In the recent lecture, Nabeel referred to arguments that have been made about the gendering of audio technologies. A number of writers have taken the view that the objects are a representation of masculinity. Such a view recognised a gender division between males, the focused listeners who create a listening space for contemplation and high art, as opposed to females who represent mass culture and prefer the radio and television.
In my opinion such a view of the use of audio technologies is overly simplistic. While i agree that there may certainly be differences in the way men and women use such devices, the differences are of degree not kind. The way in which the genders listen and organise their listening is in fact noticebly different. For example, women are far less likely to form a vast collection of recordings and 'obsess' over their audio devices as are males, like which is represented in the film Diner through the character of Schrevie. In my opinion this is a fair representation in that men certainly do tend to focus on the object as a source of knowledge and the catergorising and displaying of such 'artefacts'., where as women are primarily concerned with hearing the music. Women are thought to give less focus to recordings and use it as background music whilst doing other things. It would appear that it is due to such differences that the marketing for the devices and the general consensus about audio technologies is that they are a masculine device. Hwever, I believe that such differences do not add up to the full masculinisation of all audio technology. Why is it that differences in usage constitute for a gendering of such technologies? Im quite postive that both genders listen to and appreciate music in equal amounts and like all things, have their individual reasons for doing so.
In my estimation it is more than likely the gendering in wider society,where the technological industry is viewed as inherently masculine, which has led to the gendering of audio devices.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Oh look… it’s Emily. Welcome to the Blog!
If I have understood what you are saying correctly then I would have to agree. I think generally speaking it may be fair to say that men are more likely to be concerned about the collecting/organizing process and a detailed knowledge of specific elements of each recording whereas women would prefer to have it in the background as seen in “High Fidelity” and “Diner”. I do however can’t help but recognize other fetishization expressed in other examples of film. Take for example “Virgin Suicides” and “Heavenly Creatures”. Both show examples of the way females use records as away of expressing their passions. The same can be seen in “Little Voice” and how Laura uses her father’s records as away to fill the void after his death. I would agree then when you say that you are “…quite positive that both genders listen to and appreciate music in equal amounts and like all things, have their individual reasons for doing so.”
As for the gendering of audio technology… I agree too. I think that just about everything in popular culture could be gendered in some way and the way that the media represents that greatly influences how we see things. Interesting though are the advertisements for iPods. To me they are directed to male and female alike. They come in a variety of colours to suit different taste. Pink ones and Blue ones, Feminine and Masculine. Perhaps there is an attempt here to hermaphrodize audio technology. As a side thought though… I would like to know who decided what colours are feminine and which are masculine?
Post a Comment