The aim of this workshop is to discuss the ways in which imaginations and representations of technology, men, and masculinities are recreated and challenged in different contexts, and furthermore, how technology and gender is constituted, experienced, and practiced. Feminist research on technology (Science and Technology Studies) has focused on the ways technology is connected with gender and culturally connected to men and masculinity. In contexts of technical professions with a special preference for technology men are often positioned as given, and this tends to exclude women from technological environments and part of the labour market. Machines can be understood as an extension of the (male) body where the connection to ‘masculine’ behaviour is united with the use and mastering of technology. The virtualization and communication technology creates new challenges regarding how spaces and embodiment can be understood and analyzed, not least in relation to the effects which communication technology can have on men’s and women’s sexuality and sexual violence. Understanding how gender is performed in relation to technology/machines implies questions of defining the limits of (men’s) embodiment, representations, masculinities, age, heteronormativity, technology, and risk behaviour.

We encourage papers which from an interdisciplinary perspective discusses “blind spots” in research on the interplay between gender and technology and the effects of these on professional life/organizations and other arenas.

How are connections between technology, (techno-)bodies, and masculinity recreated and/or challenged, and which effects does this have?

In a longer perspective, how can we theorize the elements which challenge dualistic and heteronormative frames of interpretation? Which meanings do machines and technology have in relation to (men’s) violence, to bodily integrity, and the public or virtual spaces?