Technology and Women

A critical analysis of the article “Technology and Gender in Aldous Huxley’s Alternative Worlds by June Deery.

This paper reviews an article by June Deery, which focuses on how Aldous Huxley presents technology, especially how it impacts on the social body as a whole and women in particular. The paper discusses the author’s opinion that what is NOT said in the article about the position of women, speaks volumes on Huxley’s view of women.
The focus of Brave New World, as Deery states, is how changes in technology will impact on society. Huxley presents his views by describing a society that is based exclusively on technology. Birth, sex, raising children, and every other component of society is reduced to a technological focus. In presenting the society, all these technological innovations are commented on with the fault in the system being seen. This is achieved because Huxley takes the technology to the extreme. The fault in presenting women that Deery argues is based on comparing Huxley’s treatment of technology to the treatment of women. As the author argues, while the technology-based society is commented upon by Huxley, the role of women in the society is not. By not commenting or questioning the role of women, Huxley is in fact saying that the treatment of women is acceptable. The problem in this thinking is related back to the purpose of the work. Huxley intended to focus on technology as part of society. To achieve this he took current society as it was and applied technology to it. Thus, maintaining women in their role may not be a comment on the future of women, but simply a reflection of their current place. The purpose of Huxley’s work was not to focus on gender issues and this explains why they have not been commented upon.”