ABSTRACT
Feminist critiques of technical communication and studies of gender issues in technical communication have been relatively few, though this state of affairs is rapidly changing. One of the difficulties in discussing feminist critiques of science definitively is that humanistic topics such as this are inherently open-ended. Though there is difference and debate about feminist critiques of science, many of its features can usefully be clustered into two broad groupings: the narrow exclusiveness of the scientific mentality and, relatedly, the gendered nature of science. Another principal feminist criticism of science concerns the gendered nature of science, whether in principle or in practice, specifically its maleness which has operated to disadvantage and exclude women. R. Bleier’s collection covers a range of views on feminism and science. This chapter explores the vital importance of conflict both internally within feminism and externally with other ideologies such as science.
