Samantha, Not Sam, Eve, Not Adam: Feminist Posthumanism as the Posthumanism for All?
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Although critical accounts have provided much insight into AI gynoids’ femininity itself in terms of its social construction, visual expression, and patriarchal exploitation, almost no observation has been made on its narrative privilege over AI masculinity, nor to the purposes and outcomes of such a privilege. At the intersection of feminism and posthumanism, there seems to be a lack of awareness of how the rhetoric of one is employed in the service of the other, or of the potential consequences of such a device. The purpose of this essay is to partially address that gap in the discussion on gendered AI in science fiction. I propose that posthumanist narratives on AI specifically utilize fembots as feminist representatives of the emergent posthuman race to elicit greater acceptance of nonhuman persons. This strategy, effective though it may be, achieves its end at the cost of perpetuating sexist narrative practices within fiction and sexist business practices outside of fiction, as it echoes the same narrative of fear and violence that has surrounded masculine AI in Hollywood since the ‘60s, while also potentially encouraging further exploitation of the feminine form by tech industries in real life. By analyzing and comparing the characterizations of the female and male AI characters from Her, Ex Machina, and Machines Like Me, I seek to demonstrate the progression of this gendered narrative and raise questions regarding its implications.
Abstract
Although critical accounts have provided much insight into AI gynoids’ femininity itself in terms of its social construction, visual expression, and patriarchal exploitation, almost no observation has been made on its narrative privilege over AI masculinity, nor to the purposes and outcomes of such a privilege. At the intersection of feminism and posthumanism, there seems to be a lack of awareness of how the rhetoric of one is employed in the service of the other, or of the potential consequences of such a device. The purpose of this essay is to partially address that gap in the discussion on gendered AI in science fiction. I propose that posthumanist narratives on AI specifically utilize fembots as feminist representatives of the emergent posthuman race to elicit greater acceptance of nonhuman persons. This strategy, effective though it may be, achieves its end at the cost of perpetuating sexist narrative practices within fiction and sexist business practices outside of fiction, as it echoes the same narrative of fear and violence that has surrounded masculine AI in Hollywood since the ‘60s, while also potentially encouraging further exploitation of the feminine form by tech industries in real life. By analyzing and comparing the characterizations of the female and male AI characters from Her, Ex Machina, and Machines Like Me, I seek to demonstrate the progression of this gendered narrative and raise questions regarding its implications.