Touching and Being in Touch with the Menstruating Body
2020 (English)In: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) , 2020Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]
We describe a Research through Design project-Curious Cycles-A collection of objects and interactions which encourage people to be in close contact with their menstruating body. Throughout a full menstrual cycle, five participants used Curious Cycles to look at their bodies in unfamiliar ways and to touch their bodily fluids, specifically, menstrual blood, saliva, and cervical mucus. The act of touching and looking led to the construction of new knowledge about the self and to a nurturing appreciation for the changing body. Yet, participants encountered and reflected upon frictions within themselves, their home, and their social surroundings, which stem from societal stigma and preconceptions about menstruation and bodily fluids. We call for and show how interaction design can engage with technologies that mediate self-touch as a first step towards reconfiguring the way menstruating bodies are treated in society.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) , 2020.
Keywords [en]
feminist hci, menstrual cycles, menstruation, research through design, touching, women's health, Human engineering, Cervical mucus, Design projects, Interaction design, Menstrual cycle, Body fluids
National Category
Human Computer Interaction
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-301717DOI: 10.1145/3313831.3376471ISI: 000695438100143Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85090501855OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-301717DiVA, id: diva2:1593386
Conference
The ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI),Honolulu HI USA April 25 - 30, 2020
Note
QC 20211011
Proceedings ISBN 9781450367080
2021-09-132021-09-132024-01-10Bibliographically approved