Asalesperson at a computer store said to me, "You see, the monitor--that's this big screen and the box around it--doesn't really hold any of the power you need to worry about. That's all in [taps CPU] the brains of the computer right here . . . "

It's so interesting to see the media-tion of masculinities through technology. Even technology itself is a loaded term. Symbolically it represents the highest expression of economic power, and the holder of said tech. is also the one with the power.

Ten years ago (I remember it that well) there was an article in the Globe and Mail titled "Compuphobia: Another Feminine Disease?" It was blatantly derogatory to women, stating that by a long shot women only see computers as "electronic typewriters." In large part, we're supposed to keep thinking that technology is something for men. It's always the IT guy in the office; the computer nerd is always a boy; and (not that I'm running for it) the computer-addled recluse is indisputably a guy as well.*

An article in Sunday's New York Times documented the advances in sex-toy technology and how far they've come from the clunky machines doctors prescribed our great-great grannies for hysteria. Vibrators and battery-free sex toys have become smaller, sleeker, better designed, more efficient, more expensive, more in-demand.** Interestingly, the word "technology" doesn't come up once. Because a vibrator (or, for that matter, a washing machine) is considered feminine it is not counted as technology, whereas a computer is technology indisputably.

That'll be enough for now. I need to go re-read Dale Spender's Nattering on the Net. It's a book that always puts me in a computer-savvy mood, and I can appreciate that we've come far enough from home-ec and typing class for one day.

Notes on the Above:
*the computer-addled recluse: Although I might be on my way. My new computer has enough stuff on it that if I didn't need to eat and experience human contact sometimes I could probably just live in my room.

**how far they've come: And I should know. I used to sell the damn things, and I sold them right. It is a little known fact that for the brief period during which I was employed at the Condom Shack the sales of vibrators went through the roof.