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There were two thoughts that immediately came to mind. First, I was captured by the imagery of being able to, finally, escape from the "master narratives" that have shaped our Western civilization. It is my sincere belief that, in the soul of each woman, there is a recognition of the impact of the edicts we have been issued, whether it takes the forms of patriarchal strongmen of the Judaeo-Christian faith, Freud's misshapen monsters of the Id, or the conglomerate artistic images that are the inheritance of all vulnerable peoples in all areas of the world. Secondly,
I was immediately fascinated with the term "cyborg." For all the mental strainings when we are inundated in the commercial mix geared toward children, I realized that there must be more to this than "Power Rangers." A third, very faint, voice reached out and snagged me. It seemed that something that could "straddle the boundaries between genders" and combine the "aspects of humans and machines," could perhaps provide a medium for one of my first loves: the study and archiving of religion, art and ways of the Native American. In my heart, I knew that the two independent studies I had embarked upon would come together. The very term "hybrid," after all, means combining the best of two subjects.

Discussing these issues with class peers led to some interesting thoughts. I quickly found that the New Feminist Criticism account had, for many, "left them cold." After ten serious and intense years in the world of the PC and Macintosh, and after many years of teaching various subjects concerning computer software, I am familiar with the rant of many. The computer is too cold, too impersonal, they cry. I can't do it, rave some. I WON'T do it, cry others. Coming from a staunchly ANTI-computer background, how well I've understood the resistance of others! It was, after all, a "once-upon-a-time" fleeting moment in time, in October of 1987, that changed me from an attitude of HATING all things-computer, to -- well, one of the Geeks. It took about 20 minutes on a Macintosh computer, in a paint program, to allow me to see how this mess of steel, plastic and electronics was perhaps the BEST art tool I had ever encountered. In that instant, the computer became -- AN EXTENSION OF MYSELF.

The remainder of this paper is given over to my reactions and beliefs concerning the theoretical CYBORG and all of its implications, both historical, for the present, and the cycling process into the future. There have been many arenas of thought, as I've researched this topic. In that same vein, I have never been able to give up the topic of women Native American artists, either. This was not because I didn't try to. Ironically, in my search for "cyborg" -- I kept coming into contact with what I've come to term "the indigenous cyborg." We are all, indeed, CYBORGS.

The next logical step for me was to start pondering why many people -- yes, more females than males -- are so intimidated, even scared, by the world of high technology. Haraway defines many of these situations in her writings. She goes even farther, stating that many people see the "cyborg" as an enemy:

"There are several consequences to taking seriously the imagery of cyborgs as other than our enemies. Our bodies, ourselves; bodies are maps of power and identity. Cyborgs are no exception. A cyborg body is not innocent; it was not born in a garden; it does not seek unitary identity and so generate antagonistic dualisms without end (or until the world ends); it takes irony for granted . . . The machine is us, our processes, an aspect of our embodiment. We can be responsible for machines; they do not dominate or threaten us. We are responsible for boundaries; we are they. Up till now (once upon a time), female embodiment seemed to be given, organic, necessary; and female embodiment seemed to mean skill in mothering and its metaphoric extensions. Only by being out of place could we take intense pleasure in machines, and then with excuses that this was organic activity after all,
appropriate to females
(Landow 1997, http://twine.stg.brown.edu/ projects/hypertext/landow/cpace/cyborg/ advant.html)."

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Only when we understand that "our place," -- given to us, force-fed to us, is that the female embodiment is one of mothering, nurturing, being vulnerable -- can we also start to see that "our bodies, ourselves" are not strong enough, MALE enough (or so we have been led to think) to deal with the cybernetic, technical world around us. Therein lies the intimidation factor. Haraway points out that by allowing ourselves, or forcing ourselves "out of place," we can take "intense pleasure in machines." I will add to this, that my experience has been that women then do it (computer-world things) BETTER than our male counterparts. It is essential that we, as women, start believing that OUR bodies are maps of power and identity, and our machines are extensions . . . tools.

This same passage by Tamblyn gives such an excellent sample for our consideration. "If nature and culture are reconfigured, one need no longer serve as the resource for the appropriation of the other. Although
"... HER SIGNAL ... [digital art by Marjorie Franklin, who uses computer digitizing to transform her own image into a cyborg facsimile] concludes with the consolidation of the two voices [human, computer], they never fuse; rather, they retain their difference. Thus, the tape configures a model for the complementary interdependence of humans and machines that does not entail a struggle for totalitarian dominance (Freuh and Touchette 1993, 301)."