Beauty Queen, Bulletin Board and Browser: Rescripting the refrigerator

Abstract

An integral element of most British kitchens, refrigerators support daily practices of social reproduction, but tend to blend almost unnoticed into the background. Drawing in particular on feminist social theorists and historians of technology, my research pays critical attention to mundane objects, domestic practices and the stories that they tell. This paper pauses to take a closer look at a usually unobtrusive appliance in, on and around which much of kitchen life plays out. I examine processes of domesticating, gendering, appropriating and rescripting the refrigerator. I consider how associations with women's traditional responsibilities for feeding, nourishing and caring feminise the fridge, how 'scripts' for objects and technologies encourage users to behave in certain ways, but also how those scripts can be rewritten. Looking at the sometimes unexpected ways in which technologies evolve, I note that as well as being an instrument for preserving food, the fridge has become normalised as a notice board for household communication, creative self-expression and display. I then turn to the metaphorical rescripting of 'the fridge door' and its translation into virtual space to explore how the refrigerator has come to represent an accessible and participatory space for multiple voices and diverse knowledges.