ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the pervasive science fiction trope of the female cyborg, or gynoid, as a subversive figure which both exposes the performative aspects of femininity that reinforce oppressive normative structures and subverts gender norms by displaying bodily autonomy. Drawing on queer theory concepts of gender performance and Judith Butler’s understanding of performativity, it examines how the post-human figure of the female cyborg, or gynoid, challenges traditional conceptualisations of embodiment and gendered performance. As an example of how gynoids can produce nightmarish portrayals of normative femininity, the chapter explores Hoffman’s short story Der Sandman, in which a young man falls in love with a simulated doll-like ‘robot’ called Olympia. As an example of how gynoids can also represent autonomy and empowerment through more subversive forms of performativity, the chapter also analyses C.L. Moore’s “No Woman Born,” in which an actress is transformed into a cyborg: in this case a lifeless collection mechanical parts which come to life through her agency, producing the effect of femininity. Building on Gilles Deleuze’s concept of “becoming-woman,” which describes the way women’s being the world reforms it in new ways, the chapter develops a new term: ‘becoming-gynoid.’
