Sonic Cyberfeminisms and GenDyTrouble: Cyber*Feminist Computer Music

In recent years, the relationship between sound, gender and technology has gained increasing attention. There have been a number of artist networks, archives and educational initiatives established in the hope of tackling the gendered exclusions from and disparities within the technocentric fields of electronic music, audio production and sound arts. Many of these projects can be understood to share some of the concerns and ideals of cyberfeminism. Emerging in the early 1990s, cyberfeminism sought to explore the potentials and possibilities of technology, computing and Cyberspace for feminist praxis. However, to talk of cyberfeminism or indeed a cyberfeminist ethos in the singular is something of a misnomer: we consider it more appropriate to speak of plural cyberfeminisms, with various agendas, methods, perspectives and priorities. Whilst many of these recent initiatives have been aimed at increasing the visibility of women in sound technology and computing-related fields, for many, the debates around improving representation of gender reveals disparities around what feminist agendas are being pursued. Is the lack of women and girls in audio technology a problem only to be fixed by increasing participation? Or is there a danger of “leaning in” to a regime of white supremacist, imperialist, capitalist hetero-patriarchy (to use bell hooks’ augmented phrase)? Revisiting Faith Wilding’s question of the political strategy of cyberfeminism, it is timely to ask – where is the feminism in sonic cyberfeminisms?

Invited speaker & performer at Critical Media In the Arts Symposium. University of Birmingham, UK