring any +ossibility of
historical transformation, /n the traditions of :4estern: science and +olitics--the tradition
of racist, male-dominant ca+italism& the tradition of +rogress& the tradition of the
a++ro+riation of nat!re as reso!rce for the +rod!ctions of c!lt!re& the tradition of
re+rod!ction of the self from the reflections of the other - the relation between organism
and machine has been a border war, The sta%es in the border war ha6e been the
territories of +rod!ction, re+rod!ction, and imagination, This cha+ter is an arg!ment for
+leas!re in the conf!sion of bo!ndaries and for res+onsibility in their constr!ction, /t is
also an effort to contrib!te to socialist-feminist c!lt!re and theory in a +ostmodernist,
non-nat!ralist mode and in the !to+ian tradition of imagining a world witho!t gender,
which is +erha+s a world witho!t genesis, b!t maybe also a world witho!t end, The
cyborg incarnation is o!tside sal6ation history, #or does it mar% time on an oedi+al
calendar, attem+ting to heal the terrible clea6ages of gender in an oral symbiotic !to+ia
or +ost-oedi+al a+ocaly+se, As Aoe Sofo!lis arg!es in her !n+!blished man!scri+t on
Bac8!es acan, Melanie Clein, and n!clear c!lt!re, ac%lein, the most terrible and
+erha+s the most +romising monsters in cyborg worlds are embodied in non-oedi+al
narrati6es with a different logic of re+ression, which we need to !nderstand for o!r
s!r6i6al,

The cyborg is a creat!re in a +ost-gender world& it has no tr!c% with bise;!ality, +re-
oedi+al symbiosis, !nalienated labo!r, or other sed!ctions to organic wholeness thro!gh
a final a++ro+riation of all the +owers of the +arts into a higher !nity, /n a sense, the
cyborg has no origin story in the 4estern sense - a :final: irony since the cyborg is also
the awf!l a+ocaly+tic telos of the

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:4est:s: escalating dominations of abstract indi6id!ation, an !ltimate self !ntied at last
from all de+endency, a man in s+ace, An origin story in the :4estern:, h!manist sense
de+ends on the myth of original !nity, f!llness, bliss and terror, re+resented by the
+hallic mother from whom all h!mans m!st se+arate, the tas% of indi6id!al
de6elo+ment and of history, the twin +otent myths inscribed most +owerf!lly for !s in
+sychoanalysis and Mar;ism, Hilary Clein has arg!ed that both Mar;ism and
+sychoanalysis, in their conce+ts of labo!r and of indi6id!ation and gender formation,
de+end on the +lot of original !nity o!t of which difference m!st be +rod!ced and
enlisted in a drama of escalating domination of womanDnat!re, The cyborg s%i+s the
ste+ of original !nity, of identification with nat!re in the 4estern sense, This is its
illegitimate +romise that might lead to s!b6ersion of its teleology as star wars,

The cyborg is resol!tely committed to +artiality, irony, intimacy, and +er6ersity, /t is
o++ositional, !to+ian, and com+letely witho!t innocence, #o longer str!ct!red by the
+olarity of +!blic and +ri6ate, the cyborg defines a technological +olls based +artly on a
re6ol!tion of social relations in the oi%os, the ho!sehold, #at!re and c!lt!re are
rewor%ed& the one can no longer be the reso!rce for a++ro+riation or incor+oration by
the other, The rela-tionshi+s for forming wholes from +arts, incl!ding those of +olarity
and hierarchical domination, are at iss!e in the cyborg world, 3nli%e the ho+es of
Fran%enstein:s monster, the cyborg does not e;+ect its father to sa6e it thro!gh a
restoration of the garden& that is, thro!gh the fabrication of a heterose;!al mate, thro!gh
its com+letion in a finished whole, a city and cosmos, The eyborg does not dream of
comm!nity on the model of the organic family, this time witho!t the oedi+al +ro9ect,
The cyborg wo!ld not recogni>e the 2arden of 1den& it is not made of m!d and cannot
dream of ret!rning to d!st, 5erha+s that is why / want to see if eyborgs can s!b6ert the
a+ocaly+se of ret!rning to n!clear d!st in the manic com+!lsion to name the 1nemy,
Cyborgs are not re6erent& they do not re-member the cosmos, They are wary of holism,
b!t needy for connection- they seem to ha6e a nat!ral feel for !nited front +olitics, b!t
witho!t the 6ang!ard +arty, The main tro!ble with cyborgs, of co!rse, is that they are
the illegitimate offs+ring of militarism and +atriarchal ca+italism, not to mention state
socialism, 7!t illegitimate offs+ring are often e;ceedingly !nfaithf!l to their origins,
Their fathers, after all, are inessential,

/ will ret!rn to the science fiction of cyborgs at the end of this cha+ter, b!t now / want
to signal three cr!cial bo!ndary brea%downs that ma%e the following +olitical-fictional
"+olitical-scientific* analysis +ossible, 7y the late twentieth cent!ry in 3nited States
scientific c!lt!re, the bo!ndary between h!man and animal is thoro!ghly breached, The
last beachheads of !ni8!eness ha6e been +oll!ted if not t!rned into am!sement +ar%s--
lang!age tool

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!se, social beha6io!r, mental e6ents, nothing really con6incingly settles the se+aration
of h!man and animal, And many +eo+le no longer feel the need for s!ch a se+aration&
indeed, many branches of feminist c!lt!re affirm the +leas!re of connection of h!man
and other li6ing creat!res, Mo6ements for animal rights are not irrational denials of
h!man !ni8!eness& they are a clear-sighted recognition of connection across the
discredited breach of nat!re and c!lt!re, 7iology and e6ol!tionary theory o6er the last
two cent!ries ha6e sim!ltaneo!sly +rod!ced modern organisms as ob9ects of %nowledge
and red!ced the line between h!mans and animals to a faint trace re-etched in
ideological str!ggle or +rofessional dis+!tes between life and social science, 4ithin this
framewor%, teaching modern Christian creationism sho!ld be fo!ght as a form of child
ab!se,

7iological-determinist ideology is only one +osition o+ened !+ in scientific c!lt!re for
arg!ing the meanings of h!man animality, There is m!ch room for radical +olitical
+eo+le to contest the meanings of the breached bo!ndary,E The cyborg a++ears in myth
+recisely where the bo!ndary between h!man and animal is transgressed, Far from
signalling a walling off of +eo+le from other li6ing beings, cyborgs signal distr!rbingly
and +leas!rably tight co!+ling, 7estiality has a new stat!s in this cycle of marriage
e;change,


The second lea%y distinction is between animal-h!man "organism* and machine, 5re-
cybernetic machines co!ld be ha!nted& there was always the s+ectre of the ghost in the
machine, This d!alism str!ct!red the dialog!e between materialism and idealism that
was settled by a dialectical +rogeny, called s+irit or history, according to taste, 7!t
basically machines were not self-mo6ing, self-designing, a!tonomo!s, They co!ld not
achie6e man:s dream, only moc% it, They were not man, an a!thor to himself, b!t only a
caricat!re of that masc!linist re+rod!cti6e dream, To thin% they were otherwise was
+aranoid, #ow we are not so s!re, ate twentieth-cent!ry machines ha6e made
thoro!ghly ambig!o!s the difference between nat!ral and art*ficial, mind and body,
self-de6elo+ing and e;ternally designed, and many other distinctions that !sed to a++ly
to organisms and machines, 0!r machines are dist!rbingly li6ely, and we o!rsel6es
frighteningly inert,


Technological determination is only one ideological s+ace o+ened !+ by the
reconce+tions of machine and organism as coded te;ts thro!gh which we engage in the
+lay of writing and reading the world,? :Te;t!ali>ation: of e6erything in
+oststr!ct!ralist, +ostmodernist theory has been damned by Mar;ists and socialist
feminists for its !to+ian disregard for the li6ed relations of domination that gro!nd the
:+lay: of arbitrary reading,- /t is certainly tr!e that +ostmodernist strategies, li%e my
cyborg myth, s!b6ert myriad organic wholes "for e;am+le, the +oem, the +rimiti6e
c!lt!re, the biological organism*, /n short, the certainty of what co!nts as nat!re -- a

(<?
so!rce of insight and +romise of innocence -- is !ndermined, +robably fatally, The
transcendent a!thori>ation of inter+retation is lost, and with it the ontology gro!nding
:4estern: e+istemology, 7!t the alternati6e is not cynicism or faithlessness, that is, some
6ersion of abstract e;istence, li%e the acco!nts of technological determinism destroying
:man: by the :machine: or :meaningf!l +olitical action: by the :te;t:, 4ho cyborgs will be
is a radical 8!estion& the answers are a matter of s!r6i6al, 7oth chim+an>ees and
artefacts ha6e +olitics, so why sho!ldn:t we "de 4aal, ().E& 4inner, ().=*F

The third distinction is a s!bset of the second: the bo!ndary between +hysical and non-
+hysical is 6ery im+recise for !s, 5o+ +hysics boo%s on the conse8!ences of 8!ant!m
theory and the indeterminacy +rinci+le are a %ind of +o+!lar scientific e8!i6alent to
Harle8!in romancesG as a mar%er of radical change in American white heterose;!ality:
they get it wrong, b!t they are on the right s!b9ect, Modern machines are
8!intessentially microelectronic de6ices: they are e6erywhere and they are in6isible,
Modern machinery is an irre6erent !+start god, moc%ing the Father:s !bi8!ity and
s+irit!ality, The silicon chi+ is a s!rface for writing& it is etched in molec!lar scales
dist!rbed only by atomic noise, the !ltimate interference for n!clear scores, 4riting,
+ower, and technology are old +artners in 4estern stories of the origin of ci6ili>ation,
b!t miniat!ri>ation has changed o!r e;+erience of mechanism, Miniat!ri>ation has
t!rned o!t to be abo!t +ower& small is not so m!ch bea!tif!l as +re-eminently
dangero!s, as in cr!ise missiles, Contrast the TH sets of the ()<=s or the news cameras
of the ()I=s with the TH wrist bands or hand-si>ed 6ideo cameras now ad6ertised, 0!r
best machines are made of s!nshine& they are all light and clean beca!se they are
nothing b!t signals, electromagnetic wa6es, a section of a s+ectr!m, and these machines
are eminently +ortable, mobile -- a matter of immense h!man +ain in Detroit and
Singa+ore, 5eo+le are nowhere near so fl!id, being both material and o+a8!e, Cyborgs
are ether, 8!intessence,

The !bi8!ity and in6isibility of cyborgs is +recisely why these s!nshine-belt machines
are so deadly, They are as hard to see +olitically as materially, They are abo!t
conscio!sness - or its sim!lation,< They are floating sign/fiers mo6ing in +ic%!+ tr!c%s
across 1!ro+e, bloc%ed more effecti6ely by the witch-wea6ings of the dis+laced and so
!nnat!ral 2reenham women, who read the cyborg webs of +ower so 6ery well, than by
the militant labo!r of older masc!linist +olitics, whose nat!ral constit!ency needs
defence 9obs, 3ltimately the :hardest: science is abo!t the realm of greatest bo!ndary
conf!sion, the realm of +!re n!mber, +!re s+irit, C?/, cry+togra+hy, and the
+reser6ation of +otent secrets, The new machines are so clean and light, Their engineers
are s!n-worshi++ers mediating a new scientific re6ol!tion
GThe 3S e8!i6alent of Mills J 7oon,

(<-
associated with the night dream of +ost-ind!strial society, The diseases e6o%ed by these
clean machines are :no more: than the min!sc!le coding changes of an antigen in the
imm!ne system, :no more: than the e;+erience of stress, The nimble fingers of :0riental:
women, the old fascination of little Anglo-Sa;on Hictorian girls with doll:s ho!ses,
women:s enforced attention to the small ta%e on 8!ite new dimensions in this world,
There might be a cyborg Alice ta%ing acco!nt of these new dimensions, /ronically, it
might be the !nnat!ral cyborg women ma%ing chi+s in Asia and s+iral dancing in Santa
'ita 9ailG whose constr!cted !nities will g!ide effecti6e o++ositional strategies,

So my cyborg myth is abo!t transgressed bo!ndaries, +otent f!sions, and dangero!s
+ossibilities which +rogressi6e +eo+le might e;+lore as one +art of needed +olitical
wor%, 0ne of my +remises is that most American socialists and feminists see dee+ened
d!alisms of mind and body, animal and machine, idealism and materialism in the social
+ractices, symbolic form!la-tions, and +hysical artefacts associated with :high
technology: and scientific c!lt!re, From 0ne-DimensionalMan "Marc!se, ()K-* to The
Death of #at!re "Merchant, ().=*, the analytic reso!rces de6elo+ed by +rogressi6es
ha6e insisted on the necessary domination of technics and recalled !s to an imagined
organic body to integrate o!r resistance, Another of my +remises is that the need for
!nity of +eo+le trying to resist world-wide intensification of domination has ne6er been
more ac!te, 7!t a slightly +er6erse shift of +ers+ecti6e might better enable !s to contest
for meanings, as well as for other forms of +ower and +leas!re in technologically
mediated societies,

From one +ers+ecti6e, a cyborg world is abo!t the final im+osition of a grid of control
on the +lanet, abo!t the final abstraction embodied in a Star 4ars a+ocaly+se waged in
the name of defence, abo!t the final a++ro+riation of women:s bodies in a masc!linist
orgy of war "Sofia, ().-*, From another +ers+ecti6e, a cyborg world might be abo!t
li6ed social and bodily realities in which +eo+le are not afraid of their 9oint %inshi+ with
animals and machines, not afraid of +ermanently +artial identities and contradictory
stand+oints, The +olitical str!ggle is to see from both +ers+ecti6es at once beca!se each
re6eals both dominations and +ossibilities !nimaginable from the other 6antage +oint,
Single 6ision +rod!ces worse ill!sions than do!ble 6ision or many-headed monsters,
Cyborg !nities are monstro!s and illegitimate& in o!r +resent +olitical circ!mstances, we
co!ld hardly ho+e for more +otent myths for resistance and reco!+ling, / li%e to imagine
A2, the i6ermore Action 2ro!+, as a %ind of cyborg society, dedicated to
realistically con6erting the laboratories that most fiercely embody and s+ew o!t the
tools
G A +ractice at once both s+irit!al and +olitical that lin%ed g!ards and arrested anti-
n!clear demonstrators in the Alameda Co!nty 9ail in California in the early ().<,

(<<
0f technological a+ocaly+se, and committed to b!ilding a +olitical form that ac!tally
manages to hold together witches, engineers, elders, +er6erts, Christians, mothers, and
eninists long eno!gh to disarm the state, Fission /m+ossible is the name of the affinity
gro!+ in my town,"Affinity: related not by blood b!t by choice, the a++eal of one
chemical n!clear gro!+ for another, a6idiy,*K

F'ACT3'1D /D1#T/T/1S

/t has become diffic!lt to name one:s feminism by a single ad9ecti6e -- or e6en to insist
in e6ery circ!mstance !+on the no!n, Conscio!sness of e;cl!sion thro!gh naming is
ac!te, /dentities seem contradictory, +artial, and strategic, 4ith the hard-won
recognition of their social and historical constit!tion, gender, race, and class cannot
+ro6ide the basis for belief in :essential: !nity, There is nothing abo!t teeing :female: that
nat!rally binds women, There is not e6en s!ch a state as :being: female, itself a highly
com+le; category constr!cted in contested se;!al scientific disco!rses and other social
+ractices, 2ender, race, or class conscio!sness is an achie6ement forced on !s by the
terrible historica e;+erience of the contradictory social realities of +atriarchy,
colonialism, and ca+italism, And who co!nts as :!s: in my own rhetoricF 4hich
identities are a6ailable to gro!nd s!ch a +otent +olitical myth called :!s:, and what co!ld
moti6ate enlistment in this collecti6ityF 5ainf!l fragmentation among feminists "not to
mention among women* along e6ery +ossible fa!lt line has made the conce+t of woman
el!si6e, an e;c!se for the matri; of women:s dominations of each other, For me - and
for many who share a similar historical location in white, +rofessional middle-class,
female, radical, #orth American, mid-ad!lt bodies - the so!rces of a crisis in +olitical
identity are legion, The recent history for m!ch of the 3S left and 3S feminism has
been a res+onse to this %ind of crisis by endless s+litting and searches for a new
essential !nity, 7!t there has also been a growing recognition of another res+onse
thro!gh coalition - affinity, not identity,I

Chela Sando6al "n,d,, ().-*, from a consideration of s+ecific historical moments in the
formation of the new +olitical 6oice called women of colo!r, has theori>ed a ho+ef!l
model of +olitical identity called :o++ositional conscio!sness:, born of the s%ills for
reading webs of +ower by those ref!sed stable membershi+ in the social categories of
race, se;, or class, :4omen of color:, a name contested at its origins by those whom it
wo!ld incor+orate, as well as a historical conscio!sness mar%ing systematic brea%down
of all the signs of Man in :4estern: traditions, constr!cts a %ind of +ostmodernist
identity o!t of otherness, difference, and s+ecificity, This +ostmodernist identity is f!lly
+olitical, whate6er might be said ab!t other +ossible +ostmodernisms, Sando6al:s
o++ositional conscio!sness is abo!t contradic-


(<K
tory locations and heterochronic calendars, not abo!t relati6isms and +l!ralisms,

Sando6al em+hasi>es the lac% of any essential criterion for identifying who is a woman
of colo!r, She notes that the definition of the gro!+ has been by conscio!s a++ro+riation
of negation, For e;am+le, a Chicana or 3S blac% woman has not been able to s+ea% as a
woman or as a blac% +erson or as a Chicano, Th!s, she was at the bottom of a cascade
of negati6e identities, left o!t of e6en the +ri6ileged o++ressed a!thorial categories
called :women and blac%s:, who claimed to ma%e the im+ortant re6ol!tions, The
category :woman: negated all non-white women& :blac%: negated all non-blac% +eo+le, as
well as all blac% women, 7!t there was also no :she:, no sing!larity, b!t a sea of
differences among 3S women who ha6e affirmed their historical identity as 3S women
of colo!r, This identity mar%s o!t a self-conscio!sly constr!cted s+ace that cannot
affirm the ca+acity to act on the basis of nat!ral identification, b!t only on the basis of
conscio!s coalition, of affinity, of +olitical %inshi+,. 3nli%e the :woman: of some
streams of the white women:s mo6ement in the 3nited States, there is no nat!rali>ation
of the matri;, or at least this is what Sando6al arg!es is !ni8!ely a6ailable thro!gh the
+ower of o++ositional conscio!sness,

Sando6al:s arg!ment has to be seen as one +otent form!lation for feminists o!t of the
world-wide de6elo+ment of anti-colonialist disco!rse& that is to say, disco!rse
dissol6ing the :4est: and its highest +rod!ct - the one who is not animal, barbarian, or
woman& man, that is, the a!thor of a cosmos called history, As orientalism is
deconstr!cted +olitically and semiotically, the identities of the occident destabili>e,
incl!ding those of feminists,) Sando6al arg!es that :women of colo!r: ha6e a chance to
b!ild an effecti6e !nity that does not re+licate the im+eriali>ing, totali>ing re6ol!tionary
s!b9ects of +re6io!s Mar;isms and feminisms which had not faced the conse8!ences of
the disorderly +oly+hony emerging from decoloni>ation,

Catie Cing has em+hasi>ed the limits of identification and the +oliticalD +oetic
mechanics of identification b!ilt into reading :the +oem:, that generati6e core of c!lt!ral
feminism, Cing critici>es the +ersistent tendency among contem+orary feminists from
different :moments: or :con6ersations: in feminist +ractice to ta;onomi>e the women:s
mo6ement to ma%e one:s own +olitical tendencies a++ear to be the telos of the whole,
These ta;onomies tend to rema%e feminist history so that it a++ears to be an ideological
str!ggle among coherent ty+es +ersisting o6er time, es+ecially those ty+ical !nits called
radical, liberal, and socialist-feminism, iterally, all other feminisms are either
incor+orated or marginali>ed, !s!ally by b!ilding an e;+licit ontology and
e+istemology,(= Ta;onomies of feminism +rod!ce e+istemologies to +olice de6iation
from official women:s e;+erience, And of co!rse, :women:s c!lt!re:, li%e women of
colo!r, is conscio!sly created by

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mechanisms ind!cing affinity, The rit!als of +oetry, m!sic, and certain forms of
academic +ractice ha6e been +re-eminent, The +olitics of race and c!lt!re in the 3S
women:s mo6ements are intimately interwo6en, The common achie6ement of Cing and
Sando6al is learning how to craft a +oeticD+olitical !nity witho!t relying on a logic of
a++ro+riation, incor+ora-tion, and ta;onomic identification,

The theoretical and +ractical str!ggle against !nity-thro!gh-domination or !nity-
thro!gh-incor+oration ironically not only !ndermines the 9!stifica-tions for +atriarchy,
colonialism, h!manism, +ositi6ism, essentialism, scient-ism, and other !nlamented
-isms, b!t all claims for an organic or nat!ral stand+oint, / thin% that radical and
socialistDMar;ist-feminisms ha6e also !ndermined theirDo!r own e+istemological
strategies and that this is a cr!cially 6al!able ste+ in imagining +ossible !nities, /t
remains to be seen whether all :e+istemologies: as 4estern +olitical +eo+le ha6e %nown
them fail !s in the tas% to b!ild effecti6e affinities,

/t is im+ortant to note that the effort to constr!ct re6ol!tionary stand-+oints,
e+istemologies as achie6ements of +eo+le committed to changing the world, has been
+art of the +rocess showing the limits of identification, The acid tools of +ostmodernist
theory and the constr!cti6e tools of ontological disco!rse abo!t re6ol!tionary s!b9ects
might be seen as ironic allies in dissol6ing 4estern sel6es in the interests of s!r6i6al,
4e are e;cr!ciatingly conscio!s of what it means to ha6e a historically constit!ted
body, 7!t with the loss of innocence in o!r origin, there is no e;+!lsion from the
2arden either, 0!r +olitics lose the ind!lgence of g!ilt with the nai6ete of innocence,
7!t what wo!ld another +olitical myth for socialist-feminism loo% li%eF 4hat %ind of
+olitics co!ld embrace +artial, contradictory, +ermanently !nclosed constr!ctions of
+ersonal and collecti6e sel6es and still be faithf!l, effecti6e - and, ironically, socialist-
feministF

/ do not %now of any other time in history when there was greater need for +olitical
!nity to confront effecti6ely the dominations of :race:, :gender:, :se;!ality:, and :class:, /
also do not %now of any other time when the %ind of !nity we might hel+ b!ild co!ld
ha6e been +ossible, #one of :!s: ha6e any longer the symbolic or material ca+ability of
dictating the sha+e of reality to any of:them:, 0r at least :we: cannot claim innocence
from +racticing s!ch dominations, 4hite women, incl!ding socialist feminists,
disco6ered "that is, were forced %ic%ing and screaming to notice* the non-innocence of
the category :woman:, That conscio!sness changes the geogra+hy of all +re6io!s
categories& it denat!res them as heat denat!res a fragile +rotein, Cyborg feminists ha6e
to arg!e that :we: do not want any more nat!ral matri; of !nity and that no constr!ction
is whole, /nnocence, and the corollary insistence on 6ictimhood as the only gro!nd for
insight, has done eno!gh damage, 7!t the constr!cted re6ol!tionary s!b9ect m!st gi6e
late-twentieth-

(<.
cent!ry +eo+le +a!se as well, /n the fraying of identities and in the refle;i6e strategies
for constr!cting them, the +ossibility o+ens !+ for wea6ing something other than a
shro!d for the day after the a+ocaly+se that so +ro+hetically ends sal6ation history,

7oth Mar;istDsocialist-feminisms and radical feminisms ha6e sim!l-taneo!sly
nat!rali>ed and denat!red the category :woman: and conscio!s-ness of the social li6es of
:women:, 5erha+s a schematic caricat!re can highlight both %inds of mo6es, Mar;ian
socialism is rooted in an analysis of wage labo!r which re6eals class str!ct!re, The
conse8!ence of the wage relationshi+ is systematic alienation, as the wor%er is
dissociated from his "sic* +rod!ct, Abstraction and ill!sion r!le in %nowledge,
domination r!les in +ractice, abo!r is the +re-eminently +ri6ileged category enabling
the Mar;ist to o6ercome ill!sion and find that +oint of 6iew which is necessary for
changing the world, abo!r is the h!mani>ing acti6ity that ma%es man& labo!r is an
ontological category +ermitting the %nowledge of a s!b9ect, and so the %nowledge of
s!b9!gation and alienation,

/n faithf!l filiation, socialist-feminism ad6anced by allying itself with the basic analytic
strategies of Mar;ism, The main achie6ement of both Mar;ist feminists and socialist
feminists was to e;+and the category of labo!r to accommodate what "some* women
did, e6en when the wage relation was s!bordinated to a more com+rehensi6e 6iew of
labo!r !nder ca+italist +atriarchy, /n +artic!lar, women:s labo!r in the ho!sehold and
women:s acti6ity as mothers generally "that is, re+rod!ction in the socialist-feminist
sense*, entered theory on the a!thority of analogy to the Mar;ian conce+t of labo!r, The
!nity of women here rests on an e+istemology based on the ontological str!ct!re
of:labo!r:, Mar;istDsocialist-feminism does not :nat!r-ali>e: !nity& it is a +ossible
achie6ement based on a +ossible stand+oint rooted in social relations, The essentiali>ing
mo6e is in the ontological str!ct!re of labo!r or of its analog!e, women:s acti6ity,((
The inheritance of Mar;ian h!manism, with its +re-eminently 4estern self, is the
diffic!lty for me, The contrib!tion from these form!lations has been the em+hasis on
the daily res+onsibility of real women to b!ild !nities, rather than to nat!rali>e them,

Catherine MacCinnon:s "().A, ().I* 6ersion of radical feminism is itself a caricat!re of
the a++ro+riating, incor+orating, totali>ing tendencies of 4estern theories of identity
gro!nding action,(E /t is fact!ally and +olitically wrong to assimilate all of the di6erse
:moments: or :con6ersations: in recent women:s +olitics named radical feminism to
MacCinnon:s 6ersion, 7!t the teleological logic of her theory shows how an
e+istemology and ontology - incl!ding their negations - erase or +olice difference, 0nly
one of the effects of MacCinnon:s theory is the rewriting of the history of the
+olymor+ho!s field called radical feminism, The ma9or effect is the +rod!ction of a
theory

(<)
of e;+erience, of women:s identity, that is a %ind of a+ocaly+se for all re6ol!tionary
stand+oints, That is, the totali>ation b!ilt into this tale of radical feminism achie6es its
end - the !nity of women - by enforcing the e;+erience of and testimony to radical non-
being, As for the Mar;istD socialist feminist, conscio!sness is an achie6ement, not a
nat!ral fact, And MacCinnon:s theory eliminates some of the diffic!lties b!ilt into
h!manist re6ol!tionary s!b9ects, b!t at the cost of radical red!ctionism,

MacCinnon arg!es that feminism necessarily ado+ted a different analyt-ical strategy
from Mar;ism, loo%ing first not at the str!ct!re of class, b!t at the str!ct!re of
se;Dgender and its generati6e relationshi+, men:s constit!-tion and a++ro+riation of
women se;!ally, /ronically, MacCinnon:s :ontology: constr!cts a non-s!b9ect, a non-
being, Another:s desire, not the self:s labo!r, is the origin of :woman:, She therefore
de6elo+s a theory of conscio!sness that enforces what can co!nt as :women:s:
e;+erience - anything that names se;!al 6iolation, indeed, se; itself as far as :women:
can be concerned, Feminist +ractice is the constr!ction of this form of conscio!sness&
that is, the self-%nowledge of a self-who-is-not,

5er6ersely, se;!al a++ro+riation in this feminism still has the e+istemolo-gical stat!s of
labo!r& that is to say, the +oint from which an analysis able to contrib!te to changing the
world m!st flow, 7!t se;!al ob9ect*fication, not alienation, is the conse8!ence of the
str!ct!re of se;Dgender, /n the realm of %nowledge, the res!lt of se;!al ob9ectification is
ill!sion and abstraction, Howe6er, a woman is not sim+ly alienated from her +rod!ct,
b!t in a dee+ sense does not e;ist as a s!b9ect, or e6en +otential s!b9ect, since she owes
her e;istence as a woman to se;!al a++ro+riation, To be constit!ted by another:s desire
is not the same thing as to be alienated in the 6iolent se+aration of the labo!rer from his
+rod!ct,

MacCinnon:s radical theory of e;+erience is totali>ing in the e;treme& it does not so
m!ch marginali>e as obliterate the a!thority of any other women:s +olitical s+eech and
action, /t is a totali>ation +rod!cing what 4estern +atriarchy itself ne6er s!cceeded in
doing - feminists: conscio!sness of the non-e;istence of women, e;ce+t as +rod!cts of
men:s desire, / thin% MacCinnon correctly arg!es that no Mar;ian 6ersion of identity
can firmly gro!nd women:s !nity, 7!t in sol6ing the +roblem of the contradictions of
any 4estern re6ol!tionary s!b9ect for feminist +!r+oses, she de6elo+s an e6en more
a!thoritarian doctrine of e;+erience, /f my com+laint abo!t socialistDMar;ian
stand+oints is their !nintended eras!re of +oly6ocal, !nassimilable, radical difference
made 6isible in anti-colonial disco!rse and +ractice, MacCinnon:s intentional eras!re of
all difference thro!gh the de6ice of the :essential: non-e;istence of women is not
reass!ring,

/n my ta;onomy, which li%e any other ta;onomy is a re-inscri+tion of history, radical
feminism can accommodate all the acti6ities of women named by socialist feminists as
forms of labo!r only if the acti6ity can somehow be se;!ali>ed, 'e+rod!ction had
different tones of meanings for the two tendencies, one rooted in labo!r, one in se;,
both calling the conse8!ences of domination and ignorance of social and +ersonal
reality :false conscio!sness:,

7eyond either the diffLc!lties or the contrib!tions in the arg!ment of any one a!thor,
neither Mar;ist nor radical feminist +oints of 6iew ha6e tended to embrace the stat!s of
a +artial e;+lanation& both were reg!larly constit!ted as totalities, 4estern e;+lanation
has demanded as m!ch& how else co!ld the :4estern: a!thor incor+orate its othersF 1ach
tried to anne; other forms of domination by e;+anding its basic categories thro!gh
analogy, sim+le listing, or addition, 1mbarrassed silence abo!t race among white radical
and socialist feminists was one ma9or, de6astating +olitical conse8!ence, History and
+oly6ocality disa++ear into +olitical ta;onomies that try to establish genealogies, There
was no str!ct!ral room for race "or for m!ch else* in theory claiming to re6eal the
constr!ction of the category woman and social gro!+ women as a !nified or totali>able
whole, The str!ct!re of my caricat!re loo%s li%e this:

socialist feminism--str!ct!re of class DD wage labo!r DD alienation labo!r, by analogy
re+rod!ction, by e;tension se;, by addition race radical feminism - str!ct!re of gender DD
se;!al a++ro+riation DD ob9ectification
se;, by analogy labo!r, by e;tension re+rod!ction, by addition race

/n another conte;t, the French theorist, B!lia Criste6a, claimed women a++eared as a
historical gro!+ after the Second 4orld 4ar, along with gro!+s li%e yo!th, Her dates
are do!btf!l& b!t we are now acc!stomed to remembering that as ob9ects of %nowledge
and as historical actors, :race: did not always e;ist, :class: has a historical genesis, and
:homose;!als: are 8!ite 9!nior, /t is no accident that the symbolic system of the family
of man - and so the essence of woman - brea%s !+ at the same moment that networ%s of
connection among +eo+le on the +lanet are !n+recedentedly m!lti+le, +regnant, and
com+le;, :Ad6anced ca+italism: is inade8!ate to con6ey the str!ct!re of this historical
moment, /n the :4estern: sense, the end of man is at sta%e, /t is no accident that woman
disintegrates into women in o!r time, 5erha+s socialist feminists were not s!bstantially
g!ilty of +rod!cing essentialist theory that s!++ressed women:s +artic!larity and
contradictory interests, / thin% we ha6e been, at least thro!gh !nreflecti6e +artici+ation
in the logics, lang!ages, and +ractices of white h!manism and thro!gh searching for a
single gro!nd of domination to sec!re o!r re6ol!tionary 6oice, #ow we ha6e less
e;c!se, 7!t in the conscio!sness of o!r fail!res, we

(K(
ris% la+sing into bo!ndless difference and gi6ing !+ on the conf!sing tas% of ma%ing
+artial, real connection, Some differences are +layf!l& some are +oles of world historical
systems of domination, :1+istemology: is abo!t %nowing the difference,

TH1 /#F0'MAT/CS 0F D0M/#AT/0#

/n this attem+t at an e+istemological and +olitical +osition, / wo!ld li%e to s%etch a
+ict!re of +ossible !nity, a +ict!re indebted to socialist and feminist +rinci+les of
design, The frame for my s%etch is set by the e;tent and im+ortance of rearrangements
in world-wide social relations tied to science and technology, / arg!e for a +olitics
rooted in claims abo!t f!ndamental changes in the nat!re of class, race, and gender in
an emerging system of world order analogo!s in its no6elty and sco+e to that created by
ind!strial ca+italism& we are li6ing thro!gh a mo6ement from an organic, ind!strial
society to a +olymor+ho!s, information system--from all wor% to all +lay, a deadly
game, Sim!ltaneo!sly material and ideological, the dichotomies may be e;+ressed in
the following chart of transitions from the comfortable old hierarchical dominations to
the scary new networ%s / ha6e called the informatics of domination:
'e+resentation Sim!lation
7o!rgeois no6el, realism Science fiction, +ostmodernism
0rganism 7iotic Com+onent
De+th, integrity S!rface, bo!ndary
Heat #oise
7iology as clinical +ractice 7iology as inscri+tion
5hysiology Comm!nications engineering
Small gro!+ S!bsystem
5erfection 0+timi>ation
1!genics 5o+!lation Control
Decadence, Magic Mountain 0bsolescence, Future Shock
Hygiene Stress Management
Microbiology, t!berc!losis /mm!nology, A/DS
0rganic di6ision of labo!r 1rgonomicsDcybernetics of labo!r
F!nctional s+eciali>ation Mod!lar constr!ction
'e+rod!ction 'e+lication
0rganic se; role s+eciali>ation 0+timal genetic strategies
7ioogical determinism 16ol!tionary inertia, constraints
Comm!nity ecology 1cosystem
'acial chain of being
#eo-im+erialism, 3nited #ations
h!manism
Scientific management in
homeDfactory
2lobal factoryD1lectronid cottage
FamilyDMar%etDFactory 4omen in the /ntegrated Circ!it
Family wage Com+arable worth
5!blicD5ri6ate Cyborg citi>enshi+
#at!reDC!lt!re fields of difference
Co-o+eration Comm!nicatins enhancemenet
Fre!d acan
Se; 2enetic engineering
labo!r 'obotics
Mind Artificial /ntelligence
Second 4orld 4ar Star 4ars
4hite Ca+italist 5atriarchy /nformatics of Domination
(KE
This list s!ggests se6eral interesting things,(? First, the ob9ects on the right-hand side
cannot be coded as :nat!ral:, a reali>ation that s!b6erts nat!ralistic coding for the left-
hand side as well, 4e cannot go bac% ideologically or materially, /t:s not 9!st that igod:is
dead& so is the :goddess:, 0r both are re6i6ified in the worlds charged with
microelectronic and biotechnological +olitics, /n relation to ob9ects li%e biotic
com+onents, one m!st not thin% in terms of essential +ro+erties, b!t in terms of design,
bo!ndary constraints, rates of flows, systems logics, costs of lowering constraints,
Se;!al re+rod!ction is one %ind of re+rod!cti6e strategy among many, with costs and
benefits as a f!nction of the system en6ironment, /deologies of se;!al re+rod!ction can
no longer reasonably call on notions of se; and se; role as organic as+ects in nat!ral
ob9ects li%e organisms and families, S!ch reasoning will be !nmas%ed as irrational, and
ironically cor+orate e;ec!ti6es reading 5layboy and anti-+orn radical feminists will
ma%e strange bedfellows in 9ointly !nmas%ing the irrationalism,

i%ewise for race, ideologies abo!t h!man di6ersity ha6e to be form!lated in terms of
fre8!encies of +arameters, li%e blood gro!+s or intelligence scores, /t is :irrational: to
in6o%e conce+ts li%e +rimiti6e and ci6ili>ed, For liberals and radicals, the search for
integrated social systems gi6es way to a new +ractice called :e;+erimental ethnogra+hy:
in which an organic ob9ect dissi+ates in attention to the +lay of writing, At the le6el of
ideology, we see translations of racism and colonialism into lang!ages of de6elo+ment
and !nder-de6elo+ment, rates and constraints of moderni>ation, Any ob9ects or +ersons
can be reasonably tho!ght of in terms of disassembly and reassembly& no :nat!ral:
architect!res constrain system design, The financial districts in all the world:s cities, as
well as the e;+ort-+rocessing and free-trade >ones, +roclaim this elementary fact of:late
ca+italism:, The entire !ni6erse of ob9ects that can be %nown scientifically m!st be
form!lated as +roblems in

(K?
comm!nications engineering "for the managers* or theories of the te;t "for those who
wo!ld resist*, 7oth are cyborg semiologies,

0ne sho!ld e;+ect control strategies to concentrate on bo!ndary conditions and
interfaces, on rates of flow across bo!ndaries-- and not on the integrity of nat!ral
ob9ects, :/ntegrity: or :sincerity: of the 4estern self gi6es way to decision +roced!res and
e;+ert systems, For e;am+le, control strategies a++lied to women:s ca+acities to gi6e
birth to new h!man beings will be de6elo+ed in the lang!ages of +o+!lation control and
ma;imi>ation of goal achie6ement for indi6id!al decision-ma%ers, Control strategies
will be form!lated in terms of rates, costs of constraints, degrees of freedom, H!man
beings, li%e any other com+onent or s!bsystem, m!st be locali>ed in a system
architect!re whose basic modes of o+eration are +robabilistic, statistical, #o ob9ects,
s+aces, or bodies are sacred in themsel6es& any com+onent can be interfaced with any
other if the +ro+er standard, the +ro+er code, can be constr!cted for +rocessing signals
in a common lang!age, 1;change in this world transcends the !ni6ersal translation
effected by ca+italist mar%ets that Mar; analysed so well, The +ri6ileged +athology
affecting all %inds of com+onents in this !ni6erse is stress - comm!nications brea%down
"Hogness, ().?*, The cyborg is not s!b9ect to Fo!ca!lt:s bio+olitics& the cyborg
sim!lates +olitics, a m!ch more +otent field of o+erations,

This %ind of analysis of scientific and c!lt!ral ob9ects of %nowledge which ha6e
a++eared historically since the Second 4orld 4ar +re+ares !s to notice some im+ortant
inade8!acies in feminist analysis which has +roceeded as if the organic, hierarchical
d!alisms ordering disco!rse in :the 4est: since Aristotle still r!led, They ha6e been
cannibali>ed, or as Aoe Sofia "Sofo!lis* might +!t it, they ha6e been :techno-digested:,
The dichotomies between mind and body, animal and h!man, organism and machine,
+!blic and +ri6ate, nat!re and c!lt!re, men and women, +rimiti6e and ci6ili>ed are all in
8!estion ideologically, The act!al sit!ation of women is their integrationD e;+loitation
into a world system of +rod!ctionDre+rod!ction and com-m!nication called the
informatics of domination, The home, wor%+lace, mar%et, +!blic arena, the body itself-
all can be dis+ersed and interfaced in nearly infinite, +olymor+ho!s ways, with large
conse8!ences for women and others - conse8!ences that themsel6es are 6ery different
for different +eo+le and which ma%e +otent o++ositional international mo6ements
diffic!lt to imagine and essential for s!r6i6al, 0ne im+ortant ro!te for reconstr!cting
socialist-feminist +olitics is thro!gh theory and +ractice addressed to the social relations
of science and technology, incl!ding cr!cially the systems of myth and meanings
str!ct!ring o!r imaginations, The cyborg is a %ind of disassembled and reassembled,
+ostmodern collecti6e and +ersonal self, This is the self feminists m!st code,

(K-
Comm!nications technologies and biotechnologies are the cr!cial tools recrafting o!r
bodies, These tools embody and enforce new social relations for women world-wide,
Technologies and scientific disco!rses can be +artially !nderstood as formali>ations,
i,e,, as fro>en moments, of the fl!id social interactions constit!ting them, b!t they
sho!ld also be 6iewed as instr!ments for enforcing meanings, The bo!ndary is
+ermeable between tool and myth, instr!ment and conce+t, historical systems of social
relations and historical anatomies of +ossible bodies, incl!ding ob9ects of %nowledge,
/ndeed, myth and tool m!t!ally constit!te each other,

F!rthermore, comm!nications sciences and modern biologies are constr!cted by a
common mo6e - the translation of the world into a +roblem of coding, a search for a
common lang!age in which all resistance to instr!mental control disa++ears and all
heterogeneity can be s!bmitted to disassembly, reassembly, in6estment, and e;change,

/n comm!nications sciences, the translation of the world into a +roblem in coding can
be ill!strated by loo%ing at cybernetic "feedbac%-controlled* systems theories a++lied to
tele+hone technology, com+!ter design, wea+ons de+loyment, or data base constr!ction
and maintenance, /n each case, sol!tion to the %ey 8!estions rests on a theory of
lang!age and control& the %ey o+eration is determining the rates, directions, and
+robabilities of flow of a 8!antity called information, The world is s!bdi6ided by
bo!ndaries differentially +ermeable to information, /nformation is 9!st that %ind of
8!antifiable element "!nit, basis of !nity* which allows !ni6ersal translation, and so
!nhindered instr!mental +ower "called effecti6e comm!nication*, The biggest threat to
s!ch +ower is interr!+tion of comm!nication, Any system brea%down is a f!nction of
stress, The f!ndamentals of this technology can be condensed into the meta+hor C?(,
command-controlcomm!nication-intelligence, the military:s symbol for its o+erations
theory,

/n modern biologies, the translation of the world into a +roblem in coding can be
ill!strated by molec!lar genetics, ecology, sociobiological e6ol!tionary theory, and
imm!nobiology, The organism has been translated into +rob-lems of genetic coding and
read-o!t, 7iotechnology, a writing technology, informs research broadly,(- /n a sense,
organisms ha6e ceased to e;ist as ob9ects of %nowledge, gi6ing way to biotic
com+onents, i,e,, s+ecial %inds of information-+rocessing de6ices, The analogo!s mo6es
in ecology co!ld be e;amined by +robing the history and !tility of the conce+t of the
ecosystem, /mm!nobiology and associated medical +ractices are rich e;em+lars of the
+ri6ilege of coding and recognition systems as ob9ects of %nowledge, as constr!ctions of
bodily reality for !s, 7iology here is a %ind of cry+togra+hy, 'esearch is necessarily a
%ind of intelligence acti6ity, /ronies abo!nd, A stressed system goes awry& its
comm!nication +rocesses brea% down& it fails to recogni>e the difference between self
and other, H!man babies with

(K<
baboon hearts e6o%e national ethical +er+le;ity-- for animal rights acti6ists at least as
m!ch as for the g!ardians of h!man +!rity, /n the 3S gay men and intra6eno!s dr!g
!sers are the :+ri6ileged: 6ictims of an awf!l imm!ne system disease that mar%s
"inscribes on the body* conf!sion of bo!ndaries and moral +oll!tion "Treichler, ().I*,

7!t these e;c!rsions into comm!nications sciences and biology ha6e been at a rarefied
le6el& there is a m!ndane, largely economic reality to s!++ort my claim that these
sciences and technologies indicate f!ndamental transforma-tions in the str!ct!re of the
world for !s, Comm!nications technologies de+end on electronics, Modern states,
m!ltinational cor+orations, military +ower, welfare state a++arat!ses, satellite systems,
+olitical +rocesses, fabrication of o!r imaginations, labo!r-control systems, medical
constr!c-tions of o!r bodies, commercial +ornogra+hy, the international di6ision of
labo!r, and religio!s e6angelism de+end intimately !+on electronics, Micro-electronics
is the technical basis of sim!lacra& that is, of co+ies witho!t originals,

Microelectronics mediates the translations of labo!r into robotics and word +rocessing,
se; into genetic engineering and re+rod!cti6e technologies, and mind into artificial
intelligence and decision +roced!res, The new biotechnologies concern more than
h!man re+rod!cdon, 7iology as a +owerf!l engineering science for redesigning
materials and +rocesses has re6ol!tionary im+lications for ind!stry, +erha+s most
ob6io!s today in areas of fermentadon, agric!lt!re, and energy, Comm!nicadons
sciences and biology are constr!cdons of nat!ral-technical ob9ects of %nowledge in
which the difference between machine and organism is thoro!ghly bl!rred& mind, body,
and tool are on 6ery intimate terms, The :m!ltinational: material organi>ation of the
+rod!ction and re+rod!ction of daily life and the symbolic organi>ation of the
+rod!ction and re+rod!ction of c!lt!re and imagination seem e8!ally im+licated, The
bo!ndary-maintaining images of base and s!+erstr!ct!re, +!blic and +ri6ate, or material
and ideal ne6er seemed more feeble,

/ ha6e !sed 'achel 2rossman:s "().=* image of women in the integrated circ!it to name
the sit!ation of women in a world so intimately restr!ct!red thro!gh the social relations
of science and technology,(< / !sed the odd circ!mloc!tion, :the social relations of
science and technology:, to indicate that we are not dealing with a technological
determinism, b!t with a historical system de+ending !+on str!ct!red relations among
+eo+le, 7!t the +hrase sho!ld also indicate that science and technology +ro6ide fresh
so!rces of +ower, that we need fresh so!rces of analysis and +olitical action "ato!r,
().-*, Some of the rearrangements of race, se;, and class rooted in high-tech-facilitated
social relations can ma%e socialist-feminism more rele6ant to effecti6e +rogressi6e
+olitics,


(KK
TH1 :H0M140'C 1C0#0M$: 03TS/D1 :TH1 H0M1:

The :#ew /nd!strial 'e6ol!tion: is +rod!cing a new world-wide wor%ing class, as well
as new se;!alities and ethnicities, The e;treme mobility of ca+ital and the emerging
international di6ision of labo!r are intertwined with the emergence of new collecd6ities,
and the wea%ening of familiar gro!+ings, These de6elo+ments are neither gender- nor
race-ne!tral, 4hite men in ad6anced ind!strial societies ha6e become newly 6!lnerable
to +ermanent 9ob loss, and women are not disa++earing from the 9ob rolls at the same
rates as men, /t is not sim+ly that women in Third 4orld co!ntries are the +referred
labo!r force for the science-based m!ltinationals in the e;+ort-+rocessing sectors,
+artic!larly in electronics, The +ict!re is more systematic and in6ol6es re+rod!ction,
se;!ality, c!lt!re, cons!m+hon, and +rod!cdon, /n the +rototy+ical Silicon Halley,
many women:s li6es ha6e been str!ct!red aro!nd em+loyment in electronics-de+endent
9obs, and their intimate realities incl!de serial heterose;!al monogamy, negotiating
childcare, distance from e;tended %in or most other forms of traditional comm!nity, a
high li%elihood of loneliness and e;treme economic 6!lnerability as they age, The
ethnic and racial di6ersity of women in Silicon Halley str!ct!res a microcosm of
conflicting differences in c!lt!re, family, religion, ed!cation, and lang!age,

'ichard 2ordon has called this new sit!ation the :homewor% economy:,(K Altho!gh he
incl!des the +henomenon of literal homewor% emerging in connecdon with electronics
assembly, 2ordon intends :homewor% economy: to name a restr!ct!ring of wor% that
broadly has the characteristics formerly ascribed to female 9obs, 9obs literally done only
by women, 4or% is being redefined as both literally female and femini>ed, whether
+erformed by men or women, To be femini>ed means to be made e;tremely 6!lnerable&
able to be disassembled, reassembled, e;+loited as a reser6e labo!r force& seen less as
wor%ers than as ser6ers& s!b9ected to dme arrangements on and off the +aid 9ob that
ma%e a moc%ery of a limited wor% day& leading an e;istence that always borders on
being obscene, o!t of +lace, and red!cible to se;, Des%illing is an old strategy newly
a++licable to formerly +ri6ileged wor%ers, Howe6er, the homewor% economy does not
refer only to large-scale des%illing, nor does it deny that new areas of high s%ill are
emerging, e6en for women and men +re6io!sly e;cl!ded from s%illed em+loyment,
'ather, the conce+t indicates that factory, home, and mar%et are integrated on a new
scale and that the +laces of women are cr!cial - and need to be analysed for differences
among women and for meanings for relations between men and women in 6ario!s
sit!ations,

The homewor% economy as a world ca+italist organi>ational str!ct!re is made +ossible
by "not ca!sed by* the new technologies, The s!ccess of the attac% on relati6ely
+ri6ileged, mostly white, men:s !nioni>ed 9obs is deaf to

(KI
the +ower of the new comm!nications technologies to integrate and control labo!r
des+ite e;tensi6e dis+ersion and decentrali>ation, The conse8!ences of the new
technologies are felt by women both in the loss of the family "male* wage "if they e6er
had access to this white +ri6ilege* and in the character of their own 9obs, which are
becoming ca+ital-intensi6e& for e;am+le, office wor% and n!rsing,

The new economic and technological arrangements are also related to the colla+sing
welfare state and the ens!ing intensification of demands on women to s!stain daily life
for themsel6es as well as for men, children, and old +eo+le, The femini>ation of
+o6erty-- generated by dismantling the welfare state, by the homewor% economy where
stable 9obs become the e;ce+tion, and s!stained by the e;+ectation that women:s wages
will not be matched by a male income for the s!++ort of children-- has become an
!rgent foc!s, The ca!ses of 6ario!s women-headed ho!seholds are a f!nction of race,
class, or se;!ality& b!t their increasing generality is a gro!nd for coalitions of women on
many iss!es, That women reg!larly s!stain daily life +artly as a f!ncdon of their
enforced stat!s as mothers is hardly new& the %ind of integration with the o6erall
ca+italist and +rogressi6ely war-based economy is new, The +artic!lar +ress!re, for
e;am+le, on 3S blac% women, who ha6e achie6ed an esca+e from "barely* +aid
domeshc ser6ice and who now hold clerical and similar 9obs in large n!mbers, has large
im+licadons for condn!ed enforced blac% +o6erty with em+loyment, Teenage women in
ind!striali>ing areas of the Third 4orld increasingly find themsel6es the sole or ma9or
so!rce of a cash wage for their families, while access to land is e6er more +roblemadc,
These de6elo+ments m!st ha6e ma9or conse8!ences in the +sychodynamics and +olitics
of gender and race,

4ithin the framewor% of three ma9or stages of ca+italism "commercialD early ind!strial,
mono+oly, m!ltinational* --tied to nationalism, im+erialism, and m!ltinationalism, and
related to Bameson:s three dominant aesthetic +eriods of realism, modernism, and
+ostmodernism --/ wo!ld arg!e that s+ecific forms of families dialectically relate to
forms of ca+ital and to its +olitical and c!lt!ral concomitants, Altho!gh li6ed
+roblematically and !ne8!ally, ideal forms of these families might be schemati>ed as
"(* the +atriarchal n!clear family, str!ct!red by the dichotomy between +!blic and
+ri6ate and accom+anied by the white bo!rgeois ideology of se+arate s+heres and
nineteenth-cent!ry Anglo-American bo!rgeois feminism& "E* the modern family
mediated "or enforced* by the welfare state and instit!tions li%e the family wage, with a
flowering of a-feminist heterose;!al ideologies, incl!ding their radical 6ersions
re+resented in 2reenwich Hillage aro!nd the First 4orld 4ar& and "?* the :family: of
the homewor% economy with its o;ymoronic str!ct!re of women-headed ho!seholds
and its e;+losion of feminisms and the +arado;ical intensification and erosion of gender
itself,

(K.
This is the conte;t in which the +ro9ections for world-wide str!ct!ral !nem+loyment
stemming from the new technologies are +art of the +ict!re of the homewor% economy,
As robodcs and related technologies +!t men o!t of wor% in :de6elo+ed: co!ntries and
e;acerbate fail!re to generate male 9obs in Third 4orld :de6elo+ment:, and as the
a!tomated of fice becomes the r!le e6en in labo!r-s!r+l!s co!ntries, the femini>ation of
wor% intensifies, 7lac% women in the 3nited States ha6e long %nown what it loo%s li%e
to face the str!ct!ral !nderem+loyment ":femini>ation:* of blac% men, as well as their
own highly 6!lnerable +osition in the wage economy, /t is no longer a secret that
se;!ality, re+rod!ction, family, and comm!nity life are interwo6en with this economic
str!ct!re in myriad ways which ha6e also differentiated the sit!ations of white and
blac% women, Many more women and men will contend with similar sit!ations, which
will ma%e cross-gender and race alliances on iss!es of basic life s!++ort "with or
witho!t 9obs* necessary, not 9!st mice,
The new technologies also ha6e a +rofo!nd effect on h!nger and on food +rod!ction for
s!bsistence world-wide, 'ae essor 7l!mberg "().?* estimates that women +rod!ce
abo!t <= +er cent of the world:s s!bsistence food,(I 4omen are e;cl!ded generally
from benefiting from the increased high-tech commodification of food and energy
cro+s, their days are made more ard!o!s beca!se their res+onsibilides to +ro6ide food
do not diminish, and their re+rod!cti6e sit!ations are made more com+le;, 2reen
'e6ol!tion technologies interact with other high-tech ind!strial +rod!ction to alter
gender di6isions of labo!r and differential gender migration +atterns,

The new technologies seem dee+ly in6ol6ed in the forms of:+ri6ati>ation: that 'os
5etches%y "().(* has analysed, in which militari>ation, right-wing family ideologies
and +olicies, and intensified definitions of cor+orate "and state* +ro+erty as +ri6ate
synergistically interact,(. The new comm!nications technologies are f!ndamental to the
eradication of :+!blic life: for e6eryone, This facilitates the m!shrooming of a
+ermanent high-tech military establishment at the c!lt!ral and economic e;+ense of
most +eo+le, b!t es+ecially of women, Technologies li%e 6ideo games and highly
miniat!ri>ed tele6i-sions seem cr!cial to +rod!ction of modern forms of :+ri6ate life:,
The c!lt!re of 6ideo games is hea6ily orientated to indi6id!al com+edtion and
e;traterrestrial warfare, High-tech, gendered imaginations are +rod!ced here,
imaginations that can contem+late destr!ction of the +lanet and a sci-fi esca+e from its
conse8!ences, More than o!r imaginations is militari>ed& and the other realities of
electronic and n!clear warfare are inesca+able, These are the technologies that +romise
!ltimate mobility and +erfect e;change-- and incidentally enable to!rism, that +erfect
+ractice of mobility and e;change, to emerge as one of the world:s largest single
ind!stries,

The new technologies affect the social relations of both se;!ality and of

(K)
re+rod!ction, and not always in the same ways, The close ties of se;!ality and
instr!mentality, of 6iews of the body as a %ind of +ri6ate satisfaction- and !tility-
ma;imi>ing machine, are described nicely in sociobiological origin stories that stress a
genetic calc!l!s and e;+lain the ine6itable dialectic of domination of male and female
gender roles,() These sociobiological stories de+end on a high-tech 6iew of the body as
a biotic com+onent or cybernetic comm!nications system, Among the many
transformations of re+rod!cti6e sit!ations is the medical one, where women:s bodies
ha6e bo!ndaries newly +ermeable to both :6is!ali>ation: and :inter6ention:, 0f co!rse,
who controls the inter+retation of bodily bo!ndaries in medical hermene!bcs is a ma9or
feminist iss!e, The s+ec!l!m ser6ed as an icon of women:s claiming their bodies in the
()I=S& that handcraft tool is inade8!ate to e;+ress o!r needed body +olitics in the
negotiation of reality in the +ractices of cyborg re+rod!ction, Self-hel+ is not eno!gh,
The technologies of 6is!ali>ation recall the im+ortant c!lt!ral +ractice of h!ndng with
the camera and the dee+ly +redatory nat!re of a +hotogra+hic conscio!sness,E= Se;,
se;!ality, and re+rod!ction are central actors in high-tech myth systems str!ct!ring o!r
imaginations of +ersonal and social +ossibility,

Another critical as+ect of the social relations of the new technologies is the
reform!lation of e;+ectations, c!lt!re, wor%, and re+rod!ction for the large scientific
and technical wor%-force, A ma9or social and +olitical danger is the formation of a
strongly bimodal social str!ct!re, with the masses of women and men of all ethnic
gro!+s, b!t es+ecially +eo+le of colo!r, confined to a homewor% economy, illiteracy of
se6eral 6arieties, and general red!ndancy and im+otence, controlled by high-tech
re+ressi6e a++arat!ses ranging from entertainment to s!r6eillance and disa++earance,
An ade8!ate socialist-feminist +olitics sho!ld address women in the +ri6ileged
occ!+ational categories, and +artic!larly in the +rod!ction of science and technology
that constr!cts scientific-technical disco!rses, +rocesses, and ob9ects,E(

This iss!e is only one as+ect of en8!iry into the +ossibility of a feminist science, b!t it
is im+ortant, 4hat %ind of constit!ti6e role in the +rod!ction of %nowledge,
imagination, and +ractice can new gro!+s doing science ha6eF How can these gro!+s be
allied with +rogressi6e social and +olitical mo6ementsF 4hat %ind of +olitical
acco!ntability can be constr!cted to the women together across the scientific-technical
hierarchies se+arating !sF Might there be ways of de6elo+ing feminist
scienceDtechnology +olitics in alliance with and-military science facility con6ersion
action gro!+sF Many sciendfic and technical wor%ers in Silicon Halley, the high-tech
cowboys incl!ded, do not want to wor% on military science,EE Can these +ersonal
+references and c!lt!ral tendencies be welded into +rogressi6e +olitics among this
+rofessional middle class in which women, incl!ding women of colo!r, are coming to
be fairly n!mero!sF

(I=
40M1# /# TH1 /#T12'AT1D C/'C3/T

et me s!mmari>e the +ict!re of women:s historical locations in ad6anced ind!strial
societies, as these +ositions ha6e been restr!ct!red +artly thro!gh the social relations of
science and technology, /f it was e6er +ossible ideologically to characteri>e women:s
li6es by the disdnction of +!blic and +ri6ate domains-- s!ggested by images of the
di6ision of wor%ing-class life into factory and home, of bo!rgeois life into mar%et and
home, and of gender e;istence into +ersonal and +olitical realms --it is now a totally
misleading ideology, e6en to show how both terms of these dichotomies constr!ct each
other in +ractice and in theory, / +refer a networ% ideological image, s!ggesting the
+rof!sion of s+aces and identities and the +ermeability of bo!ndaries in the +ersonal
body and in the body +olitic, :#etwor%ing: is both a feminist +ractice and a
m!ltinational cor+orate strategy -- wea6ing is for o++ositional cyborgs,

So let me ret!rn to the earlier image of the informatics of domination and trace one
6ision of women:s :+lace: in the integrated circ!it, to!ching only a few ideali>ed social
locations seen +rimarily from the +oint of 6iew of ad6anced ca+italist societies: Home,
Mar%et, 5aid 4or% 5lace, State, School, Clinic-Hos+ital, and Ch!rch, 1ach of these
ideali>ed s+aces is logically and +ractically im+lied in e6ery other loc!s, +erha+s
analogo!s to a hologra+hic +hotogra+h, / want to s!ggest the im+act of the social
relations mediated and enforced by the new technologies in order to hel+ form!late
needed analysis and +ractical wor%, Howe6er, there is no :+lace: for women in these
networ%s, only geometries of difference and contradiction cr!cial to women:s cyborg
identities, /f we learn how to read these webs of +ower and social life, we might learn
new co!+lings, new coalitions, There is no way to read the following list from a
stand+oint of:idendfication:, of a !nitary self, The iss!e is dis+ersion, The tas% is to
s!r6i6e in the dias+ora,

Home: 4omen-headed ho!seholds, serial monogamy, flight of men, old women alone,
technology of domestic wor%, +aid homewor%, re-emergence of home sweat-sho+s,
home-based b!sinesses and telecom-m!ting, electronic cottage, !rban homelessness,
migration, mod!le architect!re, reinforced "sim!lated* n!clear family, intense domestic
6iolence,

Mar%et: 4omen:s contin!ing cons!m+tion wor%, newly targeted to b!y the +rof!sion of
new +rod!ction from the new technologies "es+ecially as the com+etiti6e race among
ind!striali>ed and ind!striali>ing nations to a6oid dangero!s mass !nem+loyment
necessitates finding e6er bigger new mar%ets for e6er less clearly needed commodities*&
bimodal b!ying +ower, co!+led with ad6ertising targeting of the n!mero!s affl!ent
gro!+s and neglect of the +re6io!s mass mar%ets& growing im+ortance of

(I(
informal mar%ets in labo!r and commodities +arallel to high-tech, affl!ent mar%et
str!ct!res& s!r6eillance systems thro!gh electronic f!nds transfer& intensified mar%et
abstraction "commodification* of e;+erience, res!lting in ineffecti6e !to+ian or
e8!i6alent cynical theories of comm!nity& e;treme mobility "abstraction* of
mar%etingDfinancing systems& inter-+enetration of se;!al and labo!r mar%ets& intensified
se;!ali>ation of abstracted and alienated cons!m+tion,

5aid 4or% 5lace: Contin!ed intense se;!al and racial di6ision of labo!r, b!t
considerable growth of membershi+ in +ri6ileged occ!+ational categories for many
white women and +eo+le of colo!r& im+act of new technologies on women:s wor% in
clerical, ser6ice, man!fact!ring "es+ecially te;tiles*, agric!lt!re, electronics&
international restr!ct!ring of the wor%ing classes& de6elo+ment of new time
arrangements to facilitate the homewor% economy "fle; time, +art time, o6er time, no
time*& homewor% and o!t wor%& increased +ress!res for two-tiered wage str!ct!res&
significant n!mbers of +eo+le in cash-de+endent +o+!lations world-wide with no
e;+erience or no f!rther ho+e of stable em+loyment& most labo!r :marginal: or
:femini>ed:,

State: Contin!ed erosion of the welfare state& decentrali>ations with increased
s!r6eillance and control& citi>enshi+ by telematics& im+erialism and +olitical +ower
broadly in the form of information richDinformation +oor differentiation& increased high-
tech militari>ation increasingly o++osed by many social gro!+s& red!ction of ci6il
ser6ice 9obs as a res!lt of the growing ca+ital intensification of office wor%, with
im+lications for occ!+ational mobility for women of colo!r& growing +ri6ad>ation of
material and ideological life and c!lt!re& close integration of +ri6ati>ation and
militari>ation, the high-tech forms of bo!rgeois ca+italist +ersonal and +!blic life&
in6isibility of different social gro!+s to each other, lin%ed to +sychological mechanisms
of belief in abstract enemies,

School: Dee+ening co!+ling of high-tech ca+ital needs and +!blic ed!ca-tion at all
le6els, differentiated by race, class, and gender& managerial classes in6ol6ed in
ed!cational reform and ref!nding at the cost of

remaining +rogressi6e ed!cational democratic str!ct!res for children and teachers&
ed!cation for mass ignorance and re+ression in technocratic and militari>ed c!lt!re&
growing and-science mystery c!lts in dissendng and radical +olitical mo6ements&
contin!ed relati6e scientific illiteracy among white women and +eo+le of colo!r&
growing ind!strial direction of ed!cation "es+ecially higher ed!cation* by science-based
m!ltinationals "+artic!larly in electronics- and biotechnology-de+endent com+anies*&
highly ed!cated, n!mero!s elites in a +rogressi6ely bimodal society,

Clinic-hos+ital: /ntensified machine-body relations& renegotiations of

(IE
+!blic meta+hors which channel +ersonal e;+erience of the body, +artic!larly in relation
to re+rod!ction, imm!ne system f!nctions, and :stress: +henomena& intensification of
re+rod!cti6e +olitics in res+onse to world historical im+lications of women:s !nreali>ed,
+otential control of their relation to re+rod!ction& emergence of new, historically
s+ecific diseases& str!ggles o6er meanings and means of health in en6ironments
+er6aded by high technology +rod!cts and +rocesses& contin!ing femini>ation of health
wor%& intensified str!ggle o6er state res+onsibility for health& contin!ed ideological role
of +o+!lar health mo6ements as a ma9or form of American +olitics,

Ch!rch: 1lectronic f!ndamentalist :s!+er-sa6er: +reachers solemni>ing the !nion of
electronic ca+ital and a!tomated fetish gods& intensified im+ortance of ch!rches in
resisting the militari>ed state& central str!ggle o6er women:s meanings and a!thority in
religion& contin!ed rele6ance of s+irit!ality, intertwined with se; and health, in +olitical
str!ggle,

The only way to characteri>e the informatics of domination is as a massi6e
intensification of insec!rity and c!lt!ral im+o6erishment, with common fail!re of
s!bsistence networ%s for the most 6!lnerable, Since m!ch of this +ict!re interwea6es
with the social relations of science and technology, the !rgency of a socialist-feminist
+olitics addressed to science and technology is +lain, There is m!ch now being tione,
and the gro!nds for +olitical wor% are rich, For e;am+le, the efforts to de6elo+ forms of
collecd6e str!ggle for women in +aid wor%, li%e S1/3:s District )E<,G sho!ld be a high
+riority for all of !s, These efforts are +rofo!ndly deaf to technical restr!ct!ring of
labo!r +rocesses and reformations of wor%ing classes, These efforts also are +ro6iding
!nderstanding of a more com+rehensi6e %ind of labo!r organi>ation, in6ol6ing
comm!nity, se;!ality, and family iss!es ne6er +ri6ileged in the largely white male
ind!strial !nions,

The str!ct!ral rearrangements related to the social relations of science and technology
e6o%e strong ambi6alence, 7!t it is not necessary to be !ldmately de+ressed by the
im+lications of late twentieth-cent!ry women:s relation to all as+ects of wor%, c!lt!re,
+rod!ction of %nowledge, se;!ality, and re+rod!ction, For e;cellent reasons, most
Mar;isms see domination best and ha6e tro!ble !nderstanding what can only loo% li%e
false conscio!sness and +eo+le:s com+licity in their own domination in late ca+italism,
/t is cr!cial to remember that what is lost, +erha+s es+ecially from women:s +oints of
6iew, is often 6ir!lent forms of o++ression, nostalgically nat!rali>ed in the face of
c!rrent 6iolation, Ambi6alence towards the disr!+ted !nides mediated by high-tech
c!lt!re re8!ires not sorting conscio!sness into categories of clear-sighted criti8!e
gro!nding a solid +olitical e+istemology:

GSer6ice 1m+loyees /nternational 3nion:s office wor%ers: organi>ation in the 3S,

(I?
6ers!s :mani+!lated false conscio!sness:, b!t s!btle !nderstanding of emerging
+leas!res, e;+eriences, and +owers with serio!s +otential for changing the r!les of the
game,

There are gro!nds for ho+e in the emerging bases for new %inds of !nity across race,
gender, and class, as these elementary !nits of socialist-feminist analysis themsel6es
s!ffer +rotean transformations, /ntensifications of hardshi+ e;+erienced world-wide in
connection with the social relations of science and technology are se6ere, 7!t what
+eo+le are e;+eriencing is not trans+arently clear, and we lac% a!fficiently s!btle
connections for collecti6ely b!ilding effecti6e theories of e;+erience, 5resent efforts -
Mar;ist, +sychoanalytic, feminist, anthro+ological-- to clarify e6en :o!r: e;+erience are
r!dimentary,

/ am conscio!s of the odd +ers+ecd6e +ro6ided by my historical +osition - a 5hD in
biology for an /rish Catholic girl was made +ossible by S+!tni%:s im+act on 3S national
science-ed!cation +olicy, / ha6e a body and mind as m!ch constr!cted by the +ost-
Second 4orld 4ar arms race and cold war as by the women:s mo6ements, There are
more gro!nds for ho+e in foc!sing on the contradictory effects of +olitics designed to
+rod!ce loyal American technocrats, which also +rod!ced large n!mbers of dissidents,
than in foc!sing on the +resent defeats,

The +ermanent +ardality of feminist +oints of 6iew has conse8!ences for o!r
e;+ectations of forms of +olitical organi>ation and +artici+ation, 4e do not need a
totality in order to wor% well, The feminist dream of a common lang!age, li%e all
dreams for a +erfectly tr!e lang!age, of +erfectly faithf!l naming of e;+erience, is a
totali>ing and im+erialist one, /n that sense, dialectics too is a dream lang!age, longing
to resol6e contradiction, 5erha+s, ironically, we can learn from o!r f!sions with animals
and machines how not to be Man, the embodiment of 4estern logos, From the +oint of
6iew of +leas!re in these +otent and taboo f!sions, made ine6itable by the social
relations of science and technology, there might indeed be a feminist science,

C$70'2S: A M$TH 0F 50/T/CA /D1#T/T$

/ want to concl!de with a myth abo!t idendty and bo!ndaries which might inform late
twentieth-cent!ry +olitical imaginations "5late (*, / am indebted in this story to writers
li%e Boanna '!ss, Sam!el ', Delany, Bohn Harley, Bames Ti+tree, Br, 0cta6ia 7!tler,
Moni8!e 4ittig, and Honda Mc/ntyre,E? These are o!r story-tellers e;+loring what it
means to be embodied in high-tech worlds, They are theorists for cyborgs, 1;+loring
conce+hons of bodily bo!ndaries and social order, the anthro+ologist Mary Do!glas
"()KK, ()I=* sho!ld be credited with hel+ing !s to conscio!sness abo!t how
f!ndamental body imagery is to world 6iew, and so to +olitical lang!age,

French feminists li%e !ce /rigaray and Moni8!e 4ittig, for all their differences, %now
how to write the body& how to wea6e eroticism, cosmology, and +olitics from imagery
of embodiment, and es+ecially for 4ittig, from imagery of fragmentation and
reconstit!tion of bodies,E-

American radical feminists li%e S!san 2riffnn, A!dre orde, and Adrienne 'ich ha6e
+rofo!ndly affected o!r +olitical imaginations - and +erha+s restricted too m!ch what
we allow as a friendly body and +olitical lang!age,E< They insist on the organic,
o++osing it to the technological, 7!t their symbolic systems and the related +ositions of
ecofeminism and feminist +aganism, re+lete with organicisms, can only be !nderstood
in Sando6al:s terms as o++ositional ideologies fitting the late twentieth cent!ry, They
wo!ld sim+ly bewilder anyone not +reocc!+ied with the machines and conscio!sness of
late ca+italism, /n that sense they are +art of the cyborg world, 7!t there are also great
riches for feminists in e;+licitly embracing the +ossibilides inherent in the brea%down
of clean disdnctions between organism and machine and similar distinctions str!ct!ring
the 4estern self, /t is the sim!ltaneity of brea%downs that crac%s the matrices of
domination and o+ens geometric +ossibilities, 4hat might be learned from +ersonal and
+olitical :technological: +oll!tionF / loo% briefly at two o6erla++ing gro!+s of te;ts for
their insight into the constr!ction of a +otentially hel+f!l cyborg myth: constr!ctions of
women of colo!r and monstro!s sel6es in feminist science fiction,

1arlier / s!ggested that :women of colo!r: might be !nderstood as a cyborg idendty, a
+otent s!b9ecd6ity synthesi>ed from f!sions of o!tsider identities and in the com+le;
+olitical-historical layerings of her :biomythogra+hy:, Aami "orde, ().E& Cing, ().Ia,
().Ib*, There are material and c!lt!ral grids ma++ing this +otential, A!dre orde
"().-* ca+t!res the tone in the title of her Sister 0!tsider, /n my +olitical myth, Sister
0!tsider is the offshore woman, whom 3S wor%ers, female and femini>ed, are
s!++osed to regard as the enemy +re6end!g their solidarity, threatening their sec!rity,
0nshore, inside the bo!ndary of the 3nited States, Sister 0!tsider is a +otential amidst
the races and ethnic identities of women mani+!lated for di6ision, com+etition, and
e;+loitation in the same ind!stries, :4omen of colo!r: are the +referred labo!r force for
the science-based ind!stries, the real women for whom the world-wide se;!al mar%et,
labo!r mar%et, and +olitics of re+rod!ction %aleidosco+e into daily life, $o!ng Corean
women hired in the se; ind!stry and in electronics assembly are recr!ited from high
schools, ed!cated for the integrated circ!it, iteracy, es+ecially in 1nglish, disting!ishes
the :chea+: female labo!r so attracti6e to the m!ltinationals,

Contrary to orientalist stereoty+es of the :oral +rimid6e:, literacy is a s+ecial mar% of
women of colo!r, ac8!ired by 3S blac% women as well as

(I<
men thro!gh a history of ris%ing death to learn and to teach reading and wridng, 4riting
has a s+ecial significance for all coloni>ed gro!+s, 4riting has been cr!cial to the
4estern myth of the distinction between oral and written c!lt!res, +rimiti6e and
ci6ili>ed mentalities, and more recently to the erosion of that distinction in
:+ostmodernist: theories attac%ing the +hallogo-centrism of the 4est, with its worshi+ of
the monotheistic, +hallic, a!thoritati6e, and sing!lar wor%, the !ni8!e and +erfect
name,EK Contests for the meanings of writing are a ma9or form of contem+orary
+olitical str!ggle, 'eleasing the +lay of writing is deadly serio!s, The +oetry and stories
of 3S women of colo!r are re+eatedly abo!t writing, abo!t access to the +ower to
signify& b!t this dme that +ower m!st be neither +hallic nor innocent, Cyborg writing
m!st not be abo!t the Fall, the imagination of a once-!+on-a-time wholeness before
lang!age, before writing, before Man, Cyborg writing is abo!t the +ower to s!r6i6e, not
on the basis of original innocence, b!t on the basis of sei>ing the tools to mar% the
world that mar%ed them as other,

The tools are often stories, retold stories, 6ersions that re6erse and dis+lace the
hierarchical d!alisms of nat!rali>ed identities, /n retelling origin stories, cyborg a!thors
s!b6ert the central myths of origin of 4estern c!lt!re, 4e ha6e all been coloni>ed by
those origin myths, with their longing for f!lfilment in a+ocaly+se, The +hallogocentrie
origin stories most cr!cial for feminist cyborgs are b!ilt into the literal technologies -
teehnologies that write the world, biotechnology and microelectronics - that ha6e
recently te;t!ali>ed o!r bodies as code +roblems on the grid of C?/, Feminist cyborg
stories ha6e the tas% of recoding comm!nication and intelligence to s!b6ert command
and control,

Fig!rati6ely and literally, lang!age +olitics +er6ade the str!ggles of women of colo!r&
and stories abo!t lang!age ha6e a s+ecial +ower in the rich contem+orary writing by 3S
women of colo!r, For e;am+le, retellings of the stomL of the indigeno!s woman
Malinche, mother of the mesd>o :bastard: race of the new world, master of lang!ages,
and mistress of Cortes, carry s+ecial meaning for Chicana constr!ctions of identity,
Cherrie Moraga "().?* in o6ing in the 4ar $ears e;+lores the themes of identity
when one ne6er +ossessed the original lang!age, ne6er told the original story, ne6er
resided in the harmony of legitimate heterose;!ality in the garden of c!lt!re, and so
cannot base identity on a myth or a fall from innocence and right to nat!ral names,
mother:s or father:s,EI Moraga:s writing, her s!+erb literacy, is +resented in her +oetry
as the same %ind of 6iolation as Malinche:s mastery of the con8!eror:s lang!age -- a
6iolation, an illegitimate +rod!ction, that allows s!r6i6al, Moraga:s lang!age is not
:whole:& it is self-conscio!sly s+liced, a chimera of 1nglish and S+anish, both
con8!eror:s lang!ages, 7!t it is this chimeric monster, witho!t claim to an original
lang!age before

(IK
6iolation, that crafts the erode, com+etent, +otent identities of women of colo!r, Sister
0!tsider hints at the +ossibility of world s!r6i6al not beca!se of her innocence, b!t
beca!se of her ability to li6e on the bo!ndaries, to write witho!t the fo!nding myth of
original wholeness, with its inesca+able a+ocaly+se of final ret!rn to a deathly oneness
that Man has imagined to be the innocent and all-+owerf!l Mother, freed at the 1nd
from another s+iral of a++ro+riation by her son, 4riting mar%s Moraga:s body, affirms
it as the body of a woman of colo!r, against the +ossibility of +assing into the !nmar%ed
category of the Anglo father or into the orientalist myth of :original illiteracy: of a
mother that ne6er was, Malinche was mother here, not 16e before eating the forbidden
fr!it, 4riting affirms Sister 0!tsider, not the 4oman-before-the-Fall-into-4riting
needed by the +hallogocentric Family of Man,

4riting is +re-eminently the technology of cyborgs, etched s!rfaces of the late twentieth
cent!ry, Cyborg +olitics is the str!ggle for lang!age and the str!ggle against +erfect
comm!nication, against the one code that translates all meaning +erfectly, the central
dogma of +hallogocentrism, That is why cyborg +olitics insist on noise and ad6ocate
+oll!tion, re9oicing in the illegitimate f!sions of animal and machine, These are the
co!+lings which ma%e Man and 4oman so +roblematic, s!b6erting the str!ct!re of
desire, the force imagined to generate lang!age and gender, and so s!b6erting the
str!ct!re and modes of re+rod!ction of :4estern: idendty, of nat!re and c!lt!re, of
mirror and eye, sla6e and master, body and mind, :4e: did not originally choose to be
cyborgs, b!t choice gro!nds a liberal +olitics and e+istemology that imagines the
re+rod!ction of indi6id!als before the wider re+lications of :te;ts:,

From the +ers+ecti6e of cyborgs, freed of the need to gro!nd +olitics in :o!r: +ri6ileged
+osition of the o++ression that incor+orates all other dominations, the innocence of the
merely 6iolated, the gro!nd of those closer to nat!re, we can see +owerf!l +ossibilities,
Feminisms and Mar;isms ha6e r!n agro!nd on 4estern e+istemological im+erati6es to
constr!ct a re6ol!tionary s!b9ect from the +ers+ecti6e of a hierarchy of o++ressions
andDor a latent +osition of moral s!+eriority, innocence, and greater closeness to nat!re,
4ith no a6ailable original dream of a common lang!age or original symbiosis
+romising +rotection from hostile :masc!line: se+aration, b!t written into the +lay of a
te;t that has no finally +ri6ileged reading or sal6ation history, to recogni>e :oneself: as
f!lly im+licated in the world, frees !s of the need to root +olitics in identification,
6ang!ard +arties, +!rity, and mothering, Stri++ed of identity, the bastard race teaches
abo!t the +ower of the margins and the im+ortance of a mother li%e Malinche, 4omen
of colo!r ha6e transformed her from the e6il mother of

(II
masc!linist fear into the originally literate mother who teaches s!r6i6al,

This is not 9!st literary deconstr!ction, b!t liminal transformation, 16ery, story that
begins with original innocence and +ri6ileges the ret!rn to wholeness imagines the
drama of life to be indi6id!ation, se+aration, the birth of the self, the tragedy of
a!tonomy, the fall into writing, alienation& that is, war, tem+ered by imaginary res+ite in
the bosom of the 0ther, These +lots are r!led by a re+rod!cti6e +olitics --rebirth witho!t
flaw, +erfection, abstraction, /n this +lot women are imagined either better or worse off,
b!t all agree they ha6e less selflhood, wea%er indi6id!ation, more f!sion to the oral, to
Mother, less at sta%e in masc!line a!tonomy, 7!t there is another ro!te to ha6ing less at
sta%e in masc!line a!tonomy, a ro!te that does not +ass thro!gh 4oman, 5rimiti6e,
Aero, the Mirror Stage and its imaginaw, /t +asses thro!gh women and other +resent-
tense, illegitimate cyborgs, not of 4oman born, who ref!se the ideological reso!rces of
6ictimi>ation so as to ha6e a real life, These cyborgs are the +eo+le who ref!se to
disa++ear on c!e, no matter how many dmes a :western: commentator remar%s on the
sad +assing of another +rimiti6e, another organic gro!+ done in by :4estern:
technology, by writing,E. These real-life cyborgs "for e;am+le, the So!theast Asian
6illage women wor%ers inBa+anese and 3S electronics firms described by Aihwa 0ng*
are acti6ely rewriting the te;ts of their bodies and sociedes, S!mi6al is the sta%es in this
+lay of readings,

To reca+it!late, certain d!alisms ha6e been +ersistent in 4estern traditions& they ha6e
all been systemic to the logics and +ractices of domination of women, +eo+le of colo!r,
nat!re, wor%ers, animals - in short, domination of all constit!ted as others, whose tas% is
to mirror the self, Chief among these tro!bling d!alisms are selfDother, mindDbody,
c!lt!reDnat!re, maleDfemale, ci6ili>edD+rimiti6e, realityDa++earance, wholeD+art,
agentDreso!rce, ma%erD made, acti6eD+assi6e, rightDwrong, tr!thDill!sion, totaH+artial,
2odDman, The self is the 0ne who is not dominated, who %nows that by the semice of
the other, the other is the one who holds the f!t!re, who %nows that by the e;+erience of
domination, which gi6es the lie to the a!tonomy of the self, To be 0ne is to be
a!tonomo!s, to be +owerf!l, to be 2od& b!t to be 0ne is to be an ill!sion, and so to be
in6ol6ed in a dialectic of a+ocaly+se with the other, $et to be other is to be m!lti+le,
witho!t clear bo!ndary, frayed, ins!bstantial, 0ne is too few, b!t two are too many,

High-tech c!lt!re challenges these d!alisms in intrig!ing ways, /t is not clear who
ma%es and who is made in the relation between h!man and machine, /t is not clear what
is mind and what body in machines that resol6e into coding +ractices, /n so far as we
%now o!rsel6es in both formal disco!rse "for e;am+le, biology* and in daily +ractice
"for e;am+le, the homewor% economy in the integrated circ!it*, we find o!rsel6es to be
cyborgs, hybrids, mosaics, chimeras, 7iological organisms ha6e become biotic systems,
com-
(I.
m!nications de6ices li%e others, There is no f!ndamental, ontological se+aration in o!r
formal %nowledge of machine and organism, of technical and organic, The re+licant
'achel in the 'idley Scott film 7lade '!nner stands as the image of a cyborg c!lt!re:s
fear, lo6e, and conf!sion,

0ne conse8!ence is that o!r sense of connection to o!r tools is heightened, The trance
state e;+erienced by many com+!ter !sers has become a sta+le of science-fiction film
and c!lt!ral 9o%es, 5erha+s +ara+legics and other se6erely handica++ed +eo+le can "and
sometimes do* ha6e the most intense e;+eriences of com+le; hybridi>ation with other
comm!nication de6ices,E) Anne McCaffrey:s +re-feminist The Shi+ 4ho Sang "()K)*
e;+lored the conscio!sness of a cyborg, hybrid of girl:s brain and com+le; machinery,
formed after the birth of a se6erely handica++ed child, 2ender, se;!ality, embodiment,
s%ill: all were reconstit!ted in the story, 4hy sho!ld o!r bodies end at the s%in, or
incl!de at best other beings enca+s!lated by s%inF From the se6enteenth cent!ry dll
now, machines co!ld be animated - gi6en ghostly so!ls to ma%e them s+ea% or mo6e or
to acco!nt for their orderly de6elo+ment and mental ca+acides, 0r organisms co!ld be
mechan-i>ed - red!ced to body !nderstood as reso!rce of mind, These machineD
organism relationshi+s are obsolete, !nnecessary, For !s, in imagination and in other
+ractice, machines can be +rosthetic de6ices, intimate com+onents, friendly sel6es, 4e
don:t need organic holism to gi6e im+ermeable whole-ness, the total woman and her
feminist 6ariants "m!tantsF*, et me concl!de this +oint by a 6ery +artial reading of the
logic of the cyborg monsters of my second gro!+ of te;ts, feminist science fiction,

The cyborgs +o+!lating feminist science fiction ma%e 6ery +roblematic the stat!ses of
man or woman, h!man, artefact, member of a race, indi6id!al endty, or body, Catie
Cing clarifies how +leas!re in reading these fictions is not largely based on
idendfication, St!dents facingBoanna '!ss for the first time, st!dents who ha6e learned
to ta%e modernist writers li%e Bames Boyce or Hirginia 4oolf witho!t flinching, do not
%now what to ma%e of The Ad6ent!res of Aly; or The Female Man, where characters
ref!se the reader:s search for innocent wholeness while granting the wish for heroic
8!ests, e;!berant eroticism, and serio!s +olitics, The Female Man is the story of fo!r
6ersions of one genoty+e, all of whom meet, b!t e6en ta%en together do not ma%e a
whole, resol6e the dilemmas of 6iolent moral action, or remo6e the growing scandal of
gender, The feminist science fiction of Sam!el ', Delany, es+ecially Tales of #e6eyon,
moc%s stories of origin by redoing the neolithic re6ol!tion, re+laying the fo!nding
mo6es of 4estern ci6ili>ation to s!b6ert their +la!sibility, Bames Ti+tree, Br, an a!thor
whose fiction was regarded as +artic!larly manly !ndl her :tr!e: gender was re6ealed,
tells tales of re+rod!ction based on non-mammalian technologies li%e alternation of
generations of male brood +o!ches and male n!rt!ring, Bohn Harley

(I)
constr!cts a s!+reme cyborg in his arch-feminist e;+loration of 2aea, a mad goddess-
+lanet-tric%ster-old woman-technological de6ice on whose s!rface an e;traordinary
array of +ost-cyborg symbioses are s+awned, 0cta6ia 7!tler writes of an African
sorceress +ith!g her +owers of transformation against the genetic mani+!lations of her
ri6al "4ild Seed*, of dme war+s that bring a modern 3S blac% woman into sla6ery
where her actions in relation to her white master-ancestor determine the +ossibility of
her own birth "Cindred*, and of the illegidmate insights into idendty and comm!nity of
an ado+ted cross-s+ecies child who came to %now the enem: as self "S!r6i6or*, /n Dawn
"().I*, the first instalment of a series called Menogenesis, 7!tler tells the story of ilith
/ya+o, whose +ersonal name recalls Adam:s first and re+!diated wife and whose family
name mar%s her stat!s as the widow of the son of #igerian immigrants to the 3S, A
blac% woman and a mother whose child is dead, ilith mediates the transformation of
h!manity thro!gh genetic e;change with e;tra-terrestrial
lo6ersDresc!ersDdestroyersDgenetic engineers, who reform earth:s habitats after the
n!clear holoca!st and coerce s!r6i6ing h!mans into intimate f!sion with them, /t is a
no6el that interrogates re+rod!cti6e, ling!ishc, and n!clear +olitics in a mythic field
str!ct!red by late twentieth-cent!ry race and gender,

7eca!se it is +artic!larly rich in bo!ndary transgressions, Honda Mc/n-tyre:s
S!+erl!minal can close this tr!ncated catalog!e of +romising and dangero!s monsters
who hel+ redefine the +leas!res and +olitics of embodiment and feminist writing, /n a
fiction where no character is :sim+ly: h!man, h!man stat!s is highly +roblematic, 0rca,
a genetically altered di6er, can s+ea% with %iller whales and s!r6i6e dee+ ocean
conditions, b!t she longs to e;+lore s+ace as a +ilot, necessitating bionic im+lants
9eo+ardi>ing her %inshi+ with the di6ers and cetaceans, Transformations are effected by
6ir!s 6ectors carrying a new de6elo+mental code, by trans+lant s!rgery, by im+lants of
microelectronic de6ices, by analog!e do!bles, and other means, acnea becomes a +ilot
by acce+ting a heart im+lant and a host of other alterations allowing s!r6i6al in transit at
s+eeds e;ceeding that of light, 'ad! Drac!l s!r6i6es a 6ir!s-ca!sed +lag!e in his
o!terworld +lanet to find himself with a time sense that changes the bo!ndaries of
s+atial +erce+tion for the whole s+ecies, All the characters e;+lore the limits of
lang!age& the dream of comm!nicating e;+erience& and the necessity of limitation,
+artiality, and indmacy e6en in this world of +rotean transformation and connection,
S!+erl!minal stands also for the defining contradictions of a cyborg world in another
sense& it embodies te;t!ally the intersection of feminist theory and colonial disco!rse in
the science fiction / ha6e all!ded to in this cha+ter, This is a con9!nction with a long
history that many :First 4orld: feminists ha6e tried to re+ress, incl!ding myself in my
readings of S!+erl!minal before being called to acco!nt by Aoe Sofo!lis,

(.=
whose different location in the world system:s informatics of domin-ation made her
ac!tely alert to the im+erialist moment of all science fiction c!lt!res, incl!ding women:s
science fiction, From an A!stralian feminist sensiti6ity, Sofo!lis remembered more
readily Mc/ntyre:s role as writer of the ad6ent!res of Ca+tain Cir% and S+oc% in TH:s
Star Tre% series than her rewriting the romance in S!+erl!minal,

Monsters ha6e always defined the limits of comm!nity in 4estern imaginations, The
Centa!rs and Ama>ons of ancient 2reece established the limits of the centred +olls of
the 2ree% male h!man by their disr!+tion of marriage and bo!ndary +oll!tions of the
warrior with animality and woman, 3nse+arated twins and herma+hrodites were the
conf!sed h!man material in early modern France who gro!nded disco!rse on the nat!ral
and s!+ernat!ral, medical and legal, +ortents and diseases -- all cr!cial to establishing
modern identity,?= The e6ol!tionary and beha6io!ral sciences of mon%eys and a+es
ha6e mar%ed the m!lti+le bo!ndaries of late twentieth-cent!ry ind!strial identities,
Cyborg monsters in feminist science fiction define 8!ite different +olitical +ossibilities
and limits from those +ro+osed by the m!ndane fiction of Man and 4oman,

There are se6eral conse8!ences to ta%ing serio!sly the imagery of cyborgs as other than
o!r enemies, 0!r bodies, o!rsel6es& bodies are ma+s of +ower and identity, Cyborgs are
no e;ce+tion, A cyborg body is not innocent& it was not born in a garden& it does not
see% !nitary identity and so generate antagonistic d!alisms witho!t end "or !ntil the
world ends*& it ta%es irony for granted, 0ne is too few, and two is only one +ossibility,
/ntense +leas!re in s%ill, machine s%ill, ceases to be a sin, b!t an as+ect of embodiment,
The machine is not an it to be animated, worshi++ed, and dominated, The machine is !s,
o!r +rocesses, an as+ect of o!r embodiment, 4e can be res+onsible for machines& they
do not dominate or threaten !s, 4e are res+onsible for bo!ndaries& we are they, 3+ till
now "once !+on a time*, female embodiment seemed to be gi6en, organic, necessary&
and female embodiment seemed to mean s%ill in mothering and its meta+horic e;ten-
sions, 0nly by being o!t of +lace co!ld we ta%e intense +leas!re in machines, and then
with e;c!ses that this was organic acti6ity after all, a++ro+riate to females, Cyborgs
might consider more serio!sly the +artial, fl!id, sometimes as+ect of se; and se;!al
embodiment, 2ender might not be global identity after all, e6en if it has +rofo!nd
historical breadth and de+th,

The ideologically charged 8!estion of what co!nts as daily acti6ity, as e;+erience, can
be a++roached by e;+loiting the cyborg image, Feminists ha6e recently claimed that
women are gi6en to dailiness, that women more than men somehow s!stain daily life,
and so ha6e a +ri6ileged e+istemo-logical +osition +otentially, There is a com+elling
as+ect to this claim, one that ma%es 6isible !n6al!ed female acti6ity and names it as the
gro!nd of life,

(.(
7!t the gro!nd of lifeF 4hat abo!t all the ignorance of women, all the e;cl!sions and
fail!res of %nowledge and s%illF 4hat abo!t men:s access to daily com+etence, to
%nowing how to b!ild things, to ta%e them a+art, to +layF 4hat abo!t other
embodimentsF Cyborg gender is a local +ossibility ta%ing a global 6engeance, 'ace,
gender, and ca+ital re8!ire a cyborg theory of wholes and +arts, There is no dri6e in
cyborgs to +rod!ce total theory, b!t there is an intimate e;+erience of bo!ndaries, their
constr!ction and deconstr!ction, There is a myth system waiting to become a +olitical
lang!age to gro!nd one way of loo%ing at science and technology and challenging the
informatics of domination-- in order to act +otently,

0ne last image organisms and organismic, holistic +olitics de+end on meta+hors of
rebirth and in6ariably call on the reso!rces of re+rod!cti6e se;, / wo!ld s!ggest that
cyborgs ha6e more to do with regeneration and are s!s+icio!s of the re+rod!cti6e
matri; and of most birthing, For salamanders, regeneration after in9!ry, s!ch as the loss
of a limb, in6ol6es regrowth of str!ct!re and restoration of f!nction with the constant
+ossibility of twinning or other odd to+ogra+hical +rod!ctions at the site of former
in9!ry, The regrown limb can be monstro!s, d!+licated, +otent, 4e ha6e all been
in9!red, +rofo!ndly, 4e re8!ire regeneration, not rebirth, and the +ossibilities for o!r
reconstit!tion incl!de the !to+ian dream of the ho+e for a monstro!s world witho!t
gender,

Cyborg imagery can hel+ e;+ress two cr!cial arg!ments in this essay: first, the
+rod!ction of !ni6ersal, totali>ing theory is a ma9or mista%e that misses most of reality,
+robably always, b!t certainly now& and second, ta%ing res+onsibility for the social
relations of science and technology means ref!sing an anti-science meta+hysics, a
demonology of technology, and so means embracing the s%ilf!l tas% of reconstr!cting
the bo!ndaries of daily life, in +artial connection with others, in comm!nication with all
of o!r +arts, /t is not 9!st that science and technology are +ossible means of great h!man
satisfaction, as well as a matri; of com+le; dominations, Cyborg imagery can s!ggest a
way o!t of the ma>e of d!alisms in which we ha6e e;+lained o!r bodies and o!r tools to
o!rsel6es, This is a dream not of a common lang!age, b!t of a +owerf!l infidel
heteroglossia, /t is an imagination of a feminist s+ea%ing in tong!es to stri%e fear into
the circ!its of the s!+ersa6ers of the new right, /t means both b!ilding and destroying
machines, identities, categories, relationshi+s, s+ace stories, Tho!gh both are bo!nd in
the s+iral dance, / wo!ld rather be a cyborg than a goddess,