Postmodern Utopias and Feminist Fictions by Jennifer A. Wagner-Lawlor (review) (original) (raw)

Utopian Studies, 2016

Abstract

124 For instance, in his discussion of the historical marginalization of women and “Others,” Steele writes that a patriarchal history neglected “women and their potential.” This does not progress to a sophisticated account, though, of female equality. Steele believes, very loosely citing through gesturing as a whole to Carol Gilligan et al.’s (1990) book on how the sexes speak of justice, that there is a “nuanced feminine instinct for compassion versus the male inclination to focus on black-and-white ‘justice’” (103). Steele does not, though, ascribe any value to women here other than their compassion. Overall, Steele’s manifesto for technoliberation was most interesting for me as a representative of the utopian genre. The positivist pathology that afflicts the work is reminiscent of other technological-fetishist discourses that were historically shown to lead to disaster (futurism, for example). While Steele may encourage a world in which all is open, however, I cannot but recommend to readers that they leave this book closed.

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