Mapping Technology On The Body, Again:Toys R Us, Christina Hoff Sommers, An...


Panel/Workshop:	Concurrent Session
Paper Title:	Mapping Technology On The Body, Again:Toys R Us, Christina Hoff Sommers, And The New Essentialism
Date & Time:	06/09/03 09:45
Abstract:	The mapping of technological agency onto masculinity requires ongoing cultural work. This paper examines several sites where that cultural work is being done most vigorously, including a Red Envelope mail-order catalog, a TV ad from Capital One, the Amazon.com/Toys R Us Website, a news story on astronaut Laurel Clark, the Harry Potter book/film series, and the essentialist polemics of Christina Hoff Sommers. It demonstrates how marketers sell products (and ideologues sell ideas) by selling gender “normality” exploiting the fear that any gain in technological agency by women will be accompanied by a commensurate loss in identity-as-agency by men. Index Terms—Technology, Gender, Children’s toys and books, Christina Hoff Sommers
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