The Asexual Virus: Computer Viruses in Feminist Discourse

Abstract

Feminist work on computing technology has for the most part concentrated on concepts of cyborgs and notions of (dis)embodiment in cyberspace. It is the contention of this paper that, as yet, these conceptions have, outstripped the realities of the technology and that an alternative and technically realistic model is that of the computer virus. The virus has all the positive theoretical advantages of the cyborg, as well as the added benefits of being in existence now as opposed to the product of science fiction, and viruses may be capable of use as a tool for education and activism. Thus, this paper shall examine the limitations of current cyber feminism, and the range of possibilities viral hacktavistic feminism opens up.