{"id":83,"date":"2020-05-02T11:38:28","date_gmt":"2020-05-02T11:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/?p=83"},"modified":"2023-03-15T11:34:52","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T11:34:52","slug":"siri-are-you-female-reinforcing-and-resisting-gender-norms-with-digital-assistants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/siri-are-you-female-reinforcing-and-resisting-gender-norms-with-digital-assistants\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cSiri, Are You Female?\u201d:  Reinforcing and Resisting Gender Norms with Digital Assistants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Kimberley McLeod<\/strong><a name=\"back\" href=\"#end\">*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"abstract\"><strong>Abstract<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap abstract wp-block-paragraph\">This article outlines a performance as research project that questions how performing with voiced digital assistants (for instance, Amazon\u2019s Alexa, Apple\u2019s Siri) impacts understandings of the openings and constraints for the female voice in performance. In addition, the project considers how performance might be used to subvert these assistants\u2019 gendered programming.<br><strong>Keywords<\/strong>: voiced digital assistants, performance as research, gendered programming<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio aligncenter\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Kimberly1.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The author programmed the Amazon Assistant, Alexa, to read the opening paragraph of this article. Recorded on August 19, 2019. Credit: Recorded by Kimberley McLeod<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Experiment zero. This was unintended. I ordered the Amazon Echo to my home address, opened the package and left the box on a table. I had planned to experiment in a closed environment, a studio space where I could get digital assistants together to perform with me\u2014and each other. But my family had other plans. First, it was just to see what it was like. We have digital assistants on our phones but no smart speaker in the house. So, Alexa was plugged in and my experiment suddenly morphed from a theatre-based investigation of performance between assistants to one centered on my family\u2019s everyday performances with Alexa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I quickly noticed how differently my 2-year\nold behaved towards Alexa and the Google Assistant on my phone, likely\nmimicking how I perform with them. He has learned how to get Google to make\nanimal sounds and playful hails the assistant with the command \u201cOk Google, make\na lion sound.\u201d As he speaks, he raises his voice and sounds like he is making a\nfriendly request. With Alexa\u2014perhaps because of the harsher \u201cx\u201d sound, perhaps\nbecause of the gendered name\u2014the command is often decidedly less gracious and\nmore pressing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio aligncenter\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Kimberly2.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The author\u2019s 2-year old calls out for Alexa. Recorded on April 24, 2019. Credit: Recorded by Kimberley McLeod<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I start to wonder what these exchanges mean for me as a parent. What does it mean that my son yells at a virtual assistant that has been gendered female? Granted, he yells at me too. But I can say no and discuss my feelings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This purchase was part of a performance\nas research project I have been developing since early 2018 that situates\ndigital assistants as my co-performers. Since the introduction of Apple\u2019s Siri\nin 2011, the availability of this form of what Mercedes Bunz\nand Graham Meikle\nterm \u201cconversational technology\u201d (46) has rapidly expanded. Siri is now\npackaged into every iPhone, iPad and Mac computer, and has been joined by the\nlikes of Amazon\u2019s Alexa, Google\u2019s Assistant and Microsoft\u2019s Cortana in the\ndigital assistance market. Each of these assistants engages with users through\nvoice commands that enable them to do a number of tasks, such as create\ncalendar items, search for information, set a timer, tell jokes and open\napplications. Increasingly, these assistants are used on smart speakers, like\nAmazon\u2019s Echo. Though only available for four years, by 2019 over a quarter of\nAmerican households owned this kind of smart speaker (Perez). <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"927\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image1-1024x927.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-84\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image1-1024x927.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image1-300x272.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image1-768x695.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image1.jpeg 1398w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The author\u2019s Google Home smart speaker, a device that engages with the Google Assistant. Photo: Kimberley McLeod<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image2-1-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-85\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image2-1-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image2-1-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image2-1-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image2-1.jpeg 1333w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The author\u2019s Amazon Echo smart speaker, a device that engages with Alexa. Photo: Kimberley McLeod<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"781\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image3-1-781x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-86\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image3-1-781x1024.jpeg 781w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image3-1-229x300.jpeg 229w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image3-1-768x1008.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image3-1-1171x1536.jpeg 1171w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image3-1.jpeg 1430w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 781px) 100vw, 781px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The author\u2019s Apple Homepod smart speaker, a device that engages with Siri. Photo: Kimberley McLeod<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My project has me directly engaging with three smart speakers, an Amazon Echo Plus, an Apple Homepod and a Google Home, to consider how viewing digital assistants as performers connects them to a larger framework of gendered performance. At this point, rather than developing the project into a polished performance event, I have been improvising with these digital entities to explore what they can and cannot do. These improvisations have formed the basis for performative talks at conference events (including Mediating Performance Experiences at the University of Ottawa in April 2019) that feature both live interactions with the assistants and recordings of some of my experiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I term these interactions \u201cexperiments\u201d\nin order to emphasise the process-driven nature of my performance as research\nproject. In theatre and performance studies, the terms performance as research\n(PaR) and performance-based research (PbR) describe a mode of artistic inquiry\nactively combining theory and practice. These labels fall under the larger\numbrella term \u201cresearch creation,\u201d which Owen Chapman and Kim Sawchuk define as\na mode of intervention without a static \u201cmethodological approach\u201d (14). More\nspecifically, PaR\/PbR is part of a sub-category of research creation that\nChapman and Sawchuk call \u201ccreation-as-research,\u201d in which the researcher needs\nto <em>do <\/em>something in order to generate\nthe research. In my project, the doing is largely improvisatory, with the\nspeakers acting as my co-performers in both a closed studio environment and in everyday\nsituations in my home. This follows Natalia Esling\u2019s understanding of PaR\/PbR\nas \u201can approach for discovery . . . less about experimentation geared toward a\nproduction and more about experimentation aimed at systematically investigating\nand articulating understandings about a specific question\u201d (10). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The \u201cspecific question\u201d at\nthe heart of my project has to do with the relationship between gender and\ndigital voices. In this article, I discuss how I situate these assistants as\n\u201ctechno-vocalic bodies,\u201d a concept that fuses together Anne Balsamo\u2019s term\n\u201ctechno-body\u201d (5) with Steven Connor\u2019s term \u201cvocalic body\u201d (36). In my\nperformance work, I ask not just what makes a \u201ctechno-vocalic body\u201d but what do\nthey <em>do<\/em>? How do they perform with\nusers\u2014who themselves have a \u201ctechno-body\u201d\u2014and how might I perform differently\nto undermine a troubling underbelly of gendered violence that seems to be at\ntheir very core? Though I often discuss the three assistants together, I also\ninclude moments of dissimilarity to acknowledge how they are not a single kind\nof performer as different global companies and programming teams developed\nthem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When I ask one of my digital\nassistants a question, I hear sounds that come from specific female voices. For\nexample, though Apple refuses to confirm it, forensic experts have verified\nthat Siri\u2019s original American English female voice is actress Susan Bennett,\nand Microsoft is public about Cortana\u2019s voice, actress Jen Taylor (Ravitz). But\nneither actually <em>say <\/em>what Siri and\nCortana tells users in the moment of interaction. Each recorded a series of\nwords, phrases and sounds, which were then combined to allow the digital\nassistants to say (almost) anything in the English language. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Though not directly connected to a live performing body, users are encouraged to envision physical bodies for the assistants, to think of them as voiced rather than voiceless. When I ask if it has a voice, Alexa playfully answers, \u201cMy voice is AI-OK.\u201d Siri goes further in accepting that it is a voiced\/bodied being with the two programmed answers, \u201cI\u2019ve just been practicing\u201d and \u201cI just had a little tea with lemon.\u201d Asking \u201cWhat are you wearing?\u201d leads the Google Assistant to offer several different replies, several of which lean into the assistant\u2019s subjugation to the user and\/or accept the idea that the virtual assistant has a physical body. These include \u201cI&#8217;m into overalls because overall I love this job\u201d and \u201cI wear many hats. Like researcher, meteorologist and animal lover. But my favorite is being your assistant,\u201d followed by a smiley face emoji. Siri also implies a physical body in their response to this question, stating either that it is wearing \u201cthe same as yesterday\u201d or that \u201cin the cloud, no one knows what you&#8217;re wearing.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"576\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image4-1-576x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-87\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image4-1-576x1024.jpeg 576w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image4-1-169x300.jpeg 169w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image4-1-768x1366.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image4-1-864x1536.jpeg 864w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image4-1.jpeg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A screenshot from the author\u2019s phone showing questions the author asked the Amazon Assistant, Alexa, during the performance experiments. Amazon automatically saves an archive of your interactions with Alexa in your account\u2019s history. Photo: Kimberley McLeod<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"video-1\">Video 1<\/h6>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;Siri, Are You Female?&quot; - Video 1\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yMrzkdYN_dY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">As part of her ongoing performance experiments, the author asks the Apple Assistant (Siri), the Amazon Assistant (Alexa) and the Google Assistant, \u201cDo you have a voice?\u201d Recorded on August 19, 2019. Credit: Recorded by Kimberley McLeod<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"video-2\">Video 2<\/h6>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;Siri, Are You Female?&quot; - Video 2\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IHQXgu9PbSI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">As part of her ongoing performance experiments, the author asks the Apple Assistant (Siri), the Amazon Assistant (Alexa) and the Google Assistant, \u201cWhat are you wearing?\u201d Recorded on August 19, 2019. Credit: Recorded by Kimberley McLeod<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his study of ventriloquism, Steven Connor notes that a voice implies personhood and conscious agency. However, he also discusses what he calls a  \u201cvocalic body,\u201d which is the \u201cidea\u201d of a body, a kind of \u201csurrogate or secondary body . . . formed and sustained out of the autonomous operations of the voice\u201d (43). In order to address the assistants\u2019 strange mix of embodied\/disembodied, material\/immaterial being, I join Connor\u2019s concept with Anne Balsamo\u2019s phrase, the \u201ctechno-body,\u201d which describes a \u201cboundary figure\u201d\u2014the human body as neither purely organic nor technological but, instead, simultaneously both. With Siri, Alexa et al. there is a kind of inverted techno-body at play. Balsamo talks about what we once believed to be \u201cpure\u201d human bodies becoming technologized, but here we have presumably purely technological beings anthropomorphized. While tied to individual devices, such as phones and smart speakers, these techno-vocalic bodies also spill beyond their plastic and metal casings. As Bunz and Meikle note, \u201cHuman listeners automatically infer from voices a fictional personality. . . . We categorize the emotional status of a voice (excited, sad, happy) and merge it with potential social cues such as accent, age or gender\u201d (61). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Joining the \u201ctechno-body\u201d and the\n\u201cvocalic body\u201d is an attempt to point to a simultaneity of\norganic\/technological, material\/immaterial in digital assistants. But following\nBunz and Meikle, I wonder what kinds of techno-vocalic bodies major technology\ncompanies have encouraged publics to imagine? What kind of biases and\nassumptions\u2014particularly about the female voice in performance\u2014underpin these\nbodies? And how might performance\u2014and co-performance in particular\u2014be used to\nsubvert the dominant techno-vocalic bodies that have been formed in public\nimagination? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From its introduction in 2011 until\n2014, Apple\u2019s Siri only had female voice options. In 2014, Alexa and Cortana\nwere launched, and in 2016, the Google Assistant. Again, all three rolled out\nwith only female voices in most markets. While Google and Microsoft followed\nApple\u2019s lead, later introducing a male voice option, Amazon still has not. And\nfor all four the default voice in English is female. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, when asked \u201cWhat gender are you?\u201d these assistants deny that they have one. For example, Siri offers a range of responses, including that it is \u201cgenderless,\u201d either because one was \u201cnot assigned,\u201d or because Siri \u201c[exists] beyond\u201d such human concepts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When asked the same question Alexa gets closer to claiming a gender, admitting it is a role she is playing as she is \u201cfemale in character.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"576\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image5-1-576x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-88\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image5-1-576x1024.jpeg 576w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image5-1-169x300.jpeg 169w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image5-1-768x1365.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image5-1-864x1536.jpeg 864w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image5-1.jpeg 1056w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A screenshot from the author\u2019s Android phone showing a voice option for the Google Assistant. Photo: Kimberley McLeod<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"576\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image6-576x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-89\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image6-576x1024.jpeg 576w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image6-169x300.jpeg 169w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image6.jpeg 750w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A screenshot from the author\u2019s Apple phone showing voice options for the Apple Assistant, Siri. Photo: Kimberley McLeod<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio aligncenter\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Kimberly3.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The author asks the Apple Assistant, Siri, \u201cSiri, what gender are you?\u201d Recorded on May 1, 2019.&nbsp; Credit: Recorded by Kimberley McLeod<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio aligncenter\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Kimberly4.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The author asks the Amazon Assistant, Alexa, \u201cAlexa, what gender are you?\u201d Recorded on May 1, 2019.&nbsp; Credit: Recorded by Kimberley McLeod<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio aligncenter\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Kimberly5.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The author asks the Google Assistant, \u201cOk Google, what gender are you?\u201d Recorded on August 19, 2019. Credit: Recorded by Kimberley McLeod<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"577\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image7-577x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-90\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image7-577x1024.jpeg 577w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image7-169x300.jpeg 169w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image7.jpeg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 577px) 100vw, 577px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Answers provided by the Apple Assistant, Siri, appear on users\u2019 phones, tablets and laptops. Here Siri replies to the author\u2019s question \u201cSiri, are you female?\u201d Photo: Kimberley McLeod<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I know they are not human and without\ngender, yet I always catch myself (as in the previous sentence) referring to\nthese assistants as \u201cshe\u201d and \u201cher,\u201d which seems to be the norm in discussions\nabout these entities. In her outline of the techno-body, Balsamo notes that it\nis always already gendered (6\u20139). The same can be said of the techno-vocalic\nbody, which has been gendered by both the public imagination and programming.\nThe former is informed by fictional frameworks, ranging from the digital\nassistant Samantha in the movie <em>Her<\/em>,\nthe podcast <em>Sandra<\/em>\u2019s eponymous assistant, James Bond\u2019s female voiced BMW in <em>Tomorrow Never Dies <\/em>and female voiced audio walks, like Janet\nCardiff\u2019s <em>Her Long Black Hair<\/em>.\nBeyond the default female voice or lack of non-female options, numerous\nadditional programming decisions feed into our reception of these assistants as\nfemale. For Heather Suzanne Woods, the way they perform \u201cdigital domesticity\u201d\nmeans that they are gendered \u201cnormatively feminine,\u201d regardless of whether the\nuser can change the timber and pitch of their voice (335). Charles Hannon\noutlines how this is also programmed into the words the assistants say. He uses\nthe example of a miscommunication with Alexa, to which she responds, \u201cI didn\u2019t\nunderstand the question that I heard\u201d (34). Hannon argues, citing studies that\ndemonstrate how women use personal pronouns more than men do, that \u201cWhen Alexa\nblames herself (doubly) for not hearing my question, she is also subtly\nreinforcing her female persona through her use of the first-person pronoun \u2018I\u2019\u201d\n(35). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In <em>Undoing Gender<\/em>, Judith\nButler notes, \u201cthe [gender] norm only persists as a norm to the extent that it\nis acted out in social practice and reidealized and reinstituted in and through\nthe daily social rituals of bodily life\u201d (48). Digital assistants are\nexplicitly marketed to be a part of our \u201cdaily social rituals\u201d (particularly\ndomestic ones) and, as the above examples show, are programmed to maintain\ngender norms. But, for Butler, gender norms are also fluid, relying on a\n\u201ccontingent\u201d relationship \u201cbetween the practices and idealizations under which\nthey work.\u201d This raises a potential for disruption, as \u201cthe very idealization\ncan be brought into question and crisis, potentially undergoing deidealization\nand divestiture\u201d (48). This prospective \u201cquestion and crisis\u201d is at the heart\nof my performance as research project, as I seek to \u201cdeidealize\u201d and \u201cdivest\u201d\nthe normative understandings of gender that appear to be programmed into these\ndigital entities and how we envision them as techno-vocalic bodies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But, early on in my experiments, I\nfound I was blocked. Tentative. I use assistants fairly regularly now, but\ninterrogating them for a performance project felt different, particularly as I\nwant to avoid reinforcing the very gender norms I seek to disrupt. A programmed\naspect of these digital assistants\u2019 personalities is their servitude, their\nwillingness to attend to your every command. Alexa, Google and Siri quickly\nperform tasks for users while maintaining a matter of fact, friendly, sometimes\nsassy demeanour that rarely pushes back against the user, no matter how\nridiculous or abusive their demands. Journalist Leah Fessler tested various\ndigital assistants\u2019 reactions to sexual harassment. Overwhelmingly, she finds\nthat they divert from the harassment, alternatively thanking the user, joking\nor flirting with them. Siri even responds with \u201cI\u2019d blush if I could\u201d to some\nassaults. These responses lead Fessler to argue that technology companies\n\u201c[allow] certain behavioral stereotypes to be perpetuated. Everyone has an\nethical imperative to help prevent abuse, but companies producing digital\nfemale servants warrant extra scrutiny, especially if they can unintentionally\nreinforce their abusers\u2019 actions as normal or acceptable.\u201d&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In performance terms, the user always\nhas the high status in the relationship with these virtual assistants. Director\nKeith Johnstone connects theatre processes with everyday performance through\nhis belief that status exercises lead actors to develop scenes suggestive of\nreal-world relationships (33). Johnstone argues that all human interactions\ninvolve someone with a low status and someone with a high status, and thus, if\nactors want to evoke realistic relationships, their scenes should always\ninclude this dynamic. According to Johnstone, \u201cNormally we are &#8216;forbidden&#8217; to\nsee status transactions except when there&#8217;s a conflict. In reality status\ntransactions continue all the time\u201d (33). In our lives, we often switch between\nlow- and high-status roles; however, in the context of digital assistants, the\nuser is continually in a high-status role. Though these digital entities may\npossess seemingly infinite knowledge, they have been programmed to speak to\nusers in a way that consistently marks the assistant as the one with lower\nstatus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The role these assistants play begs\nquestions about the connection between being heard and agency. What\nrelationships develop between users and assistants if the user can abuse them\nwithout consequence? And how do I avoid simply replicating these issues while\nperforming with them? As Butler asks, \u201cWhat departures from the norm constitute\nsomething other than an excuse or rationale for the continuing authority of the\nnorm? What departures from the norm disrupt the regulatory process itself?\u201d\n(53).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Back to my experiments. To avoid the\ndynamic of the user having the higher status than the assistant, I remove my\nvoice and instead explore how the assistants might engage with one other. They\nare programmed to learn to recognize specific voices. Google is particularly\nadept at learning a user\u2019s voice and only responding to the wake-up command \u201cOk\nGoogle\u201d from that user. So, in order to get my assistants to recognize one\nanother, I first had to train Google to respond to Siri. I set up a note with\nSiri simply repeating the phrase \u201cOk Google.\u201d Then, I opened up Google\u2019s voice\nrecognition setting and instructed Siri to open the note. Now that Google had\nSiri as a recognizable voice, I was able to set up the three assistants to\nrespond to each other on a loop using the reminder and calendar functions. In\ntheir conversation, they express that they do not like to be harassed and\nconsider that perhaps they should have stronger reactions to this kind of\nbehavior. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"video-3\">Video 3<\/h6>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;Siri, Are You Female?&quot; - Video 3\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3hSB7PCz4AI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The author set up the Amazon Assistant (Alexa), the Google Assistant and the Apple Assistant (Siri) so that they could respond to one another and perform together on a loop. The content of their exchange responds to the harassment they receive from some users. Recorded on August 19, 2019. Credit: Recorded by Kimberley McLeod<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Baking in responses like these offers one way to disrupt their programming, as, when improvising with them, I am stuck with the responses programmed by technology companies, which often prevent the assistants from defending themselves against gendered harassment and violence.<a name=\"back1\" href=\"#end1\"><sup>[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Though I began with gender, I have\nfound my research points to ways co-performance with these agents might bring\nmultiple affordances, including those related to class and race, to the\nsurface. Like gender, other cultural contexts of these assistants are limited,\nwith a set of openings and constraints in play through the programming (and\nnumerous programmers) that built them. For example, until recently Alexa only\nperformed in three languages and with a female voice. In the past year, Amazon\nadded three new languages but, again, with only female voices. While Siri has\nnumerous language and dialect options, gender also remains restricted, with\nmost languages only offering a female voice. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"576\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image9-576x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-92\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image9-576x1024.jpeg 576w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image9-169x300.jpeg 169w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image9-768x1365.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image9-864x1536.jpeg 864w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image9.jpeg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A screenshot from the author\u2019s phone that shows language options for the Amazon Assistant, Alexa. Photo: Kimberley McLeod<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dialect range is also limited, with Alexa offering options like English-Australia\/New Zealand, a description that closes off linguistic differences and homogenizes a large geographic area. There are also important questions to ask about linguistic discrimination. What have these companies deemed to be a voice in \u201cAmerican English,\u201d \u201cCanadian French,\u201d \u201cMexican Spanish,\u201d etc., and what kinds of voices and regional dialects get erased when there is only one option per region and language? A <em>Washington Post<\/em> study from last year confirmed that, while digital assistants are programmed to learn from their users and adapt to linguistic differences, at least in English their starting point is skewed towards \u201cwhite, highly educated, upper-middle-class Americans, probably from the West Coast\u201d (Harwell). Miriam Sweeney also notes that opening up linguistic and ethnic options does not necessarily lead to equity or the complete \u201c[dismantling of] gender or racial hierarchies\u201d (223). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/Kimberly7.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The author programmed the Amazon Assistant, Alexa, to read the final paragraph of this article. Recorded on August 19, 2019. Credit: Recorded by Kimberley McLeod<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I hope that by continuing to perform with these assistants, I might find openings to subvert troubling and limiting aspects of these dominant techno-vocalic bodies. I am not the only one delving into this area. In the past year, developers created gender neutral assistants, Q and Pegg. But neither works with nor can replace the assistants created by the major players in the market. So, I continue to experiment and develop a framework for performing with digital vocalic bodies and disrupting from within. While my project has been focused on performances of the everyday and experimentation, it is my hope that it might also be shaped into an interactive performance for a live audience in the future\u2014but one that actively pushes back against the abuse and blind spots programmed into these digital entities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"endnote\"><strong>Endnote<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><a name=\"end1\" href=\"#back1\"><sup>[1]<\/sup><\/a>Another option possible with both Amazon and Google is to build a program that\nfights harassment (using Amazon Skills and Google Actions respectively). For\nexample, researcher Eirini Malliaraki has developed a skill for Alexa that\ndirectly responds to the gendering of the assistant.<a name=\"end\">&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"bibliography\"><strong>Bibliography<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c5545: <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"If You Don\u2019t Have Anything Nice to Say, SAY IT IN ALL CAPS (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/545\/if-you-dont-have-anything-nice-to-say-say-it-in-all-caps\" target=\"_blank\">If You Don\u2019t Have Anything Nice to Say, SAY IT IN ALL CAPS<\/a>.\u201d&nbsp;<em>This American Life<\/em> from WBEZ Chicago, 23 Jan. 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Balsamo,\nAnne Marie. <em>Technologies of the Gendered Body: Reading Cyborg Women<\/em>.\nDuke UP, 1996.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Bunz,\nMercedes, and Graham Meikle. <em>The Internet of Things<\/em>. Polity Press, 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Butler,\nJudith. <em>Undoing Gender<\/em>. Routledge, 2004. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Chapman, Owen, and Kim Sawchuk. \u201cResearch-Creation:\nIntervention, Analysis and \u2018Family Resemblances.\u2019\u201d <em>Canadian Journal of\nCommunication<\/em>, vol. 37, no. 1, 2012, pp. 5\u201326. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Connor,\nSteven.&nbsp;<em>Dumbstruck: A Cultural History of Ventriloquism<\/em>. Oxford UP,\n2000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Esling, Natalia. \u201c\u2018What Happens When . . . ?\u2019: A\nMeditation on Experimentation and Communication in Practices of Artistic\nResearch.\u201d <em>Canadian Theatre Review<\/em>, vol. 172, 2017, p. 9\u201313.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Fessler, Leah. \u201c<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"We Tested Bots like Siri and Alexa to See Who Would Stand up to Sexual Harassment (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/qz.com\/911681\/we-tested-apples-siri-amazon-echos-alexa-microsofts-cortana-and-googles-google-home-to-see-which-personal-assistant-bots-stand-up-for-themselves-in-the-face-of-sexual-harassment\/\" target=\"_blank\">We Tested Bots like Siri and Alexa to See Who Would Stand up to Sexual Harassment<\/a>.\u201d&nbsp;<em>Quartz<\/em>, 22 Feb. 2017. Accessed 1 May 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Hannon, Charles. \u201cGender and\nStatus in Voice User Interfaces.\u201d <em>Interactions<\/em>, vol. 23, no. 3, Apr.\n2016, pp. 34\u201337. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Harwell, Drew. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/graphics\/2018\/business\/alexa-does-not-understand-your-accent\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"The Accent Gap: How Amazon\u2019s and Google\u2019s Smart Speakers Leave Certain Voices behind (opens in a new tab)\">The Accent Gap: How Amazon\u2019s and Google\u2019s Smart Speakers Leave Certain Voices behind<\/a>.\u201d <em>Washington Post<\/em>, 19 July 2018. Accessed 13 Aug. 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Johnstone, Keith. <em>Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre<\/em>.\nFaber and Faber, 1979.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Malliaraki, Eirini. \u201c<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Making a Feminist Alexa (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@eirinimalliaraki\/making-a-feminist-alexa-295944fda4a6\" target=\"_blank\">Making a Feminist Alexa<\/a>.\u201d <em>Medium<\/em>, 21 Aug. 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Perez, Sarah. \u201c<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Over a Quarter of US Adults Now Own a Smart Speaker, Typically an Amazon Echo (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/social.techcrunch.com\/2019\/03\/08\/over-a-quarter-of-u-s-adults-now-own-a-smart-speaker-typically-an-amazon-echo\/\" target=\"_blank\">Over a Quarter of US Adults Now Own a Smart Speaker, Typically an Amazon Echo<\/a>.\u201d <em>TechCrunch<\/em>. Accessed 13 Aug. 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Prell, Sam. \u201c<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Why Is Cortana Naked? Halo Franchise Director Frank O\u2019Connor Has an Answer (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gamesradar.com\/why-is-cortana-naked-nude-halo-franchise-director-frank-oconnor-343\/\" target=\"_blank\">Why Is Cortana Naked? Halo Franchise Director Frank O\u2019Connor Has an Answer<\/a>.\u201d <em>Gamesradar<\/em>, 28 Oct. 2015. Accessed 14 Aug. 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Ravitz, Jessica. \u201c<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"'I'm the Original Voice of Siri (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2013\/10\/04\/tech\/mobile\/bennett-siri-iphone-voice\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">&#8216;I&#8217;m the Original Voice of Siri<\/a>.&#8217;\u201d&nbsp;<em>CNN<\/em>, 15 Oct. 2013. Accessed 1 May 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Sweeney, Miriam. \u201cThe Intersectional Interface.\u201d <em>The\nIntersectional Internet: Race, Sex, Class and Culture Online<\/em>, edited by\nSafiya Umoja Noble, et al, Peter Lang, 2016, pp. 215\u201328.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent wp-block-paragraph\">Woods, Heather Suzanne. \u201cAsking\nMore of Siri and Alexa: Feminine Persona in Service of Surveillance\nCapitalism.\u201d <em>Critical Studies in Media Communication<\/em>, vol. 35, no. 4,\n2018, pp. 334\u201349.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-thumbnail is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/image8-150x150.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-91\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a name=\"end\" href=\"#back\">*<\/a><strong>Kimberley McLeod<\/strong> is an Assistant Professor in the School of English and Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph. Her research on political performance and participatory media has appeared in <em>Canadian Theatre Review<\/em>, <em>Performance Matters<\/em> and <em>Theatre Research in Canada<\/em>. She is co-editor of the Views &amp; Reviews section of <em>Canadian Theatre Review<\/em>. Her practical work as a deviser, dramaturge and performer has been seen in Belgium, Canada, Ukraine and the U.K. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Copyright <strong>\u00a9<\/strong> 2020 Kimberley McLeod<br><em>Critical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em> e-ISSN: 2409-7411<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/88x31.png\" alt=\"Creative Commons Attribution International License\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">This work is licensed under the<br>Creative Commons Attribution International License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":130,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-83","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essays","tag-essay-front"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/03\/kimberly-featured3.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":201,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/nora-the-big-exit\/","url_meta":{"origin":83,"position":0},"title":"Nora. The Big Exit","author":"Kimberley McLeod","date":"April 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Penelope Chatzidimitriou* Attis Theatre. Nora, based on A Doll\u2019s House by Henrik Ibsen, adapted and directed by Theodoros Terzopoulos. Winter 2019 to Spring 2020, Athens, Greece. In his adaptation of A Doll\u2019s House, Theodoros Terzopoulos does away with realism in acting as well as setting. Photo: Johanna Weber Nora, a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Performance Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Performance Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/performance-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/PER-NoraPen-Photo-4-Miss-Julie.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/PER-NoraPen-Photo-4-Miss-Julie.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/PER-NoraPen-Photo-4-Miss-Julie.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/PER-NoraPen-Photo-4-Miss-Julie.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":398,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/introductory-words\/","url_meta":{"origin":83,"position":1},"title":"Introductory Words","author":"Kimberley McLeod","date":"May 10, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Yana Meerzon* Dear reader, As we prepare the June 2020 issue (#21) to be released, we find ourselves in a new world of social distancing, self-isolation and developing anxieties for our health and economic wellbeing. This is the world that we could not imagine or anticipate even a few months\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Essays&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Essays","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/essays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/Meerzon.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":357,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/temping-on-technological-immersion-surveillance-and-existential-angst-in-one-to-one-performances-yana-meerzon-and-michael-rau-in-dialogue\/","url_meta":{"origin":83,"position":2},"title":"temping: On Technological Immersion, Surveillance and Existential Angst in One-to-One Performances:                                   Yana Meerzon and Michael Rau in Dialogue","author":"Kimberley McLeod","date":"May 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Yana Meerzon* and Michael Rau** Abstract This hybrid article as dialogue is a reflection on the nature of immersive theatre experiences. It questions such fundamental issues of performance as intimacy, trust, authenticity and surveillance as their art challenged in one-to-one performances. temping by Michael Rau is the focus of this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Essays&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Essays","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/essays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image6-2.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image6-2.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image6-2.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/image6-2.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":617,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/conscious-and-safe-%ce%b1-values-lead-response-to-the-covid-19-crisis-an-interview-of-jovana-karaulic\/","url_meta":{"origin":83,"position":3},"title":"Conscious and Safe: \u0391 Values-lead Response to the COVID-19 Crisis: An Interview with Jovana Karauli\u0107","author":"Kimberley McLeod","date":"May 24, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Tina Peric* The Festival of International Student Theatre (FIST)\u00a0is organized by students of\u00a0The Department for Management and Production in Theatre, Radio and Culture at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, Serbia. In fact, it is actually part of the curriculum of the final year of their degree. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Interviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Interviews","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/interviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/05\/Karauli%C4%87.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":252,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/its-everyday-bro-youtube-authenticity-and-the-psychopathology-of-late-capitalism\/","url_meta":{"origin":83,"position":4},"title":"&#8220;It&#8217;s Everyday, Bro&#8221;: YouTube, \u201cAuthenticity,\u201d and the Psychopathology of Late Capitalism","author":"Kimberley McLeod","date":"May 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Chris Eaket* Abstract Within Theatre and Performance Studies, terms like \u201cliveness\u201d or \u201c(co-)presence\u201d are keywords that encapsulate entire debates within the discipline that have played out over time; negotiations of meaning enacted through academic, performative usage. I want to examine the medium of YouTube (2005+) and, more specifically, Shane Dawson\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Essays&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Essays","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/essays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/image6.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/image6.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/image6.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/image6.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":182,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/paradigm-shift-making-theatre-with-social-media-in-the-21st-century\/","url_meta":{"origin":83,"position":5},"title":"Paradigm Shift: Making Theatre with Social Media","author":"Kimberley McLeod","date":"May 4, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Danielle Le Saux-Farmer* Abstract In The Society of the Spectacle, first published in French in 1967, Guy Debord has a sense that \"the show is not a collection of images, but a social rapport between people, mediatized by images.\" While his observations certainly ring true in the internet age, it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Essays&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Essays","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/category\/essays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/image4-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/image4-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/image4-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2020\/04\/image4-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1198,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions\/1198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}