Cyber/Ecofeminism

Abstract

Cyber/ecofeminism is a holistic concept that I have coined and adopted to approach the burning issues of information technology, women’s studies, and the women’s movement in the age of globalization. It serves as an ethno- and gender-sensitive compass towards eco-social sustainability in an era where technology has an increasing impact on all aspects of life. In order to resist the Master identity that women, along with men, risk embracing, as they get plugged, downloaded, and wired into the digital world, one needs to introduce alternatives to the models of “compulsory heteronormativity,” dichotomous and hierarchical sex/gender systems, as well as dysfunctional, exploitative animal/human relations. The dominant worldview is a world of “bits” and pieces—fragmented, atomistic, and hierarchical. It echoes in this like the hidden gender contract with its binary structure, segregation and splitting of male rationality of production and female care and emotional labor. Cyber/ecofeminism is my method and approach also for exploring which of the schools—cyberfeminism OR ecofeminism—promises more hope for a woman-friendly, ecologically, economically, socially, and culturally stable and sustainable future.