Still not much of a science person...

This week’s readings were challenging. I began with the cyborg reading and after being confused for about a half hour, I decided to take a break and move on to the Making Gender Visible in the Pursuit of Nature’s Secrets. Although this reading was clearer and easier to comprehend, it still demanded a good deal of focus and thought. As my title states I am not much of a science person. Therefore, while reading about the “drama” within science and biological discourses and the mechanism of genetic replication, I was trying to find something to hold my attention.
One concept I recognized was the explanation of “maleness as invisibility and of femaleness as visibility” (516). As Keller mentioned, I would think that maleness would be more visible than femaleness. She briefly explained that this “triumph of invisibility” (Freud) was somehow created by thoughts about the “link between power and invisibility” (516). She completes her thought on page 519, saying that in her view, the invisibility is not related to masculinity but to power. Men feel threatened when the secrets of the interiority of nature (and women) are kept from them. In my mind this seems like another issue with the male ego. Why must men know everything!? (Aside from science, men still feel like they need to know EVERYTHING!). This desire for power stems back to Greek mythology and expands on the curiosities of God’s secrets.
Another concept I absorbed from the article was the aspect of “secrets” and the male desire to undo, expose, and delve deeper into secrets that do not involve them (especially secrets kept by women or nature which is also feminine). Throughout the reading, scientists are trying to solve the secrets of life and nature. Scientist attempted to remove all mysterious or questionable language from science as if they could let no mystery go unsolved.