From Spider- to Cyberfeminism and back

Helene von Oldenburg

Though Cyberfeminism is an accumulation of theoretical and artistic theories and strategies and not a homogeneous movement this article aims to put the various attempts at defining theory and history of Cyberfeminism into a larger temporal and cultural context. Cyberfeminism is not only a phenomenon of the Zeitgeist at the end of a millennium; it is even more a transitional stage into a future that is netbased and thus arachnoidic. ("Arachnoidic" means spider-like, arachne = spider). This perspective is founded in arachnomantic research. Arachnomantic, a novel science, explores the biological and cultural evolution of the Homo Sapiens with respect to a netbased future, as well as the influence of future Arachnoids on this development.  The new method, derived in a series of elegant entomological investigations allows an unexpected view into the future of earth and unveils its arachnoidic structure: 

The dominating species of our times, Homo sapiens, will be superseded by an arachnoidic species. 

The new science of Arachnomantic

This recently developed method not only places arachnology into an anthropological context, but considers the arachnoidic structure of images as they frequently appear among other places within the context of the human psyche and everyday life. Related discoveries from different sciences like evolutionary psychology, experimental physics or sociobiology show the highly significant preference for a variety of thread-bound constructions like lines, knots or nets. When analyzing the underlying structure of our ideas and inventions we find a networking dynamic in nearly every part of life, science, art or society.

We must confirm the fact that the arachnoidic species of the future will develop out of spiders as we know them today. The results are still a little vague. We only know one thing for sure: the spider-like species will be the dominating life form. And human beings will still exists. At least a human structure will still be apparent. Supported by contemporary genetic technologies, the increasing nuclear radiation presents optimal evolutionary conditions for spiders to establish themselves as culturally superior life form.

Since thousands of years, mankind has tried to see into the future. But well-known mantic methods such as Tarotcards, Astrology, IQ-Tests, etc., never seem to work properly. They are useful only for the next time interval and they are transparent exclusively to a very few. For the period of time we are discussing here these mantic methods are not useful. Furthermore we have to question their scientific reliability. Therefore we have developed a new and reliable method for future research: the Arachnomantic.

The human mind is a web
       
 As you may know the human mind is built like a network, organized like one and functions like one as well. Therefore, it is the perfect link between a future population on earth and today. The advanced timetraveling and telepathic civilization of the future invades today’s psyche via dreams and channeling.

The dream suggests itself as point of contact because it is, as Sigmund Freud said, accompanied by a low endopsychic censorship. Channeling means the contact between living beings and entities of other dimensions. The human mind is at the receiving end. So we have to rewrite the theories of the unconscious. The contact between the future and the present is initiated by a spider entity (SPE). We speak of SPE, since we don't know if it is an individual or a group contacting us.

Hidden traces

While being stored away into memory, the origin of the future's messages is suppressed. Later, when released out of the memory mode, the messages have been transformed into ego-based intentions; occasionally with an ego-dystonic quality. This signifies that we are unconscious of this process. The result is a widely spread thread fixation, an obsession with weblike organizations and all kinds of rituals honoring future-related devices (fencing of cattle, ball- and other strategically games, cloth, communication networks, etc., etc.).
       
 The spider entity, when contacting us out of the future, hides all traces of her communication with us. We only can speculate on the reason of this strategy. We assume it is part protection of today's living spiders and part a guarantee that current technical developments will continue undisturbed.

What we observe instead is a widespread fear and defensiveness of spiders, a preference for every kind of weaving techniques, and the increasing problems of thread fixation. But also a high creative potential finds its roots here. For example do we owe the invention of writing to these circumstances. 

Feminism

We now know that patriarchy evolved with the invention of early net-techniques such as weaving and writing. It was during this time that the influence of future arachnoids was first felt. Net-techniques are usually seen not only as second-rate but also as female, which can be taken as a manifestation of the future-phobic tendencies of patriarchy. And yet, in the end several inventions in the area of technology and culture could not be impeded, bringing great progress for an archnoidically inclined future. Among them we find the large quota of networking in feminism or the growth rates of the World Wide Web. The achievements of patriarchy, though proclaimed in a humanoid-collective sense, will nonetheless be unable to satisfy a coming demand for transhuman development. One can take this as an evolutionary debt. The supposed dominance of men in the WWW must be seen in relationship to ever-clearer definitions of images of the future. The dominance of spiders is making itself felt, inspires fear and results in a - belated -attempt at securing power over netbased areas.

There is a high, though still partly hidden potential of arachnoidic procedures and techniques in the movements of feminism. Up until now, feminism has been seen as a part of the women’s movement, aiming at "liberating women from social discrimination and oppression by changing social consciousness and thereby, the conception of gender roles." These are important requirements for an innovative existence. However, social and societal justice has not been achieved in spite of more than one hundred years of feminism. The reason for the contemporary stagnation in the feminist movement can not only be seen in hostile attitudes of patriarchy, resulting in a backlash, but also in the fact that part of the feminist movement continues to deny its own arachnoidic aspects. The disavowal of the dominance of nets leads to future-phobic tendencies and damages the feminist movement. One example for this is the undifferentiated promotion of biological gender without consideration for the individual position or strategy. At the beginning of the feminist movement, this procedure was justifiable. At the end of the twentieth century, however, the situation has changed, and the fact that someone is female does not automatically guarantee for a feminist position.

Cyberfeminism

Let us take a look at feminism from the perspective of Arachnomantic. What interests us is the fact that the end of discrimination of women will not mark the end of the influence of feminism on the future, especially on an arachnoidic future. This orientation towards the future finds its relevance in the evolution of feminism into cyberfeminism. Cyberfeminism is the update of feminism. It defines a new stage of feminism with a markedly higher arachnoidic potential. For the first time, feminism openly embraces its net-dependency and outs itself as an arachnoidic movement. The gradual takeover of cultural dominance through arachnoidics is supported by biological, technical and psychical dispositions and constellations that often bear a female context. As a transition into a net-conscious existence, cyberfeminism offers a site and a practice. Cyberfeminism can therefore be seen as a short-term movement that demonstrates no apprehensions of the future and remains open for technical, social and cultural innovations, all the while consciously pursuing arachnoidic strategies.