A Toy for the Boys Only
Reconsidering the Gender Effects of Video Technology
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11486209 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Heikki Hellman (0000-0003-1371-1269, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1996 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 5-32 |
| Publication date | 1996-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of Communication (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0267-3231 • E-ISSN: 1460-3705 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0267323196011001001 |
| OpenAlex | W2078960700 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 30 |
Discussing the gendering of technology, the article concentrates on one specific domestic technology, which is often considered as `male' dominated, the video cassette recorder (VCR). Comparing and elaborating research results from different countries, the article suggests that (1) the picture of the VCR as a masculine technology, purported in recent British studies in particular, is not necessarily valid for countries with less strict gender patterns and (2) gender structures, which existed in the early stages of the VCR diffusion, have been gradually eroded. It supports earlier research in which new information technologies, at least in their initial stage of development, were found to follow the gender structure quite sharply: they are `toys for the boys'. However, technology is considered here as a social process that involves negotiations. Specific technologies find their final shape only in their actual use, and this explains why it is possible for the VCR to be turned towards the service of women's individual and interactional needs
Business · Negotiation · Process (computing · Service (business · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · Cultural Industries and Urban Development · Digital Games and Media · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Psychology · Marketing
Machinery of dominance
Boxed in
Feminism Confronts Technology
Bringing technology home
Economic Concentration in the Videocassette Industry
Social and Cultural Aspects of Vcr Use
The Second Self
Television, Audiences and Cultural Studies
The Social Construction of Facts and Artefacts
The case of Elletel
The gendered use of the telephone
I'm ashamed to admit it but I have watched Dallas
Trapped in electronic cages? Gender and new information technologies in the public and private domain
Feminist theory and information technology
Touch Someone
The VCR Age
Satellite TV as cultural sign
Inside Family Viewing
VCR use and the concept of audience activity
When Old Technologies Were New
Public service television and the tendency towards convergence
More Work For Mother
The Machinery of Dominance
L'objet biographique
Social Studies of Science
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,14 |
| Citation span | 2004 - 2022 (19) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |