| Summary: | The fact that technological revolutions have a large impact on the way we conduct war is a commonly accepted fact, but is it the technological innovations themselves? Or is the way we perceive them? One aspect not commonly considered is the impact of gendered preconceptions. This study aims to explore the theory of underestimation of military technology considered feminine presented by Lauren Wilcox, by studying discursive presentations of the UAVs and their pilots in three articles. The results of this study are twofold. Firstly, UAVs and their crews are associated with masculine attributes to a low degree, although there seem to be a difference between the crew and the UAV itself. Secondly, the discursive approach to UAVs share similar traits with the early opinions of the machine gun and airplane described by Wilcox. Conclusively, this study indicates that there may be a connection between gendered attributes and discursive approaches to new military technology, although more research on the discursive discrepancy between craft and crew is required.
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