FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES
ON
WEB FICTION
2004

Marge Piercy :: He, She and It
Donna Haraway :: The Cyborg Manifesto

key texts

Marge Piercy, He, She and It

Donna Haraway, 'The Cyborg Manifesto'

Body of Glass(UK title) / He She and It (US title) was written just as the internet was being developed, and was inspired, in part, by 'The Cyborg Manifesto'. The novel is ‘a good read’ and explores many ideas that are pertinent to this course. You might like to check out Piercy's website www.archer-books.com/Piercy.

Some questions to think about:

• What are some of the powers of the web/ internet?
• How might the web affect subjectivity and identity?
• What is the role of information in a web-saturated society? What are the gains and what are the dangers of ‘the information highway’?
• How does sensuality, sexuality, affection feature in a techno-savvy society?
• What kinds of hierarchies might web-technology facilitate? What kinds of freedoms? What kinds of controls?
• How is gender affected by the web - online and off? How is the web affected by gender?
• What is a cyborg? What are the relationships between cyborgs as a class and women as a class?
• What does the net ‘feel’ like?

See also the worksheet on 'Cyberfeminism', which focuses on Haraway's manifesto, in the Females, Femininity and Feminism module booklet