Prompt 9

I think that the most interesting and provactive body we are exposed to in Neuromancer is Molly. It is a female body of both feminine sex appeal along with masculine attributes. Most other women in the book are "whores," however, Molly differs from this normative view of the female body. She is a tough working girl who can defend herself. She wears mostly black, masculine clothing with black boots. Both her mirrored eyes and the blades in her nails are body modifications that defend her and help make her stronger. For Molly, using the body as a way to get what you want and transcend normal limits is why body modification is important. Her mirrored eyes keep you from getting to see her emotion and getting inside her, which would make her more vulnerable to another. The blades are purely an alteration to her body to be a defense mechanism. She looks at the body as a way to gain power. Which is opposite of the way Case looks at the body. He looks at it as "meat." I think that since we do not have cyberspace in our world, we look at the body more like Molly does, as a way to empower oneself. Technology has a productive relationship with Molly's body. This is different from most bodies we've encountered in class so far. Most have used technology to modify one's body for a personal meaning or because it is a trend. Molly's is productive; it actually does something.

Prompt 7

I think that mainstream body modifications are subject to the same arguments Pitt makes just as much as radical body modifications. Any modification has intersubjective meaning, as Pitt describes it. It has the meaning behind why the person does it to themselves, and it is "read" by society and then defined by other individuals. There are political implications surrounding the normative body modifications because they are still making a statement to society whether it is accpeted as mainstream or not. When a person works out and eats healty in aims of staying thin, they are still judged by society for doing so. They are making the argument that they care about their body image and they want to fit a normative view of what the body should look like. One may argue that someone who does not make an effort to be thin and lets themselves be overweight is doing so to counter normative standards just like someone who radically modifies their bodies. Yet their are also people who simply do not fit into normative standards. This creates radical, and very political, ways in which people try to modify their bodies to fit these standards. Things like diet pills, stomach stapling, plastic and cosmetic surgery, hair dye, and tanning beds, can all be taken to radical levels and have extremely taboo context. This refers back to the idea that "natural" is beautiful. People are just as much judged for taking part in normative body modification because that means that they are not naturally beautiful. So I think all the things I listed as "mainstream" body modifications, with maybe the exception of exercise to stay thin, are not promoted but are more accepted because they are ways in which to fit the normative view of beauty.