Communication Design Quarterly Sep 2015 Open Access

reVITALize gynecology: reimagining apparent feminism's methodology in participatory health intervention projects

Maria Novotny Michigan State University

Abstract

As state and federal legislation continues to regulate women's reproductive health, it follows that the field of technical communication must continue to develop methodologies to facilitate stakeholder participation in health policymaking practices. Scott's (2003) scholarship on HIV testing and his "ethic of responsiveness" serve as a foundation for methods to broaden stakeholder participation. Yet, as current legislation attempts to regulate health decisions of female bodies, more explicit feminist methods inviting feminist perspectives to resist such anti-feminist legislation must be developed. Frost's (2013, 2014a, 2014b) apparent feminism serves as a useful methodology that builds upon Scott's methods to enact feminist interventional methods. This article provides a case study of the reVITALize Gynecology infertility initiative, a health intervention project that appears to function as an ally of apparent feminism. Applying an apparent feminist analysis to the initiative reveals limitations of the project's feminist commitments. To address the limitations of the initiative, the article articulates the need to expand apparent feminism's methodology by accounting for stakeholder participation throughout health intervention projects. This article posits that expanding feminist approaches to designing public stakeholder input is vital to upholding technical communication's commitment to advocacy and an ethical feminist commitment to facilitating spaces for all citizens to contribute as public intellectuals.

Journal
Communication Design Quarterly
Published
2015-09-17
DOI
10.1145/2826972.2826978
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Open Access
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Topics
technical communication qualitative research gender and writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Swartz (2024)
    Biodigital Literacy through Intimate Data: User Perceptions of FemTech and Pelv…
    Communication Design Quarterly
  2. Swartz (2024)
    Biodigital Literacy through Intimate Data: User Perceptions of FemTech and Pelv…
    Communication Design Quarterly

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