TECH IN WOMEN

(2018–ongoing)

Tech in Women is a research project named as a playful response to popular discourse on “women in tech.” It consists of a curated collection of devices, scholarly research and writing, and associated creative works. The project centers on technologies designed for women’s bodies, beginning with reproductive and menstrual devices and particularly focused on the recent proliferation of networked and wearable devices like vaginal exercisers and speakers for playing music to fetuses. Surveying the history of these technologies and highlighting their embedded politics, the project  demonstrates the vulnerabilities they expose, particularly for BIPOC and other marginalized women, including disease, maternal pressures, and data privacy threats.

The project’s first work is Music for Eggs.

Current devices in the collection include: 
  • Babypod — intravaginal speaker for gestating fetuses
  • Elvie — smart pelvic floor muscle exerciser
  • Livia — abdominal electrical nerve stimulator for menstrual cramps
  • Essure — nonsurgical female sterilization device
  • Wusic — womb heartbeat monitor
  • Mirena — hormonal contraceptive intrauterine device
  • Skyla — hormonal contraceptive intrauterine device
  • ParaGard — copper contraceptive intrauterine device
  • NuvaRing — hormonal contraceptive vaginal insert
  • Implanon — hormonal contraceptive implant
  • Bellybuds — abdominal speaker for gestating fetuses