Technology: Feminist Philosophy of

Introduction – Early Feminist Thoughts on Technology

A feminist interest in dealing with technology and science has been evident since the so-called second wave of the feminist movement and thus since about the middle of the twentieth century. However, the early analysis of these topics in feminist circles was characterized by a schematic view. Either technologies were seen as promising new possibilities, especially with regard to a conceivable emancipation from patriarchy. Shulamith Firestone, an influential feminist of the 1970s, for instance, advocates in The Dialectic of Sex (1970) the thesis of an elimination of all gender differences and the “freeing of women from the tyranny of reproduction and childbearing” (1970: 225). Firestone therefore welcomed the (technique and technology of the) breeding of embryos in artificial wombs (ectogenesis).

However, much more common was the negative assessment of the opportunities afforded by technology to those who were not understood as male....