weenus - what does it make possible? no innocent technologies.

oh, JK:s superb questions remind me of an article in the nytimes AG sent to me in 2007 about women in combat - american soldiers in iraq and afghanistan. i ask myself: what is it that this kind of gadget makes possible? under what circumstances can weenuses be used?

"And there are practical considerations. Women on smaller bases in Iraq often share sleeping quarters with men. Equipment in women's sizes can sometimes be harder to come by. Some women use newer forms of birth control to make their periods less frequent. Even urinating can become a problem. The military has disbursed portable contraptions the women affectionately call a weenus, for use on long truck drives."

or, as theorist Donna Haraway, who has written extensively about innovations used by the military and companionship between humans and other actors, probably would have put it: there are no innocent technologies.

/å