Communication Design Quarterly Sep 2015

reVITALize gynecology

Maria Novotny

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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Topics
qualitative research multimodality technical communication gender and writing multilingual writers

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

Cites in this index (3)

  1. Owens (2009)
    Confronting Rhetorical Disability
    Written Communication
  2. Koerber (2006)
    Rhetorical Agency, Resistance, and the Disciplinary Rhetorics of Breastfeeding
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Grabill et al. (1998)
    Toward a critical rhetoric of risk communication: Producing citizens and the ro…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
Also cites 8 works outside this index ↓
  1. Bordo S. (2003). Unbearable weight: Feminism Western culture and the body. Berkeley: University of California…
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  2. 10.1093/humupd/dmr015
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  3. 10.1007/s10912-014-9275-7
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  4. Koerber A. (2013). Breast or Bottle?: Contemporary Controversies in Infant-Feeding Policy and Practice. Unive…
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  5. Kreps G. L. & Neuhauser L. (2010). New directions in eHealth communication: opportunities and challenges. Pat…
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  6. Murphy M. (2012). Seizing the means of reproduction. Durham: Duke University Press. Murphy M. (2012). Seizin…
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  8. 10.1007/s10912-014-9277-5
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CrossRef global citation count: 5 View in citation network →

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