GENDERED CONTROVERSIES

Love and sex have long been studied as historical constructs that are traversed by social, political, and economic systems. In this course, we will supplement those dimensions with the often-overlooked lens of technological mediation. Starting from the premise that romantic love is deeply shaped by the affordances of the technology of the time, a critical awareness of technological mediation in romance –especially of digital technologies, i.e. online dating, social media, or cybersex— will afford us an understanding of how social categories such as gender, race, class, ability, and sexuality are shaped by technologies and in turn govern social and cultural perceptions of love, dating, and sex. 

Sandra Moyano-Ariza is Term Assistant Professor of WGSS and Research Director at BCRW. Her research works at the intersection of culture, philosophy, and digital technologies, with interests in the fields of media studies and digital scholarship, contemporary feminist theory, critical race theory, posthumanism, and affect theory.