Gender and Technology: Week 1: To Enthusiastic Beginnings

Recently, two of my friends (J and D) and I decided to start doing a course on Gender and Technology. We pick up readings for each week and then get together and discuss them. This is me turning this learning course into a blog opportunity.

Gender and Technology: Week 1

To Enthusiastic Beginnings

Around a few weeks back, J suggested we should do a course together. D responded enthusiastically, and I just shrugged, thinking, why not. And so began a series of decisions, which D automatically (and thankfully) took the lead on.

The first question was - what course do we do? Although all three of us have our common education background, our specific interests within that have been varied. However, there was one course in college that all of us elected to do (technically, I audited because my course load was full), and that was on Gender. It’s a topic all three of us were extremely passionate about, and continue to be even today. So when D suggested a course listed on MIT on ‘Gender and Technology’, we all jumped on board.

The course itself is I think an old one, but the site has a list of the course readings for each week. So we decided to pick up one paper a week, do our own reading, and get together every week to discuss the paper. Sort of like a self-led learning program. So D shared some of the readings and told us which one to read for the first week.

Finally, the last decision to be made was - when do we speak? It might seem like a minor task, but with one of us in India, another in Singapore, and a third in California, this was no small feat. After some back and forth, we were able to find a slot in the weekend that worked for all of us (it helps that J is only available during her night, which coincides with my morning: my most productive time).

So, armed with all these decisions, we kick-started our course. Enthusiastic, I opened up the paper to be read a few days ago. And just like that, my enthusiasm flushed away. I couldn’t understand anything in the paper. It was full of so much academic jargon that 80% of it went over my head (this, after I read each sentence 3 times). I might have spent more time complaining about the paper on our whatsapp group than actually reading it (it stirred up memories of similar issues i had back in college, and arguments with a professor on this that went over several weeks - a story for another time).

In any case, I read that paper. I highlighted sections (that I could understand and which made sense). In true college tradition, I also forgot everything I read a few minutes after reading it. On the other end, J hadn’t really complained much about the paper, and D had mentioned something about it once. So I was really curious to see if they had actually understood it. 

At first go, it seemed like J certainly had. She had a full page of hand-written notes, true to her first bencher college persona. I blurted out straight away on our call that I hadn’t understood this paper. D agreed. J just looked impassively.

We decided to begin by just sharing summaries of the paper, and then take the discussion forward. Before J could launch into her page-long summary, I decided to begin - mainly to show how little I had actually understood. In what might have been a 30 second summary, I blurted out the overview as I had understood it. D nodded. 

Then there was silence.

Finally, J said slowly, “Uh guys, I think I might have read the wrong paper.” 

It was as true a face-palm moment as any.

I suppose the silver lining here was that at least all of us had done our reading before coming to this call; the minor downside is that J had happened to do a different reading than us. (She had picked up the first paper that D shared, and missed the message saying which paper we had to begin with. And then also spent the last few days wondering why I was complaining and building memes about a paper that she had felt was quite straightforward).

Well, we had a good laugh, and then proceeded to share our own understanding of the papers we had read (which, understandably, was fairly short for D and me). 

We also used that time to decide on certain guidelines for the course going forward. So far, we only managed to add one point: Read the correct paper. 

So, what with all the confusion with the reading, and trying to figure out how to take notes together, and how to really go about the rest of the course, with some tidbits of actual learning, this was as real a first week class as any before.

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Insights / Takeaways / Food for Thought

Some early insights from the readings (direct or paraphrased):

• There exist many prevalent stereotypes about ‘women’ and ‘technology’, which often reflects in how men and women talk about their own aptitude with technology. Technology has largely been seen as the domain of men.

• The marketing of technologies often taps into existing beliefs that we have about the different desires of men and women. For example, cars are marketed to men as ‘powerful’ and to women as ‘reliable’.

• Technology has led to the promotion of two different definitions of masculinity: one, based on toughness and practical skills (like a mechanic), and the other on intellectual ability (like the software designer).

• “An electric iron is not technology when a woman is pressing clothes, but it becomes technology when her husband mends it.”

• In the 1970s, computers were thought of as ‘information technologies’ and associated with men; it was assumed that women would have problems with them. By the 1990s, computers were seen as ‘communication technologies’; and assumed that women could now engage with them enthusiastically.

• Many of us believe that the advancement of household technology made the lives of women easier; however, in some ways it only managed to “raise cultural standards of cleanliness”, instead of actually “freeing women from domestic drudgery”.

Source: Bray, Francesca. "Gender and Technology." Annual Reviews Anthropology 36 (2007): 37–53.

Appendix:

With all due respect to the author, sharing a sample of the paper we had to read, followed by the meme it inspired.

The author

Me

Bollywood Movies I "Almost" Loved

In the last few years, there have been some amazing Bollywood movies that have been made. The stories being told are challenging the status quo, breaking barriers, opening dialogues, and bringing in the much needed merging of mainstream and parallel cinema.

However, as the quality of these movies increases, so does my expectation from them. If a film presents itself as 'woke', then I almost expect this...wokeness to permeate across barriers. I don't know if that's an unfair expectation, but I did feel it was worth calling out. 

So, I decided to write about a few films, that in my opinion, were 'almost' woke. The purpose is not to put down these films (all of which, I really like), but to just bring to attention that while trying to speak for a particular segment of society, sometimes it's easy to inadvertently put another group down, and that's something to watch out for.

1. Dil Dhadakne Do

Okay, so I know this movie elicits mixed reactions. But I really liked the film (barring the whole jumping off the ship ending). It showed a hypocrisy of Indian society that I could relate with all too well, and the underlying 'Log Kya Kahenge' phenomenon that has destroyed countless lives. It has some of my all-time favourite movie scenes (Farhan Akhtar's monologue on feminism, the look on Anil Kapoor's face as the anguished father torn between societal expectations and wanting to protect his child, and the final family showdown). 

But while the movie did so well in trying to question stereotypes and social expectations, there was one scene where it really fell short. It's right after Priyanka Chopra's character tells Rahul Bose that she wants a divorce. The very next scene shows his character at his mother's door, in tears. 

On its own, these scene doesn't sound bad. But watch it in an Indian theatre, and what you get from the crowd is laughter. Laughter at this man who is 'crying like a girl'. Maybe the problem was with the audience, but I have to give some of that responsibility to the makers, who could have portrayed the scene differently, and not caricaturized a man who's distraught and genuinely upset. If we're giving lectures on feminism, maybe let's extend the courtesy across all genders?

2. Chak De India

Being one of the early ones in the sports films genre, Chak De India managed to pave a way for sports dramas that were commercial successes as it got the audience cheering for the underdog team. It brought into focus not just hockey, a sport that's been largely overlooked in India, but also women's hockey, which probably many of us didn't even realize was a thing. Added on to that was the character of Shah Rukh Khan, a much more relatable character than all his stereotypical arm raising ones. With all these elements, the film definitely managed to deliver on the emotions and the excitement, while pointing out the discrimination faced by women in sports. 

But in the midst of uplifting women and trying to emphasize equality between the sexes, it also managed to include one scene that made me extremely uncomfortable. When the women are fighting off the men in the restaurant, the character of Shah Rukh Khan pins a man to the wall, berating him for trying to attack from the back. He then says, "Woh kya hai na, hamari hockey mein chakke nahin hote" [You see, we don't have eunuchs in hockey]. 

I cringe every time I see that scene. Sure, he wanted to insult the man, and maybe that was warranted, but why promote the insult of an entire community of trans people already facing so much discrimination and ostracization in society? Especially in a film that trying to raise awareness of discrimination on the basis of gender.

3. Fashion

Again, this was a movie that was both commercially and critically successful, with an amazing performance by Priyanka Chopra and the supporting cast. Her struggle, rise, subsequent fall and the attempt to rise again as a fashion model was shown with great mix of rawness and allure. It showed a female protagonist, fairly rare in commercial Bollywood cinema at the time, and portrayed all her shades unabashedly: her best and her worst.

But again, there was one scene that I felt was unwarranted. When Chopra's character begins to crash, we get flashes of her fall towards rock bottom: alcoholism, drugs, parties and mindless sex. In fact, the incident that makes her realize just how messed up she'd gotten is when she wakes up in a strange room, without clothes, lying next to a black man she doesn't know. Horrified, she leaves and begins to unravel.

On its own, the scene itself is fine. But the part that irks me is - why is it that the only scene in the movie where there's a black man, is one that's used to symbolize degradation and horror? Would it not have conveyed the point if he was any other random guy? Do we not have enough racism in this world without having to subtly throw it in here? For a film trying to break boundaries with gender stereotypes, why fall prey to such racist pettiness?

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So there's the top 3 in my list that stand out. Again, these movies stand out to me not because they have these moments of discrimination across different spectra. Let's be fair - Bollywood movies are filled with them. These movies stood out to me because they attempted to be better, and the attempts were rather good, if not for these scenes.

One Step at a Time

Around a year ago, I started using a Fitbit watch. After having spent months giving amused looks to other friends and colleagues who would constantly track their steps, I finally gave in. I had been sinking deeper and deeper into a sedentary lifestyle, so when someone happened to give a Fitbit to me, I thought, ‘Why not?’

So it was that I joined that group of strange people that constantly looked at their watches to track, not time, but steps, and often began conversations with fellow Fitbit companions that started with, “How many are you at?” (Once, on a holiday, my uncle and I, the only two Fitbit-ers in the group, would wind up walking at night before re-entering the house, to ensure we got our 10,000 steps).

Needless to say, it worked. I began forcing myself to not skip the daily walks that had lately become so easy to let go of. I’d force myself to take that extra round if it meant I could hit my daily goal. I could proudly say that at least on most of the days for over a six-month period, I managed to reach the daily goal of 10,000 steps.

But there was a caveat. While I was putting all my focus on this one goal of walking 10,000 steps a day, there was another that I was conveniently ignoring. It was the goal of ‘walking 250 steps every hour’ (which, in my case, I had set as 6am to 8pm). In fairness, though it might sound like a lot, it actually isn’t. It basically means ensuring that you walk for about 3-4 minutes every hour, which also aligns with the productivity and health advice given to most of us who spend our days sitting in front of a computer. 

But like I said, I didn’t really pay much attention to this.

As my morning walks became morning runs, and the distance increased, I realized I was covering 60-70% of my daily steps within the first hour that I woke up. Anything that remained, could usually be covered with an evening walk. This meant that in order to hit the 10,000 step goal, I didn’t really need to do anything else apart from the morning and evening workouts. 

Why was this a problem? Because while I was definitely building some good fitness habits of morning and evening workouts, I was spending the rest of my day doing the complete opposite. As my mom often pointed out, I’d spend the rest of the day sitting on my butt like a lazy lump. ‘Get up and move!’ was her constant advice, to which I would solemnly nod and then conveniently ignore. 

After all, I was hitting my daily step goal. That ought to be enough.

So imagine my shock when I heard a fitness trainer mention in passing that we should all try to get 10,000 steps daily - excluding the time spent in workouts. Say what?! Excluding that time?! Those workouts were the things entirely responsible for my 10,000 steps! What was I supposed to do, just put my life on hold and keep walking all day? 

I didn’t imagine that a few months later I’d be looking back at the old me and saying, ‘Hell yea!’

It so happened, that a few months back, I had some health issues that resulted in me not being able to exercise at all. After a few weeks of mostly bed rest, my condition slowly improved. However, running and workouts were still out of the question. So the only option I had was walking. But even that was limited. I couldn’t go and do 30-40 minute walks like I used to. A few minutes of slow walking was all I could manage at a stretch.

So that’s what I did. 

I started to walk. For one minute, two minutes, five minutes. Then stop, and some time later, repeat. Every chance I got, I tried to get a few steps in. In the morning, during the day, late in the evening, during work meetings (thanks to wireless earphones). When my parents sat down for their evening tea, I’d walk up and down the hall as we chatted. I knew I couldn’t do the long walks, so I made it a point to do as many short walks as I could. I figured this was the only way I could try to build up my stamina and stay a little active until I was able to return to my former ‘active self’.

And that’s when I remembered this little feature in the Fitbit app that I had earlier conveniently ignored - the goal of walking 250 steps every hour. I decided to try that out, and make that my focus. Every day, I'd check how many hours I had managed to stay active. Soon, I consciously began to try and walk every hour. Before long, my parents, who were initially thrown off, got used to seeing me randomly get up and begin to walk. I knew I couldn’t hit the daily 10,000 step goal, but I could definitely aim to hit the daily 14 active hours goal! And before I knew it, I did! Several times! And the high from that was just as exciting as the 10,000 step goal used to be.

But in a way, it was even better. You see, while trying to hit this goal, I was inadvertently also starting to hit the daily 10,000 steps goal: without walking for more than 10 minutes at a time, and without a step of running. Because now that I was starting to ensure I’d walk every hour, I wasn’t stopping at the 250 steps. I’d just continue to walk, in those short bursts, however much I could and felt like in that moment. And I wasn’t just walking in the morning or evening - it was throughout the day! I’d keep an eye out for the time, and ensure I paused my work every hour (as much as possible) to do a quick 5-10 minute walk. 

Why was I able to do this? 

I recently read the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, in which he mentions a few ways that help develop habits, and I can see a few of them playing out here.

First, building this habit of regularly walking throughout the day was much easier than the previous habits. Walking was...easy. At least, walking for 10 minutes was. It was easier than walking for 30 minutes. It was definitely easier than running. And I could do it at any time - I didn’t need to change my clothes or put on sneakers and go down. I could begin as and where I was, right here at home. 

Second, more than a goal, this was a habit about process. Clear mentions that building good habits is not so much about the goals you set, but rather, the systems that you develop. When I was focusing on the 10,000 step goal, I’d ensure I walked enough to hit that goal, but I didn’t necessarily try to go beyond it. The moment I reached the goal, I subconsciously gave myself permission to laze away for the rest of the day. But with this new goal of walking 250 steps a day, I had to keep myself moving. It became a system more than a goal. Once I began to walk regularly, that just became part of the habit. Sure, some days I met that goal, and some days I didn’t, but it’s put in place a system in my life that ensures I keep myself moving regardless.

And finally, Clear mentions that developing a habit is more about developing an identity - about seeing yourself as a certain kind of person. I don’t know if ‘walker’ is actually an identity, but I find myself associating with it more and more, and constantly fulfilling and building the urge to be a more active person. It feels less about the habit, and more about the kind of person I want to be.

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Over the last few weeks, my stamina has built up. I’m able to do my morning walk (though running is still not an option). My pace is also increasing, and so are my steps. And I’m actually going way past my daily step goal almost every day, far more than when I did my fixed morning and evening workouts. In fact, yesterday, I managed to hit 20,000 steps, an absolute first! 

And the best part? 

That I know this isn’t the best. Hopefully, at some point down the line, I’ll be able to restart running and exercising. And I can’t wait to see the number of steps I can manage then! Hopefully, the next time around, the 7000 steps that I clock in by 7am will not signal the end of my 'active time', but rather the beginning of it.