Deformities, Beautiful Bodies and Product Placement in “The Girl Who Was Plugged In” by James Tiptree Jr.

James Tiptree Jr. (spoiler alert!) is actually the pseudonym for Alice Sheldon, who in her cyberpunk short stories like “The Girl Who Was Plugged In”, addresses gender issues head on. The short story is snarky, crazy, fast-paced, and explicit in its criticism of rigid gender roles and clearly outlines the inevitable tragedies that result from it. In this episode, we talk about what it means to be a woman as a political entity, how beauty and ugliness are defined, and how technology mediates these processes.

Read The Girl Who Was Plugged In (free): here  

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