12 years ago, in 2013, Spike Jones released the motion picture, Her, staring Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlet Johansson. And overnight, the idea of digital women as romantic companions was everywhere. Her was followed rapidly by a slate of other pop culture media exploring the pheonomen, like Westworld, Ex Machina and BladeRunner. The trope was very […]

(Note: Though this episode was published June 6 2025, it was recorded in the late summer of 2024.) We might think of peace as simply the absence of war. But some scholars and advocates argue that peace isn’t just passive, and it isn’t simply the absence of conflict. Instead, peace is a process that must […]

In this episode, Jill interviews Dr. Dennis Waskul and Michelle Anklan on their study of women’s perceptions and uses of the vibrator. Dennis and Michelle share their research into the somewhat complicated historical relationship the vibrator has with feminist thought, and the ways in which women in the second decade of the 21st century think […]

In this episode, Jill talks to Dr. Simone Natale about his research into the legacy of the Turing Test, and the ways in which this test for artificial intelligence has influenced subsequent AI research. Simone argues that the Turing Test is not so much a test of intelligence (though it is often framed as such) […]

In this episode, Jill interviews Dr. Michael Barnes on his research into online extremism. Michael identifies two different but related paths by which online platforms contribute to the radicalization of individuals and communities: the individual route, and the social route. Lastly, Michael discusses why platforms struggle with moderating and blocking hate speech and other harmful […]

Feminist philosophers have been writing about shaming and moral reproach for decades, but some of the theories and ideas about the moral justification for, and efficacy of, shaming don’t necessarily work when we’re talking about online shaming. In this episode, Jill interview Dr. Celia Edell about her research into online shaming. We’ll talk about what […]

Chatbots purporting to help us with our mental health are nothing new, and have been around since the 1960’s. But they are growing in prevalence. In this episode Jill interviews Rachel Katz on her research into AI facilitated psychotherapy bots. Jill and Rachel examine what a therapy chatbot can and cannot do, and what some […]

In this episode, Jill interviews Dr. Iqra Cheema about her edited collection The Other MeToo’s. The MeToo movement is a massive feminist phenomenon that swept around the globe and across many different social media platforms. But it took different forms, and carried different connotations depending on the social locations of the people participating. Dr. Cheema […]

Hi everyone. Just a quick announcement that we are rebranding here for Season 3. If you tend to get this podcast directly from the website, here is the new URL for Cyborg Goddess! https://cyborggoddess.opened.ca/ And we because X(Twitter) is getting a bit too dystopian for my taste, you can now find us at : CyborgGoddess.bsky.social […]

“Gender, Sex and Tech: Continuing the Conversation” has become “Cyborg Goddess”. We publish 6 episodes a year. We hope you’ll join us!