Gendered Typwriting

The Profound Sou nd of Ernest Hemingway's Typist: Gendered Typewriting as a Solution to the Problems of Communication
Kathleen F. McConnell - December 2008 - Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies Vol 5 #4 pp. 325-343 ----There is no online article to access but I receive this journal and thought this article might be helpful for class project---

"As a gendered communication technology, the typpuewriter generated a perception of flawless and faithful transmission of ideas, data, thoughts, and feelings as they flowed from the hands of the typist to the keys onto the page"

"Unlike genealogies of literary genius, the history of the typist consists primarily of anonymous women known only by teh renowned proper nouns of their male employers. The anonymity of typists is due in part to teh perception that they did not work upon texts but merely served as an extension of the typing machine" p. 327

As McConnell notes the typewriter is one of several technologies associated with women that took on the gendered traits of its users -
Michele Martin's discussion of the history of the telephone is quoted, "the relationship between the operator and the machine was dialectical: the operator was becoming more and more of a machine, and the machine was increasingly considered 'feminine' becasue of the indispensable mediation of the operator"

The typewriter contributed to goals of communication technologies that could better serve perfect communicationn - where tech enhances understanding - and good communication promises the transparency of telepathy p.327
----McConnel sees gender not a problem for communication but rather as a solution to the percieved dangers of communication ---the typewriters association with feminity attempted to decrease misunderstandings - yet following McLuhan and Haraway she argues that miscommunication is productive - she says in order to embrace such a view of communication requires investigating gender norms and the ways that they are used to suppress pluralistic communication ----

The typewriter was hard to use, erased authroship and held the potential to change the original authors meaning. People who wanted to use the machine but were unable to type hired female typist.
"In possesing the means of communication, female typists only compounded problems by threatening to dispossess men of their ability to create and control discourse"p.328

"When applied typing technologies, ideals of femininty such as fidelity and devotion contained the potential typing technologies held for upsetting protocols and breaching security measures designed to control access to communication." p.339


"the typewriter generated more work producing and interpeting texts, adn the feminization of typing was a means of managing that industry. To dream of something other than this standardized industry requires re-imaging the function of gender performance within communication practices" p. 340

Bathroom Graffiti - Mark Ferem

Quotes from Bathroom Graffiti by Mark Ferem - a book that came from 'the Latrinalia Project' started in 1994 - Ferem is hoping to, "gain a better understanding of what brings [bathroom graffiti] into being....graffiti says a lot more about us than we realize"

he was inspired by his Grandmothers ritual in which she led the grandkids around the house singing 'ave maria' - his grandmother believed that in honoring the past we remain connected to the present - inspired by Mayan's desire to keep account of time and the mystery within it compelled him to document bathroom graffiti-----

"For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, which we are still just able to endure, and we are so awed because it serenely disdains to annihilate us. Every angel is terrifying - Rainer Maria Rilke-""

"As a form of communication it's not beyond human comprehension that these moments somehow forment a sense of freedom, the inspiration to express their selves without the baggage identity requries...and that might be the beuaty of it, the thoughts and images expressed are more important than who wrote it."Ferem p. 77

"Bathroom graffiti shines an unfiltered light on an anonymous aspect of our world, a signpost of sorts with scattered scrawlings framed only by the borders of the mind"p.15

"From the street artist to the anti-graffiti squads to the latrinalia and the spctators, they all participate in the battle between free speech and censorship. Bathroom graffiti is the mortar that holds the wall together. It's for the people to decide if it's an issue of unity or one of division, to be torn down or maintained"p.16

"Bathroom Graffiti is about acknowledging the existence of these anonymous moments, the authors and artists who found it in themselves to speak out and heave the slings and arrows of societal conditioning. It could be said that the philosophy of bathroom graffiti may not be in the words or images, but in the rebellion the represent...rituals of human condition give us a different perspective of ourselves and preceived social order. These differences connect us to one another and allow us to appreciate the things we have in common" p.17

"Unadulterated and uncensored, it could just be the writing on the wall but it's proof that at least the neurons are still firing, that hte youth are not just pondering today's most popular fruit flavored condom...There are signs of intelligent life wondering about the wizard behind the curtain, acknoledging that something is not quite right with the world and demanding accountability. Bathroom graffiti is just one of the beacons calling attention to a pandemic spirtual disconnect"p. 24

Women's Rest Rooms -

where it was once believed women did not write much in the bathroom - Ferem finds actually more writing in women's rooms -

a latrinalist from Charleston South Carolina writes, "There's a rip in the fabric of reality"

women's bathroom graffiti - "is blunt and to the point - its been a long hard road from Mary Magdalene to Lecretia Mott, from sexism to racism, today, the Guerilla Girls give young women super power potential, and we need all of the super powers we can get"

Austin - Texas
---support your local anarchist mom, i'm raising a revolution!----

"the women of the future world are gathering their thoughts on bathroom walls, not to incite riots, but incite the spirits of the collectively oppressed" p.53

On one wall ---

I feel so alone :-(

Response
Awww We are united by our existential isolation

Unisex Restrooms

unisex bathrooms tend to have more graffiti - without urnials identity is left at the bathroom door-

"The unisex bathrooma s a medium engages the space between men adn women, between laughter and pain and what it means to be human. With the underlying message beign that we use our muse before our muse goes mute. As humanity struggles to find meaning in its existence, our reality becomes more contrived and distorted; it becomes the object of rebellion, the struggle between truth and illusion"p 78