Our bodies mediate every interaction with technology, yet - as soma design and feminist HCI remind us - the body is not a neutral canvas. We introduce and examine felt asymmetries - somaesthetic experiences of difference in the body - as a site for generative and critical engagement in interaction design. Through an autobiographical design exploration, and a series of somatic explorations with nine designers including individual inquiries and workshops, we sensitised to, articulated, and shared personal experiences of asymmetry. We draw from these explorations to contribute: (1) Opening a design space exploring the aesthetics of felt asymmetries; (2) Reflections on engaging with asymmetry in design, e.g. as a design material, an estrangement activity or doorway into intimate experience; (3) Considerations for creating technologies that resonate with, rather than erase, the asymmetries of lived experience. We argue that bodily asymmetries are not only to be accommodated in design, but embraced as aesthetic resources - sources of joy, tension, and creativity.

How should we design for consent? Consent is commonly integrated into products and interactions as binary, static, transactional, and something that should be recorded rather than discussed. Through a Research through Design process, we respond to a call to translate conceptual framings of consent into concrete artifacts and interactions in the context of digital contraception. We contribute with the Consentful Lights, a set of artifacts that enable partners to access intimate fertility data in a co-located setting through play and touch; inviting them to participate in a consentful interaction that is embodied, dynamic, explicit, and shared. Through an in-the-lab exploration of the Consentful Lights, we find that they have the potential to nurture a consentful moment and allow for deterring non-consensual access to intimate data. We conclude with a discussion on the need to pluralize the design of consentful interactions and a reflection on embedding feminist values into design artifacts.

Ever since the introduction of internet technologies in South Korea, digital sexual violence (DSV) has been a persistent and pervasive problem. Evolving alongside digital technologies, the severity and scale of violence have grown consistently, leading to widespread public concern. In this paper, we present four eras of image-based DSV in South Korea, spanning from the early internet era of the 1990s to the deepfake scandals in the mid-2020s. Drawing from media coverage, legal documents, and academic literature, we elucidate forms and characteristics of DSV cases in each era, tracing how entrenched misogyny is reconfigured and amplified through evolving technologies, alongside shifting legislative measures. Taking a genealogical approach to read prominent cases of different eras, our analysis identifies three constitutive and interconnected dimensions of DSV: (1) the homo-social fabrication of “obscenity”, wherein victims’ imagery becomes collectively framed as obscene through participatory practices in male-dominant networks; (2) the increasing imperceptibility of violence, as technologies foreclose victims’ ability to perceive harm; and (3) the commercialization of abuse through decentralized economic infrastructures. We suggest future directions for CSCW research, and further reflect on the value of the genealogical method in enabling non-linear understanding of DSV as dynamically evolving sociotechnical configurations of harm.

We present a qualitative interview study that examines what happens when things do not go as planned with digital contraception. Through an analysis of 27 interviews with ongoing users of digital contraception at the time of the study, we convey participants' accounts of their experiences regarding unplanned pregnancies or use of emergency contraception to avoid an unplanned pregnancy. Our analysis considers participants' sense-making processes, and notably how they attended to questions of risk and responsibility. Finally, we depict how these participants came to continue using digital contraception after these experiences. Our study connects to ongoing conversations on technological failures in personal informatics and safety-critical systems. We emphasise that failure and success should not be used as a binary classification of long-term users' relationships with self-tracking technology, which are intimate and critical. Rather, the sustained relation with an intimate technology is composed by several failures' which are interpreted, acted upon, and, ultimately, overcome.

Kuddi is a haptic data physicalisation in the form of a soft pillow which combines 12 inflatable pockets to dynamically touch and be touched in relation to the changing menstruating body. This paper presents the soma design process that led to Kuddi's design, as well as Kuddi's evaluation through an auto-ethnographic approach, where the first author lived with Kuddi for two menstrual cycles. The resulting dataset was analysed by the research team using a narrative-led approach. Based on this analysis, we present five thick descriptions that capture how the experience of living with Kuddi led to a changing relation with menstrual pain. We contribute a design case of a haptic data physicalisation intended to touch the body and discuss how the material and interaction design choices embodied in Kuddi led to data visceralisation - a way of feeling data in ways which promote new somatic knowledge and experience.

As CSCW research increasingly engages with communities, sensitive topics, and participatory methods, the emotional and ethical labor carried by researchers demands greater attention. While care ethics, affective labor, and feminist methodologies have gained ground within CSCW, conversations around researcher care remain limited and often informal. This SIG will explore the challenges and support needed to undertake emotionally demanding research journeys, particularly given the increasing distress and conflict in the global geopolitical landscape. We invite researchers to reflect on and share practices, challenges, and imaginaries of care for ourselves and our collaborators, alongside our participants. By underscoring the importance of researcher care and fostering a supportive network, this SIG aims to strengthen the resilience of the CSCW community.

This studio explores methods for prototyping with and for intimate and sexual experiences, focusing on a diversity of bodies and understandings of pleasure. We aim to both explore how to communicate people's somatic (sexual) profiles while engaging in creative making processes. Participants will engage in a full day workshop consisting of three distinct phases: trying out methods for representing somatic experiences, tangible ideation and making, and group reflections. Through these activities, we not only aim to enhance individual awareness of erotic bodies but also share advice and experiences on how to design for sexual experiences from feminist and intersectional perspectives. This studio seeks to promote inclusivity and challenge normative beliefs about sexual bodies, designing for intimacy and contributing to a more equitable discourse on pleasure. computer interaction (HCI); Interactive systems and tools; Interaction design; Interaction design process and methods; Activity centered design.

Digital contraceptives are intimate technologies that support their users, and their partners, in preventing pregnancy. These technologies rely on basal body temperature data to predict ovulation and calculate a fertile window, where there is a risk of pregnancy if partners have unprotected sex. Although their use is shared and relational, these technologies are mainly designed for a primary user — the person who can become pregnant. We turn our attention to secondary users of digital contraception (i.e., sexual partners), specifically, Natural Cycles. We investigate how secondary users are designed for and how primary users imagine them to be. We contribute empirical insights on how secondary users are and are not involved in digital contraception and conclude with three design proposals describing how digital contraception tools could be designed to involve secondary users. We discuss how designing for secondary users of intimate technologies requires balancing their potential as co-users and adversaries. 

Menstrual discomfort is a prevalent, diverse, and cyclical lived experience, impacting everyday lives. However, in HCI, it has been mostly approached as a data point, leaving much unknown on how technologies can care for these experiences. In response, we designed Touchware, a collection of on-body touch probes with pneumatic shape-change and weight components, which invite wearers to engage with and care for their menstrual discomfort. We report on the participatory soma design process of making Touchware and its two-week-long deployment study with 6 participants in a workplace setting. Our data analysis highlights diffuse and lingering qualities of menstrual discomfort, shedding light on how technologies may touch bodies in vulnerable states. We discuss the importance and challenges of designing touch technologies for and with bodies in the moments of menstrual discomfort. We conclude with a reflection on the agency of touch and its potential to support the self-care labour and nurturing the radical normalization of rest.

Feminist research highlights the urgent need to challenge the oppressive design of commercial intimate technologies, particularly how the FemTech industry restricts access to intimate bodily knowledge through paywalls and proprietary systems. Yet, for decades, women and marginalized communities have turned to Do-It-Yourself (DIY) or ‘hacking’ practices to reclaim control over their own gynecology and intimate health, addressing gaps often ignored by medical research and healthcare. Inspired by visual themes from these movements, this pictorial critically explores how designers and HCI researchers might advance DIY approaches to intimate technologies. We exemplify this with reflections from a series of workshops on handmade intimate sensors, and draw out the joyful potential of collaborative making—building alliances, destigmatizing intimate health, and using craft to subvert gender stereotypes. We discuss matters of safety when making together and contribute to ongoing work on building feminist makerspaces.