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This Woman Just Figured Out How to Control Sperm with Her Brain

Ani Liu

For transdisciplinary artist Ani Liu, working in science and technology has provided a way for her to explore the intersection between research, culture, and implications of emerging technologies. Currently completing her Master's degree at MIT Media Lab, most of Liu's work involves what she calls "speculative storytelling."

Liu has long reflected on the role of the female body in the history of politics and patriarchal control. But two particular moments especially hit home for her: last October, when she heard Trump's now notorious leaked recording in which he advocates for sexually assaulting a woman; and in January, when Trump signed an executive action that reinstated the global gag rule, which forbids foreign NGOs that receive US funding from so much as speaking about abortion. These moments in succession, she said, led her to investigate the interwoven forces that shape our perceptions of gender and how they create a biased illusion of normality. This culminated in her recent project, "Mind Controlled Sperm: Women of STEAM Grabs Back."

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