Discussion: articles by Nickles & Shove

Shelley Nickles, 2002, “‘Preserving Women’: Refrigerator Design as Social Process in the 1930s,” Technology and Culture 43(4):693-727.

using concrete examples from the article: what are some connections between design, technical function and social expectations? how do businesses leverage social needs and values in order to create new markets? what are some relationships between technological innovation and new product design? how have manufacturers, marketers and designers constructed the “average” consumer over the years? how and why are “features” added and removed? what does it mean to “take styling seriously” in terms of material culture and class, ethnicity, and gender expectations?

Elizabeth Shove, 2003, “Users, Technologies and Expectations of Comfort, Cleanliness and Convenience,” Innovation 16(2):193-206.

using concrete examples from the article: how are relationships between technologies, users and environmental concerns configured? what roles do comfort, cleanliness and convenience play in micro- and macro-level configurations and appropriations of new technologies? what are some of the possibilities, benefits and drawbacks of direct user involvement in the design process?

apply it!

the scenario: You need to buy a new washer & dryer and it’s important that they embody technological and social values that are important to you.

the research: Looking at the following advertisements, what can you say about the relationships between technical function and social life?

Frigidaire Laundry
LG Laundry
Whirlpool Laundry

the decision: Which washer & dryer would you purchase, and why?

Things to Think and Talk About (Sexed & Gendered Bodies I)

Check out some of the following videos and press articles on vaginal rejuvenation and designer vaginoplasty:

Fox News: Vaginal Rejuvenation
Salon.com: Designer Vaginas
CBS News: Sex Laser
Globe and Mail: Designer Vaginas
Seven News: Vaginal Rejuvenation
The Observer: The new nose job: designer vaginas
Rotton.com: Designer Vaginas
SheTV: Body Watch
Detroit MetroTimes: Does this make my labia look fat?

And consider them within this broader context:

Wired Magazine: The Coming Boom
“Big Pharma has made billions pumping up the male population. Now neuroscientists are reverse engineering the female orgasm.”

Some questions to think about:

How do the women who undergo the surgery describe their motivations? How do they describe their bodies? What ideals do they attribute to female bodies and sexuality? How do they describe post-operative changes in their bodies, sexual and romantic relationships?

What roles do men play in these stories? How are their bodies described? What qualities of masculinity do these men portray? How do they describe their relationship with the women involved? How do they react post-surgery?

What kinds of experts tell these stories? How do the doctors describe their motivations? How is the doctor-patient relationship portrayed? How do the plastic surgeons differ from the neuroscientists? How do each approach the female body and female sexuality?

How do the reporters present the issues? What kind of scenes are used to stage different people and roles? What risks are presented? What benefits are considered? On which points is there certainty? What points seem more ambiguous? What jokes are told?

What are the biopolitics involved? What role do markets play? How is health implicated? In what ways are these technoscientific practices presented as inevitable? How can these kinds of biotechnologies regulate bodies and sexuality? What kinds of state regulation are possible or desirable?

What do you think?