Description
Book SynopsisA feminist perspective on the early history of personal computing, revealing how computers were integrated into the most intimate aspects of family life The Intimate Life of Computers shows how the widespread introduction of home computers in the 1980s was purposefully geared toward helping sustain heteronormative middle-class families by shaping relationships between users. Moving beyond the story of male-dominated computer culture, this book emphasizes the neglected history of the influence of women's culture and feminist critique on the development of personal computing despite women's underrepresentation in the industry. Proposing the notion of companionate computing, Reem Hilu reimagines the spread of computers into American homes as the history of an interpersonal, romantic, and familial medium. She details the integration of computing into family relationshipsfrom helping couples have better sex and offering thoughtful simulations of masculine seduction to animating cute rob
