“Their meaning becomes transmittable: that is to say it becomes information of a sort, and like all information, it is either put to use or ignored; information carries no special authority within itself.� -John Berger. 1972
Lilias Adair | 33341397
TRANSMIT HER GESTURE, MARIGOLDS AND AUTOCAD
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ABSTRACT PREFACE INTRODUCTION
15 1: THEATRE AND GESTURE 35 2: MARIGOLDS AND WASHING MACHINES 61 3: DRAWING BOARDS AND AUTOCAD 85
CONCLUSION
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
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IMAGE REFERENCES
CONTENTS
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This context report will locate our areas of investigation through the collaborative designs Hayley and myself have produced in our project process so far. We have been exploring the pre-scripted performances of the socially constructed self, which are culturally embedded as archetypes of expectation in society. We have identified some of the components that construct our performance – scripts, gesture, technology, gender and labour, which our design pervades through. Whilst Hayley’s context report focuses on the scripts, sincerity and the self, this report will concentrate on performance, gender constructs and technology. There are specific points in the report where I refer to parts of Hayley’s report, where she has discussed the topic in more depth. I therefore recommend they be read consecutively so they are able to converse.
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ABSTRACT
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The report will explain the contextual understanding of the project that Hayley and myself have been working in collaboration on. We have been investigating performances of the self in the everyday, locating these in the public (labour) and private (domestic) spheres of our late capitalist society. The broader issue of concern are the current gender divisions of labour; in particular it’s effect on women. We have honed in our analyses of these areas through a focused lens of gesture, the voice, scripts and technology, which we have explored through experiments, designed artefacts and ethnographic research. I start the report at the theatre, understanding that our cultural surroundings influence our societal perceptions and expectation of self. The gendered performance is deconstructed through the hand gestures conducted by the male body that dominates the public sphere. I then shift from the performed male body to the female body and its position in labour. This is explored through a ‘feminised’ genealogy of technological tension, a historical narrative discourse between women/technology/labour across the broad spheres of domestic and public. Lastly, I speculate the supposed de-masculinisation in the labour market through an analysis of typical men of the ‘baby boom’ generation and their experience (or lack of experience) with rapid technological advancement.
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PREFACE
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Fig 1: ‘Damsel in Distress’ is rescued by the ‘Knight in Shining Armour’
Our sense of identity emerges from the constructs outlined for us in our environmental surroundings. Technology, theatre, television, advertisements, the internet, celebrities, politicians, peers, bosses, politicians, mothers, fathers, ourselves and so on; all collate a collective cultural uniformity of how we should look/behave/act/think/speak and hence determine the roles we take on as ‘players’ in the theatre of society. This is particularly pertinent in the performance of gender, where masculinity and femininity are constantly imitated and mimicked affirming our positions in traditional gendered paradigms. Women and men often find themselves trapped in an inevitable performance of femininity and masculinity that they must repeat, mimic, imitate and repeat… ‘[These] ontologically consolidated phantasms of “man” and “woman”, are theatrically produced effects that posture as grounds, origins, the normative measure of the real’ (Butler, 1991: 313). Through the analyses of my design practice and reflections of the framing of context within the project I intend to breakdown these ‘normative measures of the real’ in the constructs of femininity and masculinity, deconstructing the socially performed self. I will do so by focusing on the technology that ontologically disrupts our socially constructed self but first we step onto the stage of the theatre. Curtains up…
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INTRODUCTION
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TRANSMIT HER THEATRE AND GESTURE
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Fig 2:‘As You Like it’ performance
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All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, (Shakespeare, 2011 edition)
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In the Elizabethan era the main source of theatrical entertainment for the upper and middle classes was the playhouse where women were prohibited from performing on stage. Shakespeare’s play As You Like It follows a female character who disguises herself as a young boy (see Fig. 2), this character however, would have been played by a male actor, which poses an interesting paradox. Theatre was the central cultural beacon of that time, and by comparing it to today’s most advanced type of entertainment - virtual reality – we are presented with a modern day equivalent. VR lends itself to being more broadly used by men, especially as women are more likely to endure motion sickness when using VR. This excludes many women from entering the stage of entertainment VR welcomes men into (see Fig. 3 ).
Fig 3: Virtual Reality symposium I assisted at, most of the women felt nauseas
Fig 4: Dramaturgical Model
The words from As You Like It quoted previously, were adapted by Sociologist Erving Goffman as the theoretical basis for his dramaturgical model of society (see Fig. 4), proposing that all individuals that make up society are performers who act in the presence of others. He uses the loose framework of the theatre to illustrate his understanding of the social interactions of the world: Life has a ‘Front Stage’, where humans perform as multiple characters disguised in the masks of different roles to an audience who are also performing on this stage in the same manner. In contrast, there is a ‘Backstage’, a behind the scenes arena, where players are theoretically more likely to be themselves as they are no longer under the gaze of others (Goffman, 1990: 5).
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A stock character is a dramatized stereotype who appear in standard settings throughout popculture. For example: The ‘girl next door’ your average girl with a good heart or the ‘Damsel In Distress’ the young woman trapped in need of a man’s strength.
Prior to working with Hayley I was investigating the television as a domestic theatrical object that presents a distorted and often exaggerated reflection of our world (Baggaley and Duck, 1976: 11). The TV is instrumental in providing cultural expectations of behaviour in everyday contexts, as performances of the self, dictated by extreme generalisations, often in the form of ‘stock characters’ (see Fig. 1, 6, 7 ). 1 I began discussions with Hayley, who was at the time investigating the Teleprompter as a scripting device in societal spheres (see Hayley: Teleprompter). The initial collaborative discussions between Hayley and myself focused on the literal understanding of the space that the Television and the Teleprompter occupy. More specifically- the performances, both scripted (see Hayley: Voice) and gesticulated (body), in occupational contexts. Interpreting different modes of mass communication can help us identify the stereotypes and archetypes pop-culture creates of members of society. With this understanding we can then question the behaviour that these representations imitate in our culture (and we mimic back), surveying these depictions becomes a disassociated, yet relevant and effective, space for ethnographic research.
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Fig 5: TV, the focus of the family living room (1950s) Fig 6: ‘Damsel in Distress’ rescued from ‘The Dragon’ by her ‘Knight in Shining Armour’ Fig 7: Mary Jane waiting for Spiderman
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Kinesics: The study of our use of body language and gestures that form our nonverbal communications.
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Fig 8: A weatherman, silently gesticulating.
Fig 9: Hayley mimics Lecturer
In the absence of speech, humans are conditioned to communicate and understand through different nodes of kinesics. 2 Hayley and myself were interested in how the removal of the script (see Hayley: Scripts) would alter the aesthetic of a ‘professional’ performance. We used the gesticulations of one of our lectures, Tobie Kerridge as material for our own performed video piece. We filmed ourselves emulating the video of the performance, tracing each movement the lecturer made. By wearing all black bar a pair of yellow rubber gloves against a black backdrop, the original context is eradicated and the viewer has only the shapes of the hands to comprehend what is being silently gesticulated (see Fig. 10, 11). We asked viewers what they thought the gestures were emulating, all the responses were occupational roles: a weatherman (see Fig. 8), a politician, and a newsreader. These findings demonstrate that we share a common set of non-verbal behaviours associated with professionalism.
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Fig 10: Floating rubber gloves mimic celebrity-turnedpolitician Fig 11: Floating rubber gloves mimic Lecturer’s seminar
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Fig 12: Donald Trump holding an invisible shallot
Fig 13: Hayley (rubber gloves) emulating Trump’s gestures.
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The piece has a similar feel to a theatrical mime piece, which in the absence of props and objects is “the art of narration or portrayal of character, idea or mood by bodily movements� (Pecknold, 1988: 10). Mimicking and reading mime signifies our ability to imagine meaning in a space where there is a lack of information. Thus we reiterated the experiment using the gestures from a Donald Trump rally speech, recognising that he gives a performance that must be convincing as he won over America in his presidency, despite the mounting evidence that counteract his lies (see Fig. 12-13).
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We then played both videos side by side in a third iteration of the experiment (see Fig. 14). This silent duologue between the two men was designed to create uniformity in the enactments, placing the original professionals and their performances on equal ground; Despite the contrast in the original content, Hayley and I sensed an alikeness in the animated gestural style of both performers. bearing the question of whether there is a wider system of universal ideals linked to gender that may affect the gestures of a man when he performs in front of an audience.
Recognising that our own bodies can be used as tools to explore gesture makes it something we can easily manipulate and design with (see Fig. 9). Focusing on one element of the professional performance, in this case gesture helped us contemplate and compare different performances. We prescribed a stylised uniform to the designed experiment, which aided this navigation across professional and political fields, pushing our research into new areas of inquiry.
Viewers’ responses to the performances contrasted their initial perceptions of the solo acts that they’d previously seen. Where Donald Trump was previously perceived as a weatherman he had moved across channels and was now ‘Selling bleach on QVC’ (see Fig. 15) alongside Tobie who had been a politician made a drastic career change and became ‘a midwife delivering a baby’, two professions that are associated as women’s work in the western world.
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Fig 14: Tobie and Trump silent duologue
Fig 15: Woman sells bleach for QVC
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Fig 16: Marigolds clutching cleaning products
We became aware of the potential connotations of femininity/gender/labour carried in our use of Marigold gloves, an object historically used to protect women’s hands from the cleaning duties at home (see Fig. 16) Nonetheless this prop was used in each stage of the experiments, the only component that had changed in the last iteration was the additional performer occupying the stage. Which implies that we associate an independent act of professionalism with a male, whilst the female never occupies the stage alone. This replicates the gender gap in promotions in the UK labour market where men are 40% more likely to be promoted than women (Allen, 2016), excluding them from the stage of professional glory (see Fig. 17). The gesture is therefore a space for identity construction, and leaves room for prejudices to prevail. All our performances are scripted; we (viewers/players/ professionals) do not individually invent the way we act or behave ‘we are products of our environment’ (Lewis, 1992: 15). With this in mind we began exploring other environments- public (work) and private (domestic) spaces and focused on the technological shifts within these. Similar to gesture, technology has an impact on our constructions of performed gender (masculine/ feminine), the attention then for this paper will shift from the male body to the female body and its position in labour.
Fig 17: Glass Ceiling of The Javits Centre, Manhattan
TRANSMIT HER MARIGOLDS AND WASHING MACHINES
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It is not entirely clear whether there has been a distinct destabilizing of gender in the labour force over the last century due to the rapid acceleration of technologies, however as technology becomes increasingly imbedded in our social and personal fabric we can begin to investigate the parallels between the social construction of gender and the social construction of technology. Specifically investigating ‘how the design and/or use of technologies can constitute gender identities and relations’ (Lohan and Faulkner, 2004: 321). Butler posits that technology and gender (feminine/masculine) form an ontological relationship through a repetition of ‘acts’ (Butler, 1988: 529); both are ‘performed and processional in character, rather than given and unchanging’ (Faulkner, 2001:82). This phenomenological discourse aids social construction of our scripted identities and performed positions in society, Judith Butler argues that performativity is the result of repetition and imitation, which often mimics ‘oppressive and painful gender norms’ and though we may not be able to free ourselves from these assumed positions we can question ‘how to work with the trap that one is inevitably in’ (Butler, 1992).
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Fig 18: Facing ‘The Plank’
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GONZO I hate to say this, but this place is getting to me. I think I’m getting The Fear.
GONZO Yes. Leave the country. Tonight. DUKE Calm down. You’ll be straight in a few hours.
DUKE Nonsense. We came here to find the American Dream, and now we’re right GONZO in the vortex you want to quit. No. This is serious. One more You must realize that we’ve found hour this town and I’ll kill Hayley and myself explored theinimitation/mimicry the Main Nerve. somebody!
We designed this mapped process as a metaphorical in everyday emotional performances through an device to discuss our understanding of the wider experiment designed to induce a ‘genuine reaction’ (See territories of investigation within the project. For GONZO DUKE That’s what gives me The Fear. Hayley: emotional labour). ‘TheI’llPlank’, wassome a piece of example, we applied it to the performativity of gender, OK. lend you money. Let’s go outside and see how muchwhich Butler outlines in her celebrated book ‘Gender wood on a hinge that we slammed repeatedly an inch DUKE we have left. from participants’ noses (see Fig. 19). Trouble’ (1990), realising that gender is an imitation to Look over there. Two women fucking which there is no original (Abelove, 1993: 301). a Polar Bear. GONZO Supposedly the initial response the first Can wetomake it? hit (the GONZO flinch) displayed a sincere performance (see Hayley: We perform to society’s expectations of masculinity/ Please, don’t tell me those things... DUKE sincerity), as the wood is repetitively lifted and femininity, as the world develops around us we adjust Not now. That depends on how many people we dropped into the face of the participant, they become with it, yet as creatures of habit we attempt to re(signals the waitress fuck with between here and the door. for two Wild Turkeys) accustomed to the sensation of the Plank (they gain perform traditional roles, which become distorted by This is my last drink. How much knowledge), once this knowledge GONZO is learned, we asked cultural advances- such as technology. money can you lend me? want to leave fast. them to re-perform their Iinitial reaction (distorted imitation). These re-enactments were DUKE DUKEall noticeably Not much. Why? more exaggerated and therefore distorted OK. Lets pay thisimitations bill and get up It’s going to be a of the self that questionedvery theslowly. authenticity in the GONZO long walk. personality of our everyday acts (see Fig. 20, 21). I have to go. 40 GO?
DUKE
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Fig 19: ‘The Plank’ device
Fig 20: Josie’s reaction to the flinch then post performed reaction Fig 21:Joe’s reaction to the flinch and post performed reaction
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Fordism is the standardised industry methods of organizing, mechanizing and manufacturing large scale mass production established by Henry Ford.
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Taylorism, or scientific management is a practice of work efficiency, to improve productivity boost and improve business economic growth. Work is analysed and fragmenting to instigate autonomy amongst workers and machines.
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Fig 22: ‘Rosie the Riveter’, a cultural icon representing women who worked in the work.
Technology and technological culture have both been characterised as masculine with their historical association with aiding the production of industry. Economist, Marchel Aglietta sees women as irrelevant to Fordism. 3 Despite their growing participation in the labour market post-war, women’s ‘primary role is in the sphere of privatised consumption in the home’ (McDowell, 1991: 402). In her cultural study, ‘The Machinery of Dominance’, feminist researcher Cynthia Cockburn investigated the gendered segregation of Industrial technology job roles in 1985 Britain. She noted that it’s socially embedded in the expectation of men that an increased knowledge of technology affirms masculinity and only then can one truly obtain a ‘sense of identity as [a man]’ (Cockburn, 2009: 271). 43
She argues that the modernising of labour processes in capitalism ‘enables men to continually claim for masculinity, the superior positions in the sexual division of labour and thereby maintain their distance from and control over women’ (ibid.). The study revealed a biologically grounded myth used by management to justify the gendered segregation of jobs within an assembly line (see Hayley: Taylorism); 4 women were supposedly ‘more fitted for the humdrum sort of jobs’, the more detailed (but repetitive and poorly paid) work as a result of their ‘nimble fingers’ (Cockburn, 1985) (see Fig. 23).
Their delicate touch didn’t have the cognitive capability to mechanize the intricate technical machines gripped by the strong fists of male workers. This narrative however, was falsified by the technical proficiency and physical strength demonstrated by women when they filled the absent male boots of industry during WW2 and sustained Britain’s economy (see Fig. 24).
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Fig 23: Women entered the workforce when men were called to war. Here a woman and her ‘nimble fingers’ wiire a WWII communication system Fig 24: Two women engineering a WWII Bomber
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Throughout post-war economy, female employment rates rose and women were dominating various job roles controlling technology (see Fig. 25), their individual efforts were often belittled by men in senior positions who would refer to natural abilities as ‘the ‘talents’ of women as opposed to the ‘skills’ of the men’ (McDowell, 1991: 404). To understand this time in more detail, I spoke with my Gran (see Fig. 26), who told me about her experience in the mid 1970s when she re-entered the domestic sphere after a microprocessor replaced her job as a Punched Card Operator. 5 She was forced to work from home as a hairdresser to make ends meet whilst she looked after her children, home and husband (see Fig. 27).
Whilst it should be noted that technological automation has had an adverse effect on men too, which I will be exploring in further detail in the following chapter, it is the women at the bottom of the labour food chain that were the first to be replaced by the engineering of robotics in the workforce (Mastering The Servant, 1989). Technology has exposed tensions between women and work in both the public and private spheres, which I will be investigating in this chapter.
5 Literary Critic, Katherine Hayles’s book ‘My Mother Was A Computer’ (Hayles, 2014) was named after writer Anne Balsamo’s account of her mother who was employed as a ‘human calculator’ solving large equations for company profits before an electronic calculator automated her role. Another example of women being replaced by machine.
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Understanding that gender is performed, specifically as a reaction to cultural scripts we have recognised it as a space that as designers we can manipulate and interpret. In our investigation of roles and occupations, particularly the historical gendered discourse of these; we are in a better position to design for the stakeholders that our designs will concern. The chat with my Gran helped comprehend the postwar research with a personal account of historical events. The public and private spheres offer a broad space to investigate labour, gathering more first hand experience of the environments that are difficult for us to access will help us avoid generalising or making assumptions. I have recognised, that we need to focus our interrogation to contextually guide us through these vast spaces.
Fig 25: Post-war Punch Card Operators Fig 26: My Gran used to work as a punch card operator, here she is now at 83 with an ice cream sundae Fig 27: Photos of Gran in 1950
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‘Dishpan hands’ was a term used for the rough red hands women developed from their cleaning duties, men did not find them attractive and they killed romance at the first touch (according to advertisements for other products designed to prevent the condition). ‘And a pair for your husband to wear when cleaning the car’ (see Fig. 29 )
Fig 28: Erving Goffman’s ‘Gendered Advetising’, the feminine touch
According to Linda McDowell, an employment ethnographer, ‘the prevailing societal definition of femininity is based on the idea that familiarity with machinery is somehow unfeminine or desexing for women’ (McDowell, 1991: 404) and due to this women themselves are ‘frequently reluctant to acquire technical skills’ (ibid.). This begs the question of the female performances under the male gaze; she builds an understanding of what is expected of her from her cultural surroundings and performs to these ideas. This corroborates with John Berger’s critique of female objectification, which is construed through patriarchal expectations (Berger, 2008:46) and similarly Erving Goffman’s themes in ‘Gender Advertising’ (1979), which discusses the performances of femininity and masculinity depicted in advertising and how these establish gender stereotypes in relation to one another (see Fig. 28).
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Hayley and myself have begun analysing accessible elements of our designed surroundings to begin to untangle the complex structures that help affirm our position in society. In a poster for Marigold rubber gloves from the 1950s (see Fig. 29) a smiling woman wearing an apron is seen lightly caressing her latex protected hands. This portrays the woman’s body as a delicate, fragile and ‘precious thing’ (Goffman, 1976:31) that needs to be preserved. Her soft ‘lovely hands’ signify that she has never worked a day in her life, though the need for such an object suggests otherwise. 6 Her hands trace the outlines of the object that restrict her. Goffman states that in advertising the female ‘ritualistic touching [of objects] is to be distinguished from the utilitarian kind that grasps, manipulates, or holds’ (Goffman, 1976:29). Hence, with the mention of the husband in the small print7 an image emerges of a controlled grip on the steering wheel as the man drives away from the domestic sphere, leaving behind the other cleaning duties for his wife to take care of.
Fig 29: ‘What Lovely Hands’ Marigold Advertising 1950s
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In the culturally reflective narrative of the previous Marigold advert, the man’s work role lies outside the home and his leisure time is also associated with the use of machines and technology (see Fig. 31, 32). This ideology influences the design and construction of machines; which are tailored to the, typically male, average worker, thus women are neglected in the development of technology (Cockburn 1985; McDowell 1991).
In 1930, Economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that over the course of a century, technology would advance enough to relieve humans of all their work duties, opening up a full-time life of leisure (Keynes, 1930). The first automatic washing machine was introduced in the mid-1930s and sold as an electronic device that would give women ‘hours of extra leisure’ (see Fig. 30). Technology adjusted to assist women’s housework, whilst men took care of entertainment as the home remained for the, an idealised ‘leisure zone due to its wagelessness’ (McConnell, 1983: 81). Ruth Cowan’s book ‘More
Work For Mother’ (1983) outlines that although the washing machine made washing clothes easier and faster, the amount of time spent on the domestic chores did not decrease; women were spending ‘roughly the same numbers of hours a week on housework as their mothers did’ (ibid. 178). 8
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By 1985 eighty three percent of homes in Britain owned an automatic washing machine (Office for National Statistics, 2017) A time budget survey data index was undertaken in the early 1980s articulating the extent of women and men’s usage of different domestic technology (Gershuny and Robinson, 1988). It revealed that women ‘used technology for the execution of day to day chores…such as the cooker, the washing machine, the iron, and so on,’ and men were more likely to engage in the more ‘hi-tech’ devices such as the VCR, (Gray, 2006: p.116)
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The efficiency in the machine’s results caused the standards of cleanliness and expectations of women to increase (Brinkman and Sanders, 2012: 223). Subsequently the washing machine shifted the designs of items, men’s shirts once had detachable cuffs and collars, which were normally the only parts washed, but the new fully assembled shirts were cleaned every time they were worn (ibid) (see Fig. 33).
The time and efforts of the women in these domestic processes were overlooked (McConnell, 1983: 82). With the addition of technology in these monotonous tasks it was often assumed that the appliances were doing the work and the only time their work was acknowledged was when a task had been neglected (ibid.). The machines prior to the automatic washing machine occasionally shredded the clothes (see Fig. 35), it was sixty years before the technology improved (Ament, 1997), in contrast the automatic car engine was fully developed over twenty years (McAleer and Seams, 2015),
iterating that technological development prioritises man’s leisure activities (as is the same case today with Virtual Reality and women’s motion sickness).
Fig 30: Hours of extra leisure with this Servis washing machine, 1937 Fig 31: Become a man with this Toronado car, 1951 Fig 32: Men be at one with machine with this Jaguar, 1973 Fig 33: More time for making salads with this Servis washing machine, 1952
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Fig 34: Jo Spence, re-modelling photo-history, women trapped by objects, 1982
Engineer Madelleine Akrich ‘de-scripts’ the lineage of technical objects from designer to user, outlining that that designers define ‘actors’ (users) by assigning them with ‘specific tastes, competences, motives, aspirations, political prejudices’ (Akrich, 1992: 205-225). These are usually categorised (by gender, race, age) presumptions that effect the design of the technical object- the ‘script’ or ‘scenario’ (ibid. 1992) and will determine the behaviour of the actor. Gender is heavily scripted into object’s designs and through its advertising and the journey of its design, predetermining behaviour and setting boundaries for individuals. Artist Jo Spence, used these codified everyday objects in her series ‘Remodelling Photo-history’ which aims to re-order, re-model and re-invent ‘codes of the trade… so their common sense, unquestioned notions become disrupted’ (Spence, 1982) In one image she poses wearing a wig and a mask in a pair of Marigold rubber gloves (see Fig. 34), pushing the domesticated housewife into a cynical extreme. In our own practice we can break down these scripts and use them to fortify the political voice in our work. British women’s employment rates have risen over the last forty years whilst men’s have decreased, however women still shoulder the unpaid work in the private sphere. On average they spend more than double the time on cooking, childcare and housework than men who spend more time on transport, driving themselves and others around as well as commuting to work (Jones, 2016), 9 emphasising that men’s domestic duties still lie outside the home and are associated with a technological object (the car).
Christine Frederick transferred the processes of Taylorism (see Hayley: Taylorism), from the public to the private sphere (see Fig. 36). She monitored the time and movement of women when doing housework and conducted a study to assist women on ‘mastering their work, instead of letting their work master them’ (Fredrick, 1912: 9). Frederick’s study preserves women’s work securely within the walls of the home. However we could reinterpret her techniques of analysing time management in our own design practice to enlighten the time women still spend on unpaid work. This could provide us with ethnographic research, both qualitative and quantitative, on gendered work in both public and private spheres, supporting designs for new strategies and ‘labour savers’ (ibid.) to improve equality and equal opportunity. Focusing on the genealogy of technology and the movements used for each developed device may increase awareness to the idea that although technology has assisted women’s work it doesn’t mean less time is spent on ‘enabling others to work in the specialized wage work [which] kept the [capitalist] system going’ throughout the nineteenth century (McConnell, 1983: 81).
9 In a time use data analysis undertaken in the UK in 2016 it was uncovered that on average Women do 60% more cooking, childcare and housework than men. (Jones, 2016)
Fig 35: Model poses with early washing machine, these often shredded the clothes. Fig 36:Taylorism for the home
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Aside from attending to men’s ‘bodily’ domestic needs (Smith, 2012), women ‘keep house for men’ in the office too (Campbell, 2003: 14). In ‘White Collar’ (see: Hayley), Christian Wright Mills characterizes a typical 1950s secretary as ‘the mature woman, efficient in her job, suppressing her love for her married boss, to whom she makes herself indispensable, doing the housework for his business’ (Mills, 1951: 203). This imitation of the private dynamic into the public sphere reiterates traditional roles, creating pervasiveness in the high expectations of women from male superiors. Feminist Sociologist Dorothy E Smith points out that in providing the ‘body’ for the man’s ‘mind’ through clerical work, requiring technical, administrative and managerial skills, often led to women’s efforts being left in the background (Smith, 1983; Campbell, 2003). In the 1960s secretaries thought ‘mother’ was an accurate term to describe their role as the emotional support for their boss, whilst men described her as the ‘office wife’ (see Fig. 38). Similar to a wife, women were to love, honour and obey authoritative figures (Roper, 1994: 185).
As objects of men’s passion, the machine is often considered a symbiotic extension of the man (Holth and Mellstrom, 2009: 314); this is evidenced in their female anthropomorphising of machines to adopt female personas. 10 This suggests women are mere bodies men want to mechanise (ibid.), hinting at the control and dominance men try to maintain over women in their societal positions (Kaulfner, 2004: 322).
Historian Michael Roper analyses another stereotype of the office assistant; the ‘sexy’ secretary, specifically regarding the shift in cultural perception of the occupation from ‘sexy secretary’ to ‘career woman’. Women were taken more seriously and given more opportunity to advance technically, which improved business and productivity (see Fig. 37). Nonetheless bosses felt their position and superior intellect were threatened by this female intelligence and women were regularly discriminated for not prioritising their domestic responsibilities (Roper, 1994: 180). 11
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Fig 37: Advert for printing calulator for the Calculating heart of the ‘Office Wife’ Fig 38: Avon Advert, ‘lady like’ secretary, Doing the housework for his business
10 The most popular car names of 2016 were majority feminised e.g. lady [insert name], baby, babe and penelope. (The Most Popular Car Names, 2016) 11
In an Interview Roper conducted with a manager, he discussed his female secretary and demonstrated that he didn’t appreciate her overtime and the extra work she produced as it was only because ‘she has no family life’ and believed women’s first priority should be at home with her family. (Roper, 1994: 184)
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Fig 39: Amazon Echo aka Alexa, voice activated robot. Fig 40: Amazon Echo Advert, Alexa keeps single dad company whilst he makes dinner for his daughter
Media researcher Helen Hester analyses the feminisation of technologized labour through service robots, which are often given feminine personas (most significantly in the way they were advertised in the 1950’s). She states that the ‘emotional labour that was once, amongst a certain class of the privileges, outsourced to both secretaries and wives is now outsourced to electronic devices’ (Hester, 2016). These ‘femme-bots’ reflect the idealized traditional patriarchal roles of women in the domestic sphere (which run parallel to service/clerical work i.e. personal assistants and secretary roles). This same narrative is pushing its way into current technological voice services, Amazon’s Echo aka Alexa for example (see Fig. 39); she’ll flick light switches and change the record at your command (Amazon, 2016). The Alexa Echo advert depicts a single father making food in his kitchen for his daughter, in this sense the Echo replaces the position of wife and mother, further emulating female disposition within technology (see Fig. 40). If the mass production of feminised devices is pushed to extremes, a dystopian vision occurs where these robotised female voices are heard over the ‘under-listened to political voice’ of the human equivalent (Power, 2012). Hayley and myself wanted to subvert our positions by challenging this imitation of the existing gendered voice; from domestic (private) into workplace (public) into a technological hybridised femme-bot (private-public). We began investigating the societal role of a dad, as patriarchal stereotypical ‘breadwinner’ and person whom we recognised as in the most contrasting (by generation and gender) position to our own situation. 56
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Eloise, dinner in five. Alexa, tell me about the Amazon echo
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To begin this investigation we gathered text material of our dads, and others dads to understand the role more objectively (see Fig. 41). By gathering our student peers’ most recent texts from their fathers, we were able to interpret the cyber performance of a dad via the semantic material they sent their sons/ daughters. We recognised a similarity in the content of what was said, most conversations were about logistics (money, transport, timings) suggesting a homogeneity in the social expectations of a dad, most notably the transport which again implies men’s roles lie outside the home (ONS Digital, 2016). In theory if we removed the specifics of the content an archetype of the dad role would be characterised. This mirrors the stereotyping of feminised electronics to export caring, empathy and altruistic behaviour (Gustavsson, 2005: 400), bringing to light the construct of masculinity and its association with technology. By designing a hypothetical ‘homme-bot’ (which we intend to materialise) we can analyse and challenge the gendered performances (in this case masculinity) of societal roles that are often affirmed in the designed pre-scripting of these devices.
As designers we intersect boundaries in our practice, technology as I have demonstrated in this chapter, can bridge the intersections of gender, labour and performance. Design in this way, can disrupt gender (feminine/masculine) and labour (public/private) norms by creating tensions, by assisting people in seeing these scripts. Design acts as a means to perform stereotypes, through automation, which enhances the act of discrimination. It can imitate and distort the prescribed conventional gendered performances of society, to proceed with the investigation of these archetypes and scripts we ensured we were to do so holistically and without demonstrating bias, thus my attention will shift from femininity to masculinity.
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Fig 41 : example of collected text from peers: car talk and lots of emojis.
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TRANSMIT HER DRAWING BOARDS AND AUTOCAD
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Identification with technology is part of what it means to be a man; it is scripted in to the masculine performance in many different contexts (Mellstrom, 2004: 370). The evolution of technology has sped up exponentially over the last century (Kurzweil, 2001; Borman, Dorrier 2016), This rapid acceleration has formed substantial generation gaps. 12 Members of the ‘baby boom’ generation (ages 51-69) grew up in the century of the automobile, at home boys played with cars whilst girls looked after dolls (Robb, 2015). Sociologist Line Holth argues that ‘gender codification of technology starts early and runs deep, and that is based on an early embodiment of machines’ (Holth and Mellström, 2011: 320) (see fig). At school in the 1950s boys were taught woodwork in ‘Technology’ (see Fig. 43) whilst the girls learnt to cook in ‘Home Economics’ (see Fig. 42), the post-war ‘make do and mend’ mentality spread across both genders and men found pleasure in fixing cars (Holt, 2014). Being able to solve practical problems and keep a car running is ‘a dexterity that equates with independence and a certain sense of security, of being in control of practical realities, and taking pride in not having to call a repair man’ (Holth and Mellstrom, 2011: 322).
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Fig 42: Girls baking in Home Economics Fig 43: Boys tinkering in Technology
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Technological advancement also forms more technically able generations. Each time they are quicker, faster and more adaptive to changes in tech. This in turn, creates micro-generations, creating more disparity in experience of different ages to the point where it may be that in the future we won’t have the same experience as someone who was born the following day. (Koschei, 2013)
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Holt’s analysis of masculine satisfaction with controlling technology corresponds with Economist Daniel Pinks’ model of improved performance in the labour market, he posits that employers perform better when they have a sense of autonomy mastery and purpose (Pink, 2011: 64). 13 Therefore fixing your own technology (autonomy), having the skills to fix technology (mastery), securing identity as man (purpose) all form the ‘baby boomers’ script for performed masculinity. Most new technologies, including cars, don’t come with a Hayne’s manual (see Fig. 44) 14 and the tiny screws are often too small for pliers (Holt, 2014).
13 We like to feel we have Autonomy- self-directed and control over ones life; Mastery- being really good at things; Purpose- wider transcendent meaning to the work (Pink, 2011: 64). 14 Hayne’s manuals are a series of practical instruction manuals, detailing how to fix machinery from the 1960s-1990s, including cars, motorbikes, domestic appliances. Aimed at “hobbyists” and lovers of DIY (Haynes publishing, 2017). 15 Cynthia Cockburn provides a useful analogy of this: ‘Men are seduced like the young Dr. Frankenstein, by technology’s promise of transcendence. Their clever invention affords them a step above the humdrum, an escape from immanence. Meantime, capital exploits men by means of their masculine sense of self. Men dislodge each other in the capitalist and patriarchal rankings of labour. The feminine is diminished. And technology is applied to inhuman ends.’
Fig 44: Hayne’s Manual Fig 45: ‘Dad’ robot driving car
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The power dynamics across both public and domestic spheres are shifting as man and technology altercate between servant and master (BBC, 1989), a tension that arguably women are associated with more through the divisions of labour. 15 With driverless cars set to dominate the road by 2030, an existential vertigo occurs for men as they are no longer needed to master the machine, automation has taken on the duty of driving his wife and children around now (see Fig. 45).
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16
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My dad is 62 and part of the ‘baby boomers’ Hayley’s dad is 12 years my dad’s junior just making into ‘Generation X’. Hayley and me are both ‘Millenials’. Parents of this generation find it harder to engage with their children as many grew up in an analogue world (Palfrey and Gasser, 2016: 61)
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Fig 46: Collaged Dads texts
By acknowledging the gendered scripts of femininity and masculinity that are culturally embedded in our society, we are able to identify the structure of these predetermined scripts. Tracing the generational roots that have disrupted these puts us in a better position to disrupt them ourselves and hone in on the intricate details of the issues that surface. We continued our investigation into the socially performed role of a dad, designing a script that explored the generation gap caused by technology. 16 Hayley and myself gathered the most recent texts from our dads, which we swapped to distance ourselves from the original context, and used as material for two collaged scripts (see Fig. 46). The characters that emerged from the re-scripted ‘dad data’ were enhanced imitations of the original authors; they asked more questions, listened less, and were even more confused (see Fig. 47).
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In a performed duologue to our peers, the voices were discombobulated by each other, and questions became rhetorical as the other dad responded with another enquiry (see Fig. 48). The performance presented an exaggerated imitation of a culturally scripted father and daughter relationship; which has been disconnected via the communication across a technical device- allegorically mirroring the broadening generational gap between daughters and their fathers.
Technologist Ulf Mellstrom analyses the masculinity embedded in technology stating that for sons and daughters the father is ‘of special importance for establishing [their] way into the world of technology’ (Holth and Mellström, 2011: 319). Our ‘dad text’ experiments expose the disruption of the performed masculinity pre-scripted in the performance of traditional patriarchal roles, these have occurred from generational (and gender) shifts in attained technological knowledge. 17
Fig 47: Collated Dad Script Fig 48: Performed duologue of Dad texts
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Fig 49: My Dad working at his desk in the BDP studio
To further investigate the shifts in the divisions of labour, both generational and gendered, we focused on the occupational role of our dads 18 whose domestic performance we had been investigating thus far. Hayley and myself individually spent time with our dads at work, shadowing them in their occupational roles. Hayley’s dad is a teaching Osteopath and my dad is an Interior Architect (see Fig. 49). We gathered our research by taking photographs, recording audio/video and making notes. The most significant observations that I found circulated around cultural shifts in trajectories, technology and trade. I conducted an interview with my dad that I pull from in my account of this experience.
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My dad works as an Interior Architect Associate at BDP, where he has been working for 35 years. He studied Product Design at Glasgow School of Art. Hayley’s dad is a teaching Osteopath at chief executive at the European School of Osteopathy.
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MASTERY
Prior to the rapid development of technology and the proliferation of the Internet (Thomson, 2013), a career was seen as a ‘life long pathway through childhood. Careers were pursued throughout the whole of individuals working lives’ (Flores and Gray, 2000: 10). These philosophies of the ’30 year career’ trajectory (Thomson, 2013) that surface from childhood are evident in my dads experience. My dad was born in 1955 and grew up in a household that didn’t own a television until he was ten. He reflects on his childhood days of drawing battle ships, making toy boats of wood and building electric cars using his ‘little joiner set’ -which now has pride of place on his bedroom bookshelf (see Fig. 52). These skills that he developed through childhood hobbies and interests are ones that he deploys in his work today of reconstructing and designing the intricacies of interiors spaces. These skills demonstrate an early mastery of technology in ‘the embodiment of different machines and technological knowledge’ (Holth and Mellstrom, 2011: 314) (see. Fig. 51). This ‘hands on’ craftsmanship and ‘tinkering’ in technical electronics is associated with the masculine culture of his generation (see Brothers by Cynthia Cockburn 1983) (see. Fig. 51). However as Ray Kurzweil points out technology goes beyond just using and making with tools; ‘it is a process of creating ever more powerful technology using the tools from a previous round of innovation’ (Kurzweil, 2001) therefore we run the risk of being left behind if we can’t keep up with its advancement and reminisce over previous technologies.
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Fig 50: Young boy tinkering with his toy car, 1950s Fig 51: Men working at Chrysler Car factory 1950s
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Fig 52 : Dad’s Little Joiner set from when he was a little boy
The mapped process of ‘The Plank’ experiment I discussed previously (see page. 40), provided Hayley and I with an illustration of a career trajectory: we bring existing knowledge the first day of a new job (the flinch), you gather experience throughout your career always reflecting on the flinch as culture develops around you (gained knowledge), we then emulate what we gathered from the flinch and gained knowledge (distorted imitation). This risks always performing to the expectations of ‘the flinch’ that no longer exists.
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19
BDP (Building Design Partnership) is an award winning international Architecture firm established in 1961, they specialize in interior design, architecture, urban planning and landscape architecture.
20 Revit is a BIM (Builing Information Modeling) software used for architechture design, engineering and construction. 21 ‘Snagging’ is the process of checking a building for the minor faults that need to fixed, it is normally done at the very end of a project
AUTONOMY
My dad’s first day at BDP 19 was spent sat around a table with a group of interior architects, as they discussed and delegated the tasks for one particular job (see Fig. 53). A drawing board, paper and pen were the most advanced and practical forms of technology used in the processing of their ideas. In Sociologist Richard’s Sennett’s book ‘The Corrosion of Character’ he discusses the instability created when individuals present themselves as followers of ‘traditional’ values (Flores and Gray, 2000: 11). Thirty-five years on my dad is armed with just a pencil, pen and tracing paper as his main tools of the trade. In the morning of the day with my dad, he was presented with a computer-aided design of a staircase that had been generated using ‘Revit’ 20 software by another member of staff (see Fig. 54). His task was to redesign three steps of the staircase, which hadn’t passed disability regulations. I witnessed as he spent the day repetitively tracing over the computer-generated design (see Fig. 55), transferring a construct of his imagination
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into a meticulously drawn modification (see Fig. 57). This drawing was then past back to the original designer who incorporated my dad’s drawing in the Revit file of the entire building that the team were working on (see Fig. 56). The loss of autonomy is experienced profoundly by those whose careers have been disrupted and whose ‘current prospects have increasingly been called into question’ (ibid.). My dad’s varied direct experience and sensory knowledge of architecture means that he tends to supervise projects or do the ‘snagging’ 21 across lots of different jobs. He is less likely to determine the larger design decisions; something he was frequently doing twelve years ago prior to the company’s shift from using drawing boards to AutoCAD. ‘Revit’ evolves at a faster pace than dad’s existing technical skills can keep up with so his expertise are appreciated in the finer detailing stages of varied projects.
Moving from project to project creates career uncertainty in its lack of routine and stability, the kind of security needed for providing for a family (ibid). This highlights the ingrained cultural perception of men as the sole ‘breadwinner’ of the family, which maintains the oppressive gender divisions of labour (Filipovic, 2013).
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Fig 53 : Drawing Boards in Architects studio around 1970s Fig 54: Revit AutoCAD staircase Fig 55: Dad traces over AutoCAD drawing
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At work, my dad actively spends more time ‘on site’ engaging in the physical spaces that the projects concern (see Fig. 58). In contrast the younger males he works with spend more time in the office developing their technical design skills, these men are demonstrating a general shift in the skills men desire (Thomson, 2013). Where my dad grew up model making and working with materials his younger colleagues perhaps grew up surrounded by more screens and Gameboys, conveying again the extent an early engagement with technology can have on the skills you choose to maintain. Fig 56 : Computer Aided Design staircase Fig 57: Dad’s hand drawn designs Fig 58: Dad spends time in staircases
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It appears then that there is dissonance for Architects (and any computer automated design field), as one must choose whether to be stuck to a chair, eyes glued to a screen from start to finish on one project or engage with the materiality of the world on lots of different projects. I have my own concerns about working on aspects of projects without having been a part of the whole process. My dad regretfully experiences this due to the automation of his design techniques. I, like my dad, find it imperative to comprehend every stage of the process of the project, though it doesn’t seem like this is a valued attribute to companies’ productions in the working world. I also have dissonance towards my desired skills: I feel pressured by technology’s innovation to advance my technical skills to aid my design practice, however I worry that I am moving with a field that is more concerned with mass-production and profit than unique experience and purpose.
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PURPOSE
Men of my dad’s generation are not just facing job insecurity, but more a loss of ‘meaning that occurs when working life no longer has a discernible shape. (Flores and Gray, 2000: 11) My day with my dad ended with him proposing a ‘crash course’ in architecture for me to design, so I could hypothetically become an Architect in a day based of what he finds imperative about his field. He expressed the importance of light, space and texture, understanding first hand how to become more natural and at one with your environment, this awareness to your surroundings enables you to appreciate how others will interact with the space you interpret (see Fig. 59). These instructions involved no technical devices all you’d need was a body to sense the space, an encompassing and collective attitude towards the field.
Architecture critic David Celento states that ‘Architect’s refusal to embrace technological innovations invites their extinction’ (Celento, 2007: 1), arguing that although technology is now heavily used in the design process, the profession may lose necessity in a world where furniture system designers, construction managers and engineers are all preparing for consumers desires of mass production- a future of technologically interconnected architectures. (ibid.) Or in other words, a future where the walls of spaces echo the female roles in response to male-only commands and the actual women must fight to have their voices heard over this army of Cortonas, Alexas and Siris, the ‘femme bots’ scripted by the men that govern us. Thus, my homework/’crash course’ from dad will emerge in the form of a rapid speculative design project pioneered by Hayley and me (actual women) as we fight against the dystopian future mentioned, expressing our aims to use our design practice to oppose the constructs (gender/labour/technology) that often resist us.
As designers it is fundamental that we gain on the ground insights into our areas of investigation. The time spent with my dad gave me a lot of ‘food for thought’, having the personal insight made this all the more insightful. I was able to reflect on his experiences and his performance at work (having known him for the last twenty two years). From this I have realised how vital it is to create connections and build longer standing relationships with those our designs will interact with/ who they concern. With this in mind, Hayley and myself will be making arrangements to locate female workers within the public sphere and domestic sphere and organise methods of ethnographic research with them. Approaching large fields of territories such as the public and private spheres is daunting, but this project so far including the research done for this context report, has proved the contemporary relevance of the project’s concerns within the divisions of labour and the performances of the social self within those. It is vital that we continue to contextualise and hone in the boundaries we are exploring to really locate the issues that rise in the intentions of our designs.
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Fig 59: Dad and Me in Italy, looking up at Orvieto Cathedral, he has always encouraged me to be aware of my surroundings.
TRANSMIT HER CONCLUSION
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Fig 60: Womens March against Donald Trump, 21st January 2017
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In light of recent political upheaval there has been an uproar in female defiance against patriarchy. The women’s march on the 21st January 2017, immediately after Donald Trump’s inauguration as President of the United States, saw an estimated 4.8 million individuals worldwide stand up and march to protect legislation and basic human rights (see Fig. 60). Two days later Donald Trump, surrounded by his group of pale, male and stale advisors, signed an anti-abortion executive order, which has global consequences for women’s access to reproductive health. This makes me livid. Why does a group of males get to control what happens to any female body? Trump’s campaign and presidency operates through binaries- winner/loser, rich/poor, white/other, powerful/weak, male/female. As conscientious designers we must offer nuanced alternatives to reductionist thinking. Questioning social performances of gender can therefore play an important role in disrupting what seems to be a resurgent, patriarchal backlash. The disillusion of a loss of masculinity stems from the notion that with women’s independence men have lost their compass in the world. Without the traditional role as the breadwinner men must attain their masculinity in other ways. Artist Grayson Perry has characterised this nostalgic man as the ‘Old- School Man’, who reminisces of a masculinity they knew through childhood. Men used to earn their masculinity through their physical work now most men sit and stare at a screen all day so have to exert their masculinity in other ways (Perry, 2016: 67). Capitalism has morphed itself into an “ornamental culture” through consumerism, no longer is their craft or utility for men to pride themselves on, it has become about self-image and a performance of a nostalgic notion of masculinity (see: Sonia Faludi, 2011). Technological advancements have contributed to the culture of anxiety we inhabit. People feel pressured to keep up with the expansive progression of innovative technologies. Therefore, this simplistic, conservative view of the world, specifically with regards to gender, offers a sense of security. This creates an interesting paradox when we consider the detrimental effects technology has had on women and their femininity in the labour market due to patriarchal design lineage of technology (as I demonstrated in the second chapter of this paper). For women, this revival of hyper-masculinity is causing reductive reversal oppression; women are being slowly pushed back into the domestic sphere by reformed expectation of their traditional roles. The glass ceiling is very much still intact. This poignant metaphor was reinforced under the glass sealed Javits Center in Manhattan (see Fig. 17), where Hillary Clinton stood expectantly to give a victory speech under a transparent but what was ultimately a fortified ceiling. As two females about to enter this male dominated industry, where women are 40% less likely to be promoted it is even more important that our work is concerned with what we are going to face. Cynthia Cockburn states that technological equality is predicated on the dissociation of gender from occupation and the wider social gendered divisions (Cockburn, 2010). Design has a part to play in the gender disparity that is both economically entrenched culturally accepted. If we can design objects/technologies/advertisements/systems that define our gendered performances, then we can surely use design to subvert and create a societal theatre of equality.
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TRANSMIT HER BIBLIOGRAPHY & REFERENCES
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Akrich, M. (1992) Shaping Technology, Building Society: Studies in Sociotechnical Change. Available at: https://pedropeixotoferreira.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/akrich-the-de-scription-of-technical-objects. pdf (Accessed: 24 January 2017). Allen, K. (2016) UK women still far adrift on salary and promotion as gender pay gap remains a gulf. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/aug/23/gender-pay-gap-average-18-per-cent-less-ukwomen (Accessed: 27 January 2017) Amazon (2016) Amazon echo, black. Available at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/ B01GAGVIE4?tag=googhydr-21&hvadid=139840411899&hvpos=1t1&hvnetw=g&hvrand= 18053686159836608508&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045884&hvtargid=kwd-50712656950&ref=pd_sl_83zndhd7ka_e (Accessed: 28 January 2017). Ament, P. (1997) Washing machine history - invention of the washing machine. Available at: http://www. ideafinder.com/history/inventions/washmachine.htm (Accessed: 27 January 2017). Baggaley, J. and Duck, S. (1976) Dynamics of television. United Kingdom: Saxon House. BBC (1989) Mastering the servant, technology - servant or master - BBC world service. Available at: http:// www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p033jwb4 (Accessed: 26 January 2017). Berger, J. (2008) Modern classics ways of seeing. London: Penguin Classics. Berman, A.E. and Dorrier, J. (2016) Technology feels like it’s accelerating — because it actually is. Available at: https://singularityhub.com/2016/03/22/technology-feels-like-its-accelerating-because-it-actually-is/ (Accessed: 28 January 2017). Butler, J. (1992) The Body You Want: Liz Kotz interviews Judith Butler. Interview with Judith Butler Butler, J. (2012) The Lesbian and gay studies reader. Edited by Henry Abelove. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. Butler, J. (1988) ‘Performative acts and gender constitution: An essay in Phenomenology and feminist theory’, Theatre Journal, Campbell, M. (2016) ‘Dorothy Smith and knowing the world we live in’, The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare. Celento, D. (2007) Iconic public buildings as sites of technological innovation. Available at: http:// workgroups.clemson.edu/AAH0503_ANIMATED_ARCH/M.Arch%20Studio%20Documents/STUDIO_ Innovate%20or%20Perish.pdf (Accessed: 27 January 2017). Cockburn, C. (1983) Brothers: Male dominance and technology. Change. London: Pluto Press. Cockburn, C. (2010) On The Machinery of Dominance: Women, Men, and Technical Know-How. Available at: http://sociotech.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/55148772/machinery%2520of%2520dominance.pdf (Accessed: 27 January 2017). Cowan, R.S. (1985) More work for mother: The ironies of household technology from the open hearth to the microwave. 5th edn. New York, NY: Basic Books. Faludi, S. (2011) Stiffed: Betrayal of the modern man. Farnham, United Kingdom: Vintage Digital. 88
Faulkner, W. (2001) ‘The technology question in feminism’, Women’s Studies International Forum, Filipovic, J. (2013) The rise of ‘breadwinner moms’ is less a win for equality than it looks the rise of ‘breadwinner moms’ is less a win for equality than it looks. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/ commentisfree/2013/jun/06/breadwinner-moms-equality (Accessed: 28 January 2017). Flores, F. and Gray, J. (2000) Entrepreneurship and the wired life: Work in the wake of careers. London: Demos. Frederick, C. (1913) ‘The New Housekeeping: efficiency studies in home management Ch. One. Efficiency and the new house-keeping’, Gershuny, J. and Robinson, J.P. 1988 ‘His- torical Changes in the Household Division of Labor’, Demography 25(4): 537–52. Gustavsson, E., 2005. Virtual servants: Stereotyping female front-office employees on the internet. Gender, Work, and Organization 12(5), pp. 400 – 419. Goffman, E. (1990) The presentation of self in everyday life. London: Penguin Books. Goffman, E. (1979) Gender advertisements. London: Palgrave Macmillan Gray, A. (1992) Video playtime: The gendering of a leisure technology. New York: Taylor & Francis. Hayles, K.N. (2014) My Mother was a computer: Digital subjects and literary texts. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Haynes publishing (2017) Available at: https://haynes.com/en-gb/ (Accessed: 26 January 2017). Hester, H. (2016) Technically female: Women, machines, and Hyperemployment. Available at: http://salvage. zone/in-print/technically-female-women-machines-and-hyperemployment/ (Accessed: 28 January 2017). Hilpern, K. (2010) The gender gap: Messages that can affect the way boys and girls grow up Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/the-gender-gap-messages-thatcan-affect-the-way-boys-and-girls-grow-up-2111887.html (Accessed: 28 January 2017). Holth, L. and Mellström, U. (2011) Revisiting engineering, masculinity and technology studies: Old structures with new openings. Available at: http://genderandset.open.ac.uk/index.php/genderandset/ article/viewFile/134/328 (Accessed: 27 January 2017). Holt, R. (2014) It’s not just young people who don’t know how to fix things any more. Available at: http:// www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/11317209/Its-not-just-young-people-who-dont-know-how-to-fixthings-any-more.html (Accessed: 26 January 2017). Jones, L. (2016) Women shoulder the responsibility of ’unpaid work’. Available at: http://visual.ons.gov.uk/ the-value-of-your-unpaid-work/ (Accessed: 23 January 2017). Keynes, J.M. (1930) Economic possibilities for our grandchildren by John Maynard Keynes 1930. Available at: https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/economics/keynes/1930/our-grandchildren.htm (Accessed: 27 January 2017). Koschei, J. (2013) The growing technological generation gap. Available at: http://theindustry. cc/2013/02/12/the-growing-technological-generation-gap/ (Accessed: 26 January 2017). 89
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Kurzweil, R. (2017) The law of accelerating returns. Available at: http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-law-ofaccelerating-returns (Accessed: 28 January 2017). Lewis, J. (1992) The ideological octopus: An exploration of television and its audience. New York: Routledge Lohan, M. and Faulkner, W. (2004) ‘Masculinities and technologies’, Men and Masculinities McAleer, B. and Seams, C. (2015) Shifting times: The rise of the automatic transmission. Available at: http:// driving.ca/chevrolet/corvette/auto-news/news/hail-hydra-matic-the-rise-of-the-automatic-transmission (Accessed: 27 January 2017). McConnell, E.H. (1983b) More work for mother: The ironies of household technology from the open hearth to the microwave. Available at: http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1340&context=ijcs (Accessed: 22 January 2017). McDowell, L. (1991) ‘Life without father and Ford: The new gender order of Post-Fordism’, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, MellstrOm, U. (2004) ‘Machines and masculine subjectivity: Technology as an integral part of men’s life experiences’, Men and Masculinities. Mills, W.C. (2002) White collar: The American middle classes. 50th edn. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Palfrey, J. and Gasser, U. (2016) Born digital: How children grow up in a digital age. United States: Basic Books. Pecknold, A. and Langham, M. (1988) Mime: The step beyond words, for the actors of dance and drama. 2nd edn. Toronto, Ont.: NC Press Ltd ,Canada. Perry, G. (2016) The descent of man. United Kingdom: Allen Lane. Pink, D.H. (2011) Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. Daniel H. Pink. Edinburgh: Canongate Books. Power, N., 2012. The dystopian technology of the female voice. [Online]. [Accessed 25 November 2015]. Available at: http://hernoise.org/nina-power/ Riley, J. (2013) Prepared by BRE on behalf of the department of energy and climate change. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/274778/9_Domestic_ appliances__cooking_and_cooling_equipment.pdf (Accessed: 28 January 2017). Roper, M. (1994) Masculinity and the British organization man since 1945. Robb, A. (2015) How gender-specific toys can negatively impact a child’s development. Available at: http:// nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2015/08/12/how-gender-specific-toys-can-negatively-impact-achilds-development/ (Accessed: 26 January 2017). Sexton, J.Y. (2016) Donald Trump’s toxic masculinity. Available at: https://www.nytimes. com/2016/10/13/opinion/donald-trumps-toxic-masculinity.html?_r=0 (Accessed: 27 January 2017). Shakespeare, W. (2011) As you like it. Edited by Paul Werstine and Barbara A. Mowat. Boca Raton, FL, United States: Simon & Schuster. Smith, D.E. (2012) The everyday world as problematic: A feminist sociology. Boston: Northeastern University Press.
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Spence, J. (no date) Jo Spence: Remodelling photo history 6. Available at: http://www.jospence.org/ remodelling_photo_history/r_p_h_6.html (Accessed: 27 January 2017). The Most Popular Car Names (2016) Available at: http://www.theaa.com/newsroom/news-2014/mostpopular-car-names.html (Accessed: 27 January 2017) Thomson, S. (2013) Is the Career Dead? Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/spencer-thompson/ is-the-career-dead_b_3384422.html (Accessed: 26 January 2017).
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Fig 1: Sherman, Aaron (2011). [Image] URL: http://teachbytechnology.blogspot. co.uk/2013/04/television.html (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 2: Vintage Design Pics (2015). [Image] URL: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/asyou-like-itact-v-scene-iv-the-ken-welsh.html (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 4: Goffman, E (1990). [Image] ‘Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life’. London: Penguin p. 136 (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 5: Zeinelabdin, N (2011). [Image] URL: http://teachbytechnology.blogspot. co.uk/2013/04/television.html (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 6: Perpetual Wonder (no date), [Image] URL: http://perpetual-wonder.com/ blog/2013/11/12/damsel-in-distress/ (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 7: Sefaria (no date), [Image] URL: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/17098 (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 8: Smith, D. (no date) [Image] URL: http://www.cfidarren.com/r-studio5.html (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 12: Quartet Books (2016) https://quartetbooks.wordpress.com/2016/11/16/ plugging-one-of-our-books/(accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 15: Daily Mail (2015). [Image] URL: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/04/15/21/2 756F92400000578-3040629-image-m-5_1429130059577.jpg (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 16: Mel Clening (2013) [Image] URL: http://melcleaning.co.uk/tag/cleaning-2/(accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 17: Jacob K. Javits center (2008) [Image] URL: http://siny.org/project/javits-center/ (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 22: Wikipedia (No Date). [Image] URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_the_ Riveter (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 23: Palmer, A. T. (1942) [Image] URL: http://mymodernmet.com/alfred-t-palmerdave-shorpy-kodachromes/ (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 24: Palmer, A. T (1942) [Image] URL: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchistworldwar/5852(accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 25: Kopplin (2002). [Image] URL: http://www.computersciencelab.com/ ComputerHistory/HistoryPt2.htm (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 28: Goffman, E. (1979) [Scan] ‘Gender advertisements’, London : Macmillan (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 29: Wade, R. (2009). [Image] URL: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rossendalewadey/3895782171 (accessed: 27.01.2017) All images are my own unless stated otherwise.
IMAGE REFERENCES
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Fig 30: Servis (1937). [Image] URL: http://servis.co.uk/ideas-and-advice/a-history-inadverts (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 31: Stafford, R. (no date). [Image] URL: https://uk.pinterest.com/ pin/148548487682027420/ (accessed: 27.01.2017)
Fig 32: Vintage Car Ads (no date). [Image] URL: http://www.productioncars.com/dx5/ vintage_car_ads2.php?make2=Jaguar (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 33: Servis (1952). [Image] URL: http://servis.co.uk/ideas-and-advice/a-history-inadverts (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 34: Spence, J (1982) [Image] URL: http://www.jospence.org/remodelling_photo_ history/r_p_h_thumbs.html (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 35: Te Ara (no date). [Image] URL: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/40783/a-woman-and-her-washingmachine-1940 (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 36: Christine Fred Taylorism [Image] URL: https://www.studyblue.com/#flashcard/view/9713287 (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 37: National Cash Register (1954) [Image] URL: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/a2/46/c2/ a246c270135e4a4b1f79deccb7639dec.jpg (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 38: Hiro (1964), [Image] URL: https://www.pinterest.com/odyrivas/retro-office-/ (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 39: Circuits Today (2015) [Image] URL: http://www.circuitstoday.com/amazonecho-review (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 40: Amazon (2016) [Screen Shot] URL: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=sulDcHJzcB4 (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 42: Gobel, M. (no date). [Image] URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/02/ home_economics_n_6192334.html (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 43: Hartlepool Borough (no date) [Image URL]: http://www.hhtandn.org/ relatedimages/7665/woodwork-class-thornhill (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 44: No Name (No date). [Image] URL: http://www.classicpartsshack.co.uk/ workshop-manuals-books.html (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 44: Online Data Hub (2016) [Image] URL : http://onlinedatahub.com/11-thingsrobots-already-do-better-than-humans/robot-driving-car/ (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 45: Online Data Hub (2016) [Image] URL : http://onlinedatahub.com/11-thingsrobots-already-do-better-than-humans/robot-driving-car/ (accessed: 27.01.2017)
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Fig 50: The Travelling Naturopath (no date) [image] URL: http://www. travellingnaturopath.com.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/ ed93b06a3179f7699c635dc731e43430.jpg (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 51: Chrysler Corporation (1942). [Image] URL: https://www.pinterest.com/ pin/446841594252839126/ (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 53: Sievers (1967) [Image] URL: http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/5638408-3x2-940x627.jpg Fig 54: Autodesk (2017) [Image] URL: http://inthefold.autodesk.com/in_the_ fold/2016/04/revit-2017-advances-bim-for-future-of-designing-buildings.html Fig 60: Business Insider (2017) [Image] URL: http://uk.businessinsider.com/womensmarch-versus-trump-inauguration-attendance-2017-1?r=US&IR=T (accessed: 27.01.2017) Fig 61: Front Cover: Berger, J. (1972). [Image]. ‘Ways Of Seeing . London: Penguin p. 25
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TRANSMIT HER APPENDIX
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Working in a pair has meant that we must take extra care to communicate and record all the conversations we have regarding the project (or atleast try to). This is a useful way of keeping tracking of our ideas and understanding what each one of us is thinking. Essentially we are two brains who have to merge at points and compiling our thought processes into graphics like this is useful for us and our future selves when compiling context reports together!
The reflective relay - (guillotine is the former name for ‘The Plank’ experiment These are probably the most fruitful exercises that we conduct. It involves each of us sitting and writing for 3 minutes about a piece of work, an idea, or even a tutorial. We then swap the piece of writing and the other interprets what you have said. this creates an interesting relay and flow of ideas through text.
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This large map came later on in the project when the two of us were feeling overwhelmed with the amount of conflicting thoughts and ideas we were having in our own hands, this was causing our communication to falter so we printed of our entire blog: lalahbhb.tumblr.com we split it into first hand (green paper) and second hand (grey paper) and begin collatingand collecting our ideas together, grouping and regrouping, reframing the project as we went. These processes have been vital for paired group work which is something neither of us had done before. Paired work is a differernt dynamic to group work and entirely different to individual work. Yet the challenges are exciting and I think we are learning a lot as women collaborating creatively in a team together.
- Mars and Venus (c. 1483) by Sandro Botticelli