ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the scene for the debates and studies which follow, by providing an introduction to a variety of perspectives on gender and technology. It examines the widely held conviction that technologies are masculine. The chapter considers three positions on gender and technology: eco-feminism, liberal feminism, and the more historical perspective which sees technology as masculine culture. The cultural association between masculinity and technology in Western societies is hard to exaggerate. More fundamentally, feminist writers on technology have been concerned to interrogate the very nature of what counts as technical. One response to the perceived link between masculinity and technology has come from eco-feminists. Writers in this tradition see technology as an example of the way in which men try to dominate and control both nature and women. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
