Technological Determinism and Feminism in Aldous Huxley's Essays, Brave New World, and Island
Date
2008-08
Authors
Douglas-McMahon, Sukyi E.
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Abstract
The last two decades have marked significant change for feminists, especially in the mode of their interaction, as they have adjusted their activism to keep with rapid technological developments on the cusp of the twenty-first century. As they have established an international community with the help of advanced communication technology, their focus now encompasses transnational issues and problems that hamper the liberation of the individual. Indeed, they have found support and contributions from the most unlikely and unexpected places, namely in the literature and scholarship of male feminists.
This study asserts that Aldous Huxley, a long-presumed misogynist in the minds of past and contemporary feminists, was quite contrarily aligned with present-day standards of feminism, as reflected in his Hindu spirituality, perceivable in his unorthodox views of mainstream culture, and projected into his essays and writings. Thus, the goal of the following thesis is to induct Huxley as a transnational feminist, to credit his works as praiseworthy additions to the growing library of transnational feminist literature, and to add to the history of cooperation between genders in attaining the liberation of the individual. By doing so, Huxley’s ideas, namely on technological determinism, have the potential to lead transnational feminism, and, in turn, the interconnected techno-culture, in a completely new and humane direction.
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Keywords
Technological, Determinism, Huxley, Aldous, Brave New World, Feminism, Transnational, Island
Citation
Douglas-McMahon, S. E. (2008). <i>Technological determinism and feminism in Aldous Huxley's essays, Brave New World, and Island</i> (Unpublished thesis). Texas State University-San Marcos, San Marcos, Texas.