Abstract

What does it mean to be a sonic feminist? Or, rather, what does it mean to do feminism with, through and alongside the medium of sound? More importantly, what do sonic feminists and feminisms hope for? This talk considers some of the strategies and complexities of enacting ‘sonic feminisms’, specifically within the social, economic and ideological structures of the twenty-first century. Drawing upon her on-going Sonic Cyberfeminisms project with Annie Goh, Marie Thompson suggest that there is a need to remain mindful as to what activisms around gender, sound and technology can risk reproducing—from particular aesthetic hierarchies and understandings of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ musical practice; to restrictive and selective conceptions of gender and gendered experience. Sonic (cyber)feminisms, she proposes, need to maintain sites of criticality as well as creativity.