Part X in a continuing series on cyberpunk and how it can fulfil, or deconstruct, oppressive norms.
For the previous parts, see my cyberpunk commentary tag.
But yeah, basically I keep evolving my thoughts on robots/androids/cyborgs/augmentations and how they're portrayed in sci-fi (particularly cyberpunk, which tends to be dystopian about these things for obvious reasons), and how those things can map to and reflect existing fears and prejudices in this world-- or be used to break them down.
One thing that I see a hell of a lot in cyberpunk is that people who choose to augment their bodies, to take on cybernetic implants or some other kind of futuristic modification, are frequently seen as "less human" and demonised. People fear the invasion of these technopeople, these cyborgs, into their lives. They fear that they may be stronger than them, or able to do things they can't, and so may shake up their world in new and unexpected ways. And often, they're just afraid of them because they're "not normal"-- because "no one should want to" alter their body like that, because they're becoming "inhuman freaks", because there's something "fake" about living your life with assistive technology.
Does this remind you of anything? No? Can you say ableism, the routine shunning and even assault of people who use assistive devices in their everyday lives? Can you say transphobia, the routine shunning and even assault (I shouldn't need a link for this one) of people who alter their bodies in ways that make them comfortable but that society often decides that "no one should want to" do?
Yes, not all disabled people use assistive tech and not all trans* people transition or want to. But there's still a very clear parallel here between cyborgs and those who do. The desire for a "pure", "natural" human body that hasn't been "mutilated" or "distorted" runs through both ableism/transphobia and a lot of cyborg fiction-- even though our idea of what is "pure" and "natural" is socially constructed. Is an intersex person who was forcibly surgically altered at birth to conform to normative standards of appearance "natural"? Is someone who possesses scars from a vehicle accident a "distorted freak"?
We've socially constructed the idea that body alterations are "freakish", but what if we constructed them a different way? What if we saw them as empowering? If we're going to create an empowered cyberpunk, we absolutely need to include the idea that having control over your body, about how you use it and alter it, is not evil. It's life-changing, but those changes can be deeply positive things.
I want to see cyberpunk stories where people make mods to their bodies for pleasure and enjoy it. I want to see cyberpunk where people alter their appearance, their gender presentation, their genitalia on a daily basis and this is seen as a good thing, something positive that the sci-fi future can do for us. I want to see cyberpunk where those with altered bodies may be shunned, but that shunning is categorically framed as bigoted and offensive. I want to see cyberpunk where it's okay to never want to leave the Matrix, because you feel more like yourself there.
And yes, you can have all of that and dystopia too. Instead of body mods being inherently creepy, what about a world where body mods are awesome but a virus is engineered to force them to leak information about your sexual history back to the government? What about a world where only the elite get to modify and a bunch of grungy underground hackers are working to make that shit open-source and accessible, while constantly living in fear that they'll be carted off to forced labour camps? What about a world where megacorps want to monetize and take over the virtual world where everyone currently expresses themselves freely? What about a government that tries to enforce binary genitalia on a population who's become used to having options?
What about cyberpunk that actually breaks down boundaries?
