TINY GEMS

In her famous essay A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century, Donna Haraway sets up the metaphor of the cyborg as a new way of thinking about feminism. The “cyborg” – both human and machine, both organic and inorganic, both real and fictional – defies conventional, static categorizations and fixed concepts of identity. The nature of the cyborg stresses the unification of opposites and fluid concepts of gender and sexuality. Cyborgs are products of multiple, simultaneous states of being, and stand in radical opposition to conventional ideologies.

Although he is probably not remotely what she had in mind when she wrote her essay, Haraway’s idea of the cyborg has been incarnated (at least, within the context of contemporary pop culture) in the figure of Kanye West.

The typical persona of the successful, respected rapper/hip-hop producer is tough, collected, egocentric and hyper-masculine. Kanye West’s recent activities, however, actively subvert this image; rather than projecting this conventional masculine persona, Kanye takes part in traditionally feminine (or effeminate) behaviors. He has changed gears to release an R&B break-up album (808s and Heartbreak), collaborated with high-end designers and fine artists on music videos and fashion items, and expressed interest in posing for naked photographs. These behaviors are more typically associated with the female pop or R&B diva than male rapper/producer (Kanye’s interests and activities are much more in line with those of Beyoncé or even Björk than with those of, say, Jay-Z). His choices in clothing (Dayglo colors, tight pants, the famous Shutter shades) serve to further distance him from the hyper-masculine world of contemporary hip-hop; his image is robotic, highly stylized, and (above all) ambiguously gendered. Even his use of Auto-Tune vocals on 808s and Heartbreak underscores his new cyborg identity.

Of course, not everyone has taken kindly to Kanye’s development of this new cyborg identity. Both tabloid media and online pranksters have derided Kanye for perceived homosexuality. Porn trade mag Adult Video News recently printed a false interview in which “Kanye” stated,

I’m open to doing porn. Hell, I’ll even do bisexual scenes – myself, another man and a woman, or just me and two women. I know people will find that as some weird shit, but I am who I am.

Kanye has responded bombastically to these sorts of rumors through all-caps blog rants. This tendency to respond to rumors and accusations with “hysterics” pushes him even further beyond the typical gender binary.

Recently, Kanye claimed to have re-invented the term “gay” itself, transforming it from a fixed (negative) marker of identity into a marker of cultural cachet – the ultimate step toward becoming a post-gender cyborg being. Donna Haraway should be proud to see her cyborg literally personified – not to mention getting to #1 on the Billboard charts.

¡VIVA KANYE, VIVA LA REVOLUCION!

(OK, so I know the title is actually from a Lil Wayne song. Weezy isn’t a cyborg, he’s a Martian, and that’s totally different and probably just as revolutionary. Or, he’s just on too many drugs. Either way, it’s a completely different topic. What do you think, readers?)