Theorizing at Rowan: Robin James, "No Norms, Just Vibes: how algorithms and 21st century anti-LGBTQ+ moral panics are re-shaping the policing of gender, race, and sexuality"
On Wednesday, April 10, at 5 PM, Robin James (Independent Scholar), will present a talk entitled “No Norms, Just Vibes: how algorithms and 21st century anti-LGBTQ+ moral panics are re-shaping the policing of gender, race, and sexuality” The event will be held in a hybrid format, in person in Business Hall 121 and online via Zoom.
Prof. James has provided the following abstract for her presentation: “The internet abounds in examples of people treating "vibe" as a less oppressive alternative to gender—the slogan “no gender, just vibes” crystallizing what many see as a positive move away from oppressive binaries. This talk demonstrates that instead of liberating us from traditional patriarchal gender norms, vibes upgrade the old binary into terms more compatible with the way contemporary tech and finance perceive and categorize us. First, the math behind much of today’s AI and ML models reality as atmospheres or orientations. Instruments like recommendation algorithms model data spatially as vectors—that is, as linear spatial orientations. When algorithms treat gender as a vibe, the results are not always as progressive as the “no gender, just vibes” crowd make them out to be. Second, as scholar John Cheney-Lippold has shown, algorithms treat binary genders as malleable categories whose boundaries shift in response to feedback from the individuals grouped as either ‘men’ or ‘women.’ In other words, algorithms draw flexible boundaries around binary gender categories by modeling the way individuals and contexts “mutually inform” one another. Thinking of gender as a vibe may move us beyond old-fashioned and inflexible binaries, but it also moves us toward perceiving ourselves in the same sexist and racist ways that tech perceives us.”
This event is co-sponsored by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Women's and Gender Studies Program.
Series Info:
Theorizing at Rowan is a series of public, work in progress lectures covering topics of interest to scholars in philosophy, religion studies, and other related disciplines. The goal of the series is to promote scholarly exchange involving the Department of Philosophy and World Religions, the University, and beyond. Speakers will include members of the department as well as faculty from other departments at Rowan and from other institutions.
All Theorizing at Rowan events are free and open to the public.
For more information, visit https://theorizing-at-rowan.tumblr.com