ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the appropriation of the vocoder sound by female artists. It demonstrates that, although it has traditionally been the preserve of certain more avant-garde male performers, women working within the genre of pop have joined their throng, creating some fascinating and potentially empowering new meanings for the vocoder. The vocoder was invented in Germany in 1939 as a means of disguising military voice transmissions. The convention of loading the notion of artistic authenticity onto the human voice weighs heavily upon what the sound of the vocoder means. In edging towards a discussion of the positions for women within music technology, it might prove fruitful to head off into the realm of theory most commonly labelled cyber-feminism. In pointing out the performative side of femininity, a rationale should perhaps be delivered and women's political motivations often clash.
