10.6092/issn.2038-3460/17471
application/pdf
2038-3460
17471
1
en
Monika Urban
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/
Tecnoscienza – Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies
Cornelia Sollfrank (ed.), The Beautiful Warriors. Technofeminist Praxis in the Twenty-first Century, Minor Compositions, 2020
Text.Serial.Journal
https://tecnoscienza.unibo.it/
11
Book Reviews
2020-11-12
2023-06-27
2020-11-12
2023-10-12
105-109
TS
Monika Urban
2020/11/12
10.6092/issn.2038-3460/17471
105
Universität Bremen
2038-3460
1
en
109
Cornelia Sollfrank (ed.), The Beautiful Warriors. Technofeminist Praxis in the Twenty-first Century, Minor Compositions, 2020
https://tecnoscienza.unibo.it/article/download/17471/16320
11
Book Review                                                                 105
cybercrime. I would also not recommend this book specifically to the so-
cial scientist that is looking for a publication describing the current theo-
retical thinking around these topics, from any specific area or research
tradition. The main audience of this book, as I stated earlier, are practi-
tioners in medium to large organisations, looking for new solutions and
the publication does well in presenting them with the state-of-the-art of
what is possible with novel advances. As this stands, it is possible to ap-
proach the book only with prior knowledge of the areas of cybersecurity
and cybercrime and, for most chapters, with sufficient knowledge of
computing and current evolution of cybersecurity.

References
The European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA)
      (2017)WannaCry Ransomware Outburst, “Cyber security info notes”,
      May 15th.
Saltzer, J. H., and Schroeder, M. D. (1975) The protection of information in
        computer systems, “Proceedings of the IEEE”, 63 (9), pp. 1278-1308.
van der Wagen, W. and Pieters, W. (2015) From cybercrime to cyborg crime:
       Botnets as hybrid criminal actor-networks, “British journal of criminolo-
       gy”, 55 (3), pp. 578-595.
van der Wagen, W. and Pieters, W. (2018) The hybrid victim: Re-conceptualizing
       high-tech cyber victimization through actor-network theory, “European
       Journal of Criminology”, 17 (4), 480-497.
Yar, M. (2005) The Novelty of ‘Cybercrime’ An Assessment in Light of Routine
       Activity Theory, “European Journal of Criminology”, 2 (4), pp. 407-427.



                                     ***
   Cornelia Sollfrank (ed.)
The Beautiful Warriors. Technofeminist Praxis in the Twenty-first
Century, Colchester, New York and Port Watson, Minor
Compositions, 2020, pp. 151

Monika Urban Universität Bremen

    The #MeToo movement has recently broken silence on feminist mat-
ters worldwide. Using mostly social media, the movement has mobilized
hundreds of thousands of people on topics such as sexual harassment and
sexual assault. With reference to their digital practices, we could well as-
sociate the movement with cyberfeminism. This genre of contemporary
feminism emerged in the early 1990s. Focusing on new digital technolo-
106                                                         Tecnoscienza – 11 (1)

gies, activists have developed techno-utopian feminist visions of opportu-
nities through technological innovations, theoretical grounds in the fields
of science and technology studies, and strategic tools for cybertechnical
feminist interventions.
    Thirty years later, the early movement has given rise to technofemi-
nism, which again fosters the rise of feminist technoscience. Coined by
Judy Wajcman (2004), the concept of technofeminism gathers reflections
on the interrelation between technical innovations and specific constitu-
tions of gender (inequalities). Technofeminist elaborate feminist readings
of human-machine interrelations. Therefore activists take up critical dis-
courses and subaltern perspectives as well as developing new theoretical
positions (e.g. in reference to new materialism), responding to today’s
technological state of the art. The recently published anthology, The
Beautiful Warriors. Technofeminist Praxis in the Twenty-first Century,
introduces technofeminist positions on social and aesthetic interventions
against misogynist (technological) settings. This comprehensive volume,
edited by the artist Cornelia Sollfrank, an early cyberfeminist and founder
of the Old Boys Network, selects current technofeminist positions from
the fields of academic theory, political activism and artistic work.
    The volume starts by declaring no less than war against patriarchal
structures, by quoting authors such as Donna Haraway, Gilles Deleuze,
and Adrienne Rich. The preface situates the volume’s warriors, men-
tioned in the title, in struggles against the political economy, with its ex-
ploitative and discriminatory outcome. In this context, Sollfrank enunci-
ates the theme common to the eight assembled articles: the authors’ anal-
ysis of and practices with technologies are inherently bound to economic
and ecological matters. To sum up, all of the authors’ references to tech-
nologies can be regarded as socio-political and aesthetic interventions.
    The anthology can be subdivided into four dominant technofeminist
themes: Hacking, subaltern perspectives, co-creational practices, and
contemporary artistic interventions— even though all four aspects ap-
pear, in one way or another, in all of the contributions.
    Sophie Toupin discusses hacking from a feminist perspective. In her
understanding, hacking is a certain kind of computer programming, stra-
tegically used to interfere with the conditions for oppressive gender con-
stitutions— online and offline. The author demands more accessible en-
try points for future feminist hackers to traditional hackspaces and a
broader awareness of the dynamics of their current exclusion. Isabel de
Sena, on the other hand, understands hacking in a metaphorical sense:
she displays her criticism of the Xenofeminist Manifesto, published in
2014. The Manifesto calls for a new, pro-technology and anti-naturalist
feminism, which draws on transfeminist and queer theory as well as phil-
osophical rationalism. De Sena points out the inconsistencies of the quite
abstract Xenofeminist Manifesto and notes the way the Manifesto runs
counter to some basic feminist principles—as for example in its concept
Book Review                                                              107
of universality, which has a key claim of current feminism, accountability,
at stake. In closing, De Sena links to this idea while calling for a common
struggle for accountability and, along with that, a joint revolutionary pro-
cess.
    The second technofeminist theme is dedicated to the distribution of
subaltern perspectives. Such a feminist position derives from postcolonial
studies and critical theory, which emphasize the needs and demands of
populations that are socially, politically, and geographically outside the
hierarchy of power. In this case, Spideralex‘s contribution gives a voice to
feminist Latin American online activists. These activists are cited for their
interventions against machismo and violence in both online and physical
spaces. Spideralex highlights how digital infrastructures have strength-
ened macho culture and violent living conditions, while giving space to an
openly misogynistic agenda, including the disproportionate proliferation
of hate groups, fanatical religious, and conservative movements. Against
this background, the chapter addresses (cyber)feminists’ self-defense and
the creation of safe spaces, both online and offline. It calls for transform-
ing these material and ideological settings.
    The third major theme is the promotion of co-creational processes.
Femke Snelting reflects, as a form of feminist hacker initiative, the poten-
tial benefits of a regulatory framework in the shape of codes of conduct.
These codes could influence a community’s culture of communication by
promoting diversity and respect while simultaneously preventing harass-
ment and mechanisms of exclusion. She argues that working communally
on a document that enunciates shared values may create a platform for
self-reflection and for learning about discriminatory language and behav-
ior. In a similar fashion, the activist hvale vale reports on a multi-year
process fostered by activists who are members of the Association for Pro-
gressive Communication (APC). During a Feminist Internet event in Ma-
laysia in 2014, a first version of “Feminist Principles of the Internet” was
created. At the same time, the #feministinternet meme surfaced. A co-
created version 2.0 of “Feminist Principles of the Internet”, reprinted in
this anthology, covers topics from the need for open access through pub-
lic participation, alternative economies, and freedom of expression, to
agency for informed decisions. Because the document was co-created,
contributors hope to inspire and support a broader struggle for informa-
tional and sexual self-determination. That means, the right of the individ-
ual to decide what information about oneself is communicated to others
and under what circumstances as well as keeping one's sexual life and
body free from determination by anyone else.
    The fourth theme brings contemporary art activism into focus. The
chapter Viral Performances of Gender by Christina Grammatikopoulou
puts contemporary protest-art phenomena on display. She dedicates her
analysis to social media interventions, which take place either as online
performances or as interrelation of online and offline spaces. Gram-
108                                                              Tecnoscienza – 11 (1)

matikopoulou discusses the work of artists who express feminist issues,
focusing on how they use “virality” and “noise” as communicative strate-
gies. “Virality” denotes a strategy using humorous, catchy, or provocative
content, which also allows for feedback loops between the online image
and offline corporeality. “Noise” denotes a strategy that deploys inter-
cepting and confusing messages until they become progressively less clear
to the readers. By using these strategies, feminism can gain ground, but
the same strategies can also be turned against it. Grammatikopoulou con-
cludes that contemporary feminists need to develop new strategies of vis-
ibility, expressing the hope that those she has introduced might provide
some orientation. In a similar vein, Yvonne Volkart argues on the basis of
her analysis of contemporary works of art. She develops the idea of
Techno-Eco-Queer-Feminism. Therefore, Volkart integrates two conflict-
ing feminist concepts: eco- and technofeminism. Ecofeminism originated
in the ‘70s and postulated a close relationship between women and nature
in contrast to men’s exploitative and oppressive behavior, enabled by
technology. In contrast, in the late seventies, European ecofeminists dis-
tanced themselves from such an essentialist identity and argued from a
social-constructivist perspective on gender. In the nineties, Queer Ecol-
ogist challenged the dichotomies in which nature/technology and gender
stereotypes are formulated. Volkart’s concept of Techno-Eco-Queer-
Feminism integrates these earlier feminist ideas and combines them with
some ideas from “New Materialist” thinkers, as in the “agential realism”
of Karen Barad. For Barad (1988), phenomena emerge through particular
interactions between humans and non-humans, between materiality and
meaning. In Volkart`s account, in recent capitalist societies nature and
technology are entangled, contingent, and interacting phenomena.
    The anthology is interesting to read and accessible to a broad audi-
ence. For STS scholars in particular the compilation brings a compact
overview of current feminist STS debates. The anthology therefore dis-
plays the technological and theoretical enhancements that have occurred
since early cyberfeminism, as well as the alterations in interests and per-
spectives in on- and offline feminism. The assembled authors propose
new ideas of spaces (e.g. the entanglements of the online sphere and ma-
terial environments), they queer dichotomies, refer to the agencies of
things, and elaborate emancipatory cultures of resistance. In doing so, the
authors walk in Haraway’s (1991) footsteps by calling for the reconceptu-
alisation of digital practices and by designing strategies for emancipation.

References
Barad, K. (1998) Getting real: technoscientific practices and the materialization of
       reality, “differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies”, 10 (2), pp.
       87–128.
Haraway, D. (1991) A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist
Book Review                                                             109
        Feminism in the Late Twentieth century, in Haraway, D., Simians, Cy-
        borgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature, New York, Routledge,
        pp. 149-181.
Wajcman, J. (2004) TechnoFeminism, Cambridge, UK, Polity.



                                    ***
   Shoshana Zuboff
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. The Fight for a Human Future: at
The New Frontier of Power, London, Profile Books, 2019, pp. 704

Adrienne Mannov, Astrid Oberborbeck Andersen and
Jaqueline de Godoy Aalborg University

    Authors: Alexa, who is W. H. Auden?

    Alexa:        Winston Hugh Auden was a British American poet.
                  Auden’s poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical
                  achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love,
                  and religion, and its variety in tone, form and content.
                  By the way, you can now ask another question, without
                  having to first say Alexa. Enable this feature by saying
                  turn on follow-up mode.

     It is not customary that books reviewed in an academic STS journal
have been translated into 17 languages only one year after publication.
Shoshana Zuboff’s The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. The Fight for a
Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, published in 2019 by Pro-
file Books, is not a customary book. Zuboff’s story is both personal –
each chapter begins with an excerpt of W.H. Auden’s poetry – and draws
on her work as a scholar of social psychology, but the book is not a scien-
tific publication. For that reason, we approach the book as a quasi-
scholarly work and as an object-phenomenon that exists within the
broader field of contemporary computing and those concerning science,
technology and society. This makes it worth reading for STS scholars for
reasons we will elaborate upon shortly.
     Daily press reviewers have qualified The Age of Surveillance Capital-
ism as “a scaffolding of critical thinking“ (Silverman 2019), offering “in-
depth technical understanding and a broad, humanistic scope” (Bridle
2019) and that Zuboff’s life-work and “merciless analyses peak”(Jakobs
2018) in this publication. But scholars whose areas of expertise are Or-
ganization Studies, STS, Law, and critical journalists have criticized the
