Electronic Technologies and the Subversion of Family Power in Postmodern Drama: A Study of Jennifer Haley's The Nether

Set in a near-future virtual reality where existential threats have eroded the very fabric of society, Jennifer Haley's The Nether (2013) interrogates how familial structures and ethical boundaries are corrupted as digital spaces increasingly blur the lines between the physical and the virtual. Using a post-human feminist lens, the paper aims at analyzing the disruption of conventional family power structures through electronic technologies in Haley's The Nether. Based on post-humanist theories, especially on the notion of cyborg presented by Donna Haraway and the critical post-humanism of Rosi Braidotti, the paper provides a context for the play within the larger national and international discourses over gender, technology, and the ethics that shape the popular critical debates on post-human identity and agency. In conclusion, the paper contends that The Nether highlights the need for critical scrutiny of how technology shapes our connections with others and advocates a feminist refashioning of power dynamics in virtual reality.