Everyday Cyborgs: Men with Implanted / Transplanted Hair (and its Eigensinn)
EASST/4S Prague 2020 Virtual Meeting, 18-21 August 2020
with Melike Şahinol
easst4s2020prague.org︎︎︎
ABSTRACT
In recent years techno-medical reconfigurations of men’s bodies, an example to which are interventions in balding due to aging,1 has medicalized men’s bodies and thus masculinities A reason for this is that cosmetic surgery has become not only more accessible2 but also more popular among men with hair transplantations/implantations being one of the most chosen cosmetic surgical procedures by men.3 Extending the focus on ‘body companion technology’ from the concrete technologies implanted into/on the body/ies, towards including emerging biotechnical entities, such as (synthetic) hair and its implantation/transplantation processes, this research focuses on men’s bodies and their materialization as ‘everyday cyborgs’ through hair implantation/transplantation procedures. Concentrating on men undergoing such procedures in clinics in Turkey and Iran, we argue that these procedures could be regarded as empowerment of vulnerable subjects for they enable self-actualization. As these procedures are embedded in a web of biopolitical currents (i.e. economy, professional settings, etc.), consolidation of gender differences through the reproduction of a particular type of masculinity could be underway. Considering the self-will (Eigensinn) of the bios, and thus hair, our complementary to the body companion technology concept helps to see hair as biotechnical entity, with the agency to reject its new territory, requiring ongoing care on part of the patient’s body. Thus, this research conceptualizes the techno-medical (re)locations of hair in men’s bodies within a “socio-bio-technical framework”4 and scrutinizes how and the ways in which these ‘everyday cyborg’ bodies deal with emergent vulnerabilities.
REFERENCES
- Syzmczak, Julia E., and Peter Conrad. 2006. "Medicalizing the Aging Male Body: Andropause and Baldness." In Medicalized Masculinities, edited by Dana Rosenfeld and Christopher A. Faircloth. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
- Edmonds, Alexander. 2009. "Learning to love yourself: esthetics, health, and therapeutics in Brazilian plastic surgery." Ethnos74 (4):465-489.
- American Society of Plastic Surgeons. 2019. 2018 Plastic Surgery Statistics Report
- Şahinol, Melike. 2016. Das techno-zerebrale Subjekt: Zur Symbiose von Mensch und Maschine in den Neurowissenschaften, Technik - Körper - Gesellschaft. Bielefeld: transcript.
PANEL INFORMATION
PANEL ABSTRACT
Title: Techniques of Resilience. Coping with the Vulnerabilities of Hybrid Bodies.
Organiser: Nelly Oudshoorn, Mw.
Categories: Genetics, Genomics, Biotechnology
PANEL ABSTRACT
In recent years we have seen the introduction of more and more technologies that operate under the surface of the body. These ‘body companion technologies’ (Oudshoorn 2020) not only do what they are supposed to do, but simultaneously transform the fragility of bodies by introducing new vulnerabilities. Living with a technologically reconfigured body therefore requires a life-long trajectory of building resilience. Adopting the perspective that vulnerability and resilience is constituted and achieved in a complex interplay with the materiality of bodies, technologies, and the socio-technical environment, this panel invites papers that critically explore and conceptualize how ‘everyday cyborgs’ (Haddow et al 2015) learn to live with the vulnerabilities of their hybrid bodies. Understanding techniques of resilience is important because it enables us to account for vulnerabilities without turning cyborgs into passive victims of their implants or prostheses. How do people living with implants and prostheses sense and make sense of their hybrid bodies? What techniques do they use to keep their bodies alive? What social and material resources are available to them that can assist them to adapt positively to the new vulnerabilities they face? How do gender, age, ethnicity, and global differences in access to these high-tech devices affect which bodies materialize as everyday cyborgs? The panel aims to contribute to socio-material approaches to vulnerability by foregrounding technologies inside bodies, which are largely absent in most STS studies on vulnerability.
