Stereotyping Femininity in Disembodied Virtual Assistants
Date
Authors
Major Professor
Advisor
Committee Member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Altmetrics
Authors
Research Projects
Organizational Units
The Department of English seeks to provide all university students with the skills of effective communication and critical thinking, as well as imparting knowledge of literature, creative writing, linguistics, speech and technical communication to students within and outside of the department.
History
The Department of English and Speech was formed in 1939 from the merger of the Department of English and the Department of Public Speaking. In 1971 its name changed to the Department of English.
Dates of Existence
1939-present
Historical Names
- Department of English and Speech (1939-1971)
Related Units
- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (parent college)
- Department of English (predecessor, 1898-1939)
- Department of Public Speaking (predecessor, 1898-1939)
Journal Issue
Is Version Of
Versions
Series
Department
Abstract
The focus of this paper is to examine the rhetorical ways that virtual assistants perpetuate western (American) gender stereotypes with users. While other literature has studied gender stereotypes with online service chatbots, scholarly research related to virtual assistants on standalone devices (e.g. Siri, Cortana, Alexa) is lacking. To conduct this study, I have relied upon a combination of the theories of identification and gender performance theory to show how the virtual assistants enact gender with users.
The findings of this analysis demonstrate that the virtual assistants easily enact harmful gender stereotypes because the virtual assistants are disembodied representations of femininity. As evidence, media reviewers of the technology hoping to demonstrate their abilities have used language to ask questions that would be inappropriate for face-to-face communication.