Essay: Zoe Sofia, ‘Container Technologies’ in Hypatia Vol. 15, No. 2, Spring 2000, pp. 181-200.

In the essay “Container Technologies”  Sofia Zoe looks at different types of container technologies surrounding her in her own domestic life world and analyses the interpretation of containment and containers. She looks at the traditional western notion of space as passive, unintelligent and feminine. “Feminine” relating to the female womb containing a child for nine months.

Sofia Zoe focuses our attention on contemporary technological tool-utensils and machine-container hybrids in everyday life that are spread all around us saying that we need to look at them as potentially feminine instead of writing all technology off as masculine. This without labeling them good or bad.

I find that Sofia Zoe makes an interesting point. Technical objects are often associated with men; traditionally men are seen as “technical”. However I can’t say I agree with the fact that the technique itself is masculine. I’ve often found that at least men refer to the technique as feminine especially when it comes to their “darlings” and that would be motorcycles, cars, boats etc. And to say that only the woman is a container (the womb) is misleading, the men also carry a container of sperm.

 

Sofia Wollert Olsson

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