Abstract

The main purpose of this thesis is to tread through the sometimes murky waters of cybercultural feminist theory in hope of clarifying the current status of the World Wide Web as an art medium, and its suitability as a vehicle for the expression of contemporary feminist concerns. I have divided this paper into four chapters. The first is a brief revision of the history of communication and computer technology, aimed at revealing the extent of women's exclusion from recorded historical accounts. The second chapter delves into current cybercultural theory dealing with central topics such as: disembodiment, the changing status of the postmodern subject in relation to gender theory, the reconciliation of gender with sexual difference theory, and the gender implications of hegemonic organization of the real vs. virtual experience. These themes are examined in the hope of illuminating some of the political motivations behind cyberfeminist visual culture. The final two chapters of my thesis consist of two case studies: the first focuses on the theoretical writings and work of contemporary web artist Mary Flanagan while the second deals with the web component of this interdisciplinary M.A., available at: http://pastiched.com.