Feminized, but not Feminist - Gendered Voice Assistants and the Price of Sounding Human

The fifth volume section – DIGITALIZING – listens in as sound, voice, and music travel from ‘real life’ to online spaces and virtual interactions. Nina Wintermeyer interrogates common arguments and scenarios involving the gendering of voice assistants such as Siri and Alexa. Her exploration underscores the persistence of patriarchal structures and puts particular emphasis on the perils of articulating the ‘human’ in terms of repressive protocols of ‘feminine’ serviceability and submission.