Designing Speculative
Futures for Feminism:
The Role of Designers
and Participants In the
Exploration of
Social Movements
Christina White
2015

1

THESIS ESSAY SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL
FULFULLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE OF MASTER OF DESIGN AT EMILY CARR
UNIVERSITY OF ART + DESIGN, 2015

“Feminism is difficult. If you’re
doing it right, it should be challenging
you, stretching you, and making you
uncomfortable.” - (Uwujaren & Utt, 2015)

ABSTRACT

This thesis explores the potential of textiles
and worn or consumer based product based
artifacts as means to incite discussion and
reflection on the frequent redefining and
recontextualizing of the term ‘feminism’
in North American society. To that end, it

reviews academic literature and examples
of North American popular culture that
pertain to both positive and negative uses of
the word, and subsequently designs satirical
artifacts to break down contemporary
feminist discourse and gain an understanding
of the polarizing theories within the
movement. Phase one includes artifacts
created by myself, the designer, while phase
two and three contain artifacts created
through collaboration and discussion with
participants. This body of work describes
an evolving generative model in which the
designer acts first as an instigator of designed
content, to a facilitator of speculative cocreation that draws on participants’ abilities
to create narratives and ‘re-imagine’
garments and finally to designer as reactive
speculator where participant created artifacts
are expanded upon in order to open up sites
for further discussion and future actions.
keywords: feminism; co-creation; speculative
design; design for social innovation; critical
artifacts.

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Language is a medium of communication
that allows us to categorize, objectify,
obscure, or abstract the world around us.
While it provides us with structure, it also
tightly connects us to societal conventions,
which are not always egalitarian in nature.
This is particularly relevant as it pertains to
the persistence of socially imposed gender
disparities - both genders are consistently
victimized by the use of negative value
judgments and derogatory terms based
on appearance, personality, beliefs, or
perceived status in relation to their gender.
In contemporary society, feminist groups
have long attempted to address this issue.
Despite this, changes in North American
society’s characterization of women and men
have been insufficient to rectify the problem.
Further, over the past decade the term
‘feminist’ has itself become largely pejorative
due to the movement’s lack of cohesive
direction and disconnection with prior
definitions, as well as various stereotypes
associated with the ideology.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract 		
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Glossary		
Introduction 		
Design Aim
Phase 1: Designer as Instigator		
a. Methodology
b. Pantsuit Exploration & Deconstruction
c. Feminist Leading the People		
d. Feminist Barbie and Ken Dolls
e. Intersectional fabric
f. Glitches – Abrasive exploration
g. Juxtaposing voices posters
h. Phase 1 Conclusion
Phase 2: Designer as Facilitator
a. Methodology
b. Findings
		
i. Make activity findings
		
ii. Say activity findings
c. Phase 2 Conclusion
Phase 3: Designer as Reactive Speculator
a. Feminist Guides
		
i. Methodology
		
ii. Process
		
iii. Reflection
b. Future Feminism Role-play Game
		
i. Methodology
		ii. Process
		iii. Reflection

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4
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7
10
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23
29
34
41
44
47
49
54
58
61
67
69
70
72
73
81
82
83
91

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92
95
106
108

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Conclusion
Annotated Bibliography
Appendices
a. Graduation Exhibition Photos

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to express my deepest
appreciation to my thesis advisor, Hélène
Day Fraser, who without her guidance and
support in both this thesis and me none of
this would have been possible.
I would like to thank my family for
supporting me in my determination to find
and realize my potential within the past two
years. I would not have been able to complete
this thesis without the continuous love and
encouragement received!
I would like to thank my friends who have
provided so much emotional and practical
support throughout this thesis. Thank you for
making me feel like I had a cheer squad from
across the country rooting for me!
Finally, I would like to thank the staff and
my peers at Emily Carr University of Art
+ Design for the countless conversations,
books, and critiques we’ve shared, without
you all I would not have developed my body
of work to what it is now.

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GLOSSARY
Allegory: a symbolic representation that
stands for ideas about human life or for a
political or historical situation (MerriamWebster Online).
Cosplayer: a person who partakes in the art
or practice of wearing costumes to portray
characters from fiction (such as cartoons,
comics, science fiction, movies, animes,
mangas, television shows) (Dictionary.com).

*

Note: The following definitions will also appear within
the document upon the word’s first appearance within the
document in footnote form.

Gendered garments: pieces of clothing that
are socially and culturally connected and
enforce the gender binary (Paoletti, 2012).
Glitch art: A type of art that uses software
to intentionally disrupt the information
contained within a visual file to create a
different looking visual file (Geere, 2012).

7

Intersectionality: examines how biological,
social, and cultural categories such as:
Commodity fetishism: transforms the
gender, class, race, ability, location, culture,
subjective, abstract aspects of economic value sexual orientation, religion, and other axes
into objective, real things that people believe of identity interact on different levels and
have intrinsic value. (Felluga, 2011)
contribute to both social inequality and
injustice (Carastathis, 2014).
Data: within the context of this thesis refers
to the creative and qualitative findings derived Irony: is a tool that can be used to express
from the co-creative activity.
a meaning that is opposite to what is
understood or expected (Merriam-Webster
Egalitarian: a belief in human equality
Online).
especially with respect to social, political, and
economic affairs (Merriam-Webster Online).
Patriarchy: a system of society or
government in which men hold the power
Fourth wave feminism: the most recent
and women are largely excluded from it.
wave of feminism (the rise of the internet
(Dictionary.com)
- present day), which is characterized by its
intersectional nature and tendency to call
Pantsuit: a woman’s suit consisting of a
attention to instances of sexism and micro
jacket and pants that are often made of the
politics within public rhetoric spaces (Munro, same material; coordinate (Merriam-Webster
2013).
Online).

Privilege Theory: is the sociological concept
that some groups of people have advantages
relative to other groups based on their race,
gender, age, sexual orientation, disability and
social class (Twine, 2013) .

Tessellated repeat: a pattern arranged in or
having the appearance of a mosaic, where the
graphic element interlocks in such a way that
there are no overlays or uneven whitespace
(Dictionary.com).

Radical school: feminism based on the
thought that posits a comprehensive and
transformational shift in paradigm is required
to end sexism and the oppression of all
women (Hooks, 2000).

White privilege: deals with the notion that
certain voices are discredited based on their
race, while Caucasian voices are credited
(Hooks, 2000).

Reformist school: feminism that seeks to
overcome sexism and patriarchy through the
gradual promotion of gender equality and
women’s rights within the current paradigm
(Hooks, 2000).
Role-playing: To assume deliberately the part
or role of another person or character; to act
out (Dictionary.com)
Satire: is a tool that can be used within
critical design as a way of using humour to
critique the everyday (Dunne & Raby, 2013).
Table-talk role-play game: a form of
role-playing in which participants describe
their characters’ actions through speech.
Participants base those actions on their
characters’ personality traits (Kim, 2008).

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9

INTRODUCTION
Feminism and Social Change

Since the creation of the feminist movement
there has been a strong divide between
two polarizing schools of thought: radical
thinkers and reformist thinkers. In North
America, the reformist school of feminism
seeks to overcome sexism and patriarchy
through the gradual promotion of gender
equality and women’s rights, while the
radical school posits that a comprehensive
and transformational shift in cultural and
societal paradigms is required (Hooks, 2000).
The mass media tends to focus on ideas
from the reformist school of thought when
discussing feminism, presenting a feminism
that wishes to alter the existing patriarchal
structure (Hooks, 2000). The current
definition of the term feminist as “a person
who believes in the political, economic
and social equality of the sexes” (MerriamWebster Online) corroborates this perspective.
It is important to recognize however, that
throughout the past decade this definition has
come under fire for being culturally loaded
with misconceptions and myths.

2. Feminists hate men, blame men for
hundreds of years of oppressive behaviour,
and think that all men are malevolent or
morally reprehensible, or that “all men
are rapists”.
3. Feminists are angry and combative, and
often use sensationalist rhetoric at the
expense of accuracy in order to provoke
public interest or excitement.
4. Feminists are usually lesbian.
5. Feminists victimize women.
6. Feminists not concerned with men’s
issues, such as the victimization of men, the
pressure to conform to masculine ideologies,
and men’s rights.
7. Feminists are unfeminine in manner and
appearance, and are unattractive.

1. Only women can be feminists.

Due to layers of misrepresentation and
negative stereotypes, the dictionary
definition of the word no longer aligns with
the social and cultural understanding of
feminism, which has lead to the term being
used in the pejorative context (Redfern &
Aune, 2010). It has also resulted in a lack
of cohesive usage of the term ‘feminist’.

Radical school: feminism based on the thought that posits
a comprehensive and transformational shift in paradigm is
required to end sexism and the oppression of all women
(Hooks, 2000).

Reformist school: feminism that seeks to overcome sexism
and patriarchy through the gradual promotion of gender
equality and women’s rights within the current paradigm
(Hooks, 2000).

Current feminist stereotypes and
misrepresentations include (Kim, 2012):

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just about equality. In our online social
spaces, such as the websites Tumblr, Youtube,
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, and
other blogs, individuals can now create and
share their own versions and interpretations
of feminism. Individuals can expound upon
their opinions of current feminism, incite
These online movements, which address
discussions with others, and call attention
various misconceptions, have allowed for
to perceived injustices within events in the
members of the feminist movement to
media or everyday life. Through the capacity
engage in the conversation by providing a
for others to comment on or respond to these
platform that encompasses different types of posts, groups and individuals can debate and
feminist thought. Conversations that have
converse about feminism. Blogs and content
been occurring online include critiques and
tags such as ‘WomenAgainstFeminism’ and
arguments about the role of feminism in
‘WhoNeedsFeminism’, in which individuals
rape culture, race issues, gender binaries,
are encouraged to challenge and question the
sustainability, oppressed groups’ rights, and
current understanding of feminism, illustrate
many other socio-political issues. The broad an emerging dichotomy in the digital space.
range of concerns and contexts that these
As a result of this counter-movement,
conversations cover has caused contemporary online debates often escalate towards a more
feminism to encompass “intersectionality
aggressive response, often leading discussion
– the idea that different axes of oppression
towards the more radical approach to
intersect, producing complex and often
feminism (Ham, 2014).
contradictory results” (Munro, 2013). While
online forums have had a positive effect of
While the multifaceted feminist model
connecting feminists, they have also lead to
described above is inclusionary and
the decentralization of feminist thought.
encompasses more people than the relatively
As the personal manifestos of proclaimed
closed realm of academic discourse, its
feminists no longer automatically align
disorganization has led to widespread
with the intent, methods, or approaches of
confusion. The intent of the current
reformist feminism – feminism is no longer
feminist movement’s agenda is unclear

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Online movements such as #YesAllWomen,
#WomenAgainstFeminism, #FemFuture,
#HeForShe, and satirical responses such as
‘Confused Cats Against Feminism’ as well
several feminist memes are indicative of this
trend (O’Neil, 2014).

(Boesveld, 2014). In the media, the usage
of the term and its denotative meanings
can vary significantly depending on the
media provider’s stance, and recently many
outlets have used samples from these online
movements to justify feminist stereotypes
while discussing women’s issues (Kahn &
Goldenberg, 1991)
It is clear that feminism has become an
important topic for the mainstream media
due to the amount of coverage it is receiving
(Brodsky, 2014). Pop culture icons such
as Beyoncé, Emma Watson, Taylor Swift
and Lorde are allowing for a “shift in how
pop stars – and their fan armies – think
about feminism, particularly young women
who rarely hear an accurate portrayal of
feminism outside of a classroom” (Brodsky,
2014). While the media has enabled this
conversation to occur, some outlets have
moved to ban the word entirely. In their
annual “Words That Should be Banned” poll,
TIME Magazine (Steinmetz, 2014) stated that
“feminism” should be prohibited alongside
phrases such as “yolo” and “yaaaas”,
indicating significant backlash against the
increased usage of the term. TIME later
apologized for the term’s inclusion in the
poll and edited their post, stating that they
intended to draw attention to the way in

which the term had been used rather than to
cast down the term itself. (Steinmetz, 2014)
Design and Social Change

Within current design discourse two
examples of approaches that aim to affect
behaviour are Critical Design and Design for
Social Innovation. Both address social issues
and work towards affecting cultural and
societal paradigm shifts.
Critical Design takes the tack of translating
critical thought into materiality. Here
thinking through difficult topics is done
via the production of designed artifacts.
The language of design is used to engage
and challenge people think to think about
their everyday lives in new ways - to raise
awareness of alternatives. This is often done
by envisioning and proposing alternatives
that make strange (Dunne & Raby, 2013)
and defamiliarize existing everyday
objects (G. Bell et al, 2005). Designers
achieve this through the use of: satire and
critique, inspiration, reflection, highbrow
entertainment, aesthetic explorations, and
speculation about possible futures and
catalysts for change (Dunne & Raby, 2013).
For Critical Design to be successful, viewers
need to be given cues that trigger both their

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imagination and their intellect (Dunne &
Raby, 2013). The designer must be able to
enable viewers and participants: to imagine
an alternate future for the issue at hand; to
challenge their existing values, ideals, and
beliefs on the subject.

and enable viewers to speculate and envision
how radical change can affect their views on
social, political, and cultural issues (Hillgren
et al., 2011).
The Designer’s Role in
relation to the North American

Fourth wave feminism: the most recent wave of feminism
(the rise of the internet - present day), which is characterized
by its intersectional nature and tendency to call attention to
instances of sexism and micro politics within public rhetoric
spaces (Munro, 2013).

Feminist movement

In this thesis I seek to leverage Critical
Design’s notion of speculative artifacts as a
means of social critique, as well as Design for
Social Innovation’s notions of prototyping
and the role of the participant. Through these
approaches, I plan to address, work through,
and attempt to catalyze answers for the
questions that I have begun to ask within my
design hypothesis.
I posit that designers can use speculative
design methods as a means of rethinking
the change that is occurring within North
American rhetoric pertaining to: the fourth
wave feminism; the validity of the word
‘feminist’ in contemporary society; and the
potential future of feminist thought. As
designers, we should be facilitating dialogue
that enables North American society to
critique and question the status quo. This
assertion brings several pertinent questions to
the fore:

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Design for Social Innovation recognizes
that complex problems cannot be addressed
from a single point of view, and that it is
important to place the user at the center of
the process (Burns et al., 2006). When Design
is applied to Social Innovation the designer
moves from taking on the role of the author
of content and ideas to facilitator of others’
ideas (Burns et al., 2006). Participatory design
within social innovation pays attention to
‘weaker’ voices and social exclusion (Burns et
al., 2006). The nature of this intent demands
more than a short design intervention (Burns
et al., 2006). Within this practice designers
do not create a final end result. Rather, they
seek to catalyze an emergent system that
will continue to change and re-configure
after they have left the scene (Burns et al.,
2006). Prototypes produced within Social
Innovation interventions take on the role
of “vehicles able to question and highlight
controversies and dilemmas” (Hillgren et al.,
2011). Similar to Critical Design the artifacts
created through this process can encourage

1. Can designers effectively use current
feminist reformist ideologies, such as
adjusting and challenging our current
understanding of sexism and inequality,
within the current North American sociocultural paradigm?

culture and academic discussions around: the
potential need for a defined feminist image
(Felski, 1989) the need for intersectionality
(Carastathis, 2014) the multiple identities
of feminist women of colour and how they
are portrayed (Sanchez-Hucles, et. Al, 2012)
and radical feminist strategies for change
2. Should designers aid in speculating more
(Bridgeman, 2011). As a self-identified
radical feminist ideologies such as revolts and feminist and designer, this social/ cultural/
other forms of activist critiques of current
political condition is relevant and permeates
North American feminist discourse to incite a my everyday life. As with most of North
total paradigm shift?
American society I frequent online sources
on a daily basis. My routes and the spaces I
3. Can designers help people to get past a
frequent online demonstrate repeatedly that
whole range of misconceptions evident in
feminist discourse is changing rapidly and
the media and academia regarding current
that an intervention or critical discussion is
feminist discourse?
needed in order to incite a paradigm shift so
that sexism is no longer socially or culturally
4. Can designers provide forums that allow
acceptable.
participants and viewers to play, imagine, and
speculate the future of feminism through
As a communications designer I wish to
making?
utilize both my critical design and visual
communication skills to aid in this critical
dialogue. My research explores the use of
worn artifacts and critical design strategies,
such as mimicry and satire, as methods for
Contemporary literature and media
rethinking, redefining, and challenging the
exhibits an extensive lack of cohesion in the
word ‘feminist’ and notions of feminism. It
feminist movement. The re-signification
further seeks to allow others to participate in
and appropriation of the term feminist is
the discussion around the future use of the
drastically altering and accelerating both pop term, and develops a model to facilitate and

DESIGN AIM

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figure 1: illustrates Designer
as Instigator

Designer as Instigator

Phase one describes the initial stages of my
work, which revolved around collecting
data and assessing the problem space. This
phase of work allowed me to gain a better
understanding of the issues within the past
decade of feminism. In doing so I was able to
pinpoint and focus on the two major issues
within North America’s fourth wave, those
being intersectionality and privilege. After
I had identified the two issues main issues
within the current movement I was able to
continue to investigate the current and prior
understanding of both issues through reading
both academic and pop culture literature. I
consistently visually reacted to what I was

reading through acts of making. While my
making was primarily reactionary in nature,
the explorations in this phase encouraged
me to examine the potential of both textilebased and consumer-based products . I
used these to critique the approaches I
had identified within feminism: reformist
feminism, radical feminism and the use
of stereotypes that attempt to explain and
combat intersectionality and privilege. With
the use of satire, I was able to create artifacts
that allowed me to visualize and challenge
the existing visual representations of privilege
and intersectionality. From this making,
I was able to gain further insights that
allowed me to illustrate how designers can
research through design to obtain a holistic
understanding of current feminism. This
new found knowledge enabled me to begin
to formulate a co-creative session as a means
to explore the potential of eliciting new
perspectives and design responses by inviting
others into my creative work space.

figure 2: illustrates Designer
as Facilitator
15

encourage such discussion. To that end, this
thesis is broken down into three phases, each
of which builds upon prior phases:

Designer as Facilitator

Phase two details a shift in focus away
from my own isolated acts of making.
In striving to connect my problem space
with the perspective of others and create a
more inclusive space to discuss feminism,
I designed and facilitated a speculative
co-creation session. The objective of this
session was to prompt participants to create,
play, deconstruct, and re-imagine women’s
clothing within the context of the feminist
issues I was attempting to tackle. Participants
intuitively engaged in creative re-assembly
of clothing that resembled dress up games of
children and involved their own self-driven
creation of fictional characters. Through
this body of work I was able to incite a
continuation of my own making activities
that occurred in phase one. This provided
new perspectives and changed up several of
my previous assumptions about work that ties
feminist concerns and designers potential to
activate these concerns.

figure 3: illustrates Designer as
Relative Speculator

a series of conceptual futures (Bosch, 2012).
Derived from the re-imaged garments and
conversations with participants of the cocreative study, the fictional personas, designed
outcomes and their fictional situational
placement are intended to act as further
mediators of feminism. The final product of
this phase was the creation of character cards
for a fictional feminist role-playing game,
where players could choose a character card
to act through a narrative told to them as
the character, similar to the role-playing that
occurs in games like Dungeons and Dragons.

The aim of this phase was to explore the
capacity of the designer as speculator and
the role of the designed artifact as a means
of pulling existing content, which is already
conversational in nature, into further sites
of discussion. Design in this instance takes
on the role of creating foci that allow
both participants and other designers to
Designer as Reactive Speculator
move beyond situations that privilege both
reformist and radical feminist discourse
Phase three consists of a body of work
towards the fostering of ideologies and
where the created ‘re-imagined’ garments
discussions that push the boundaries of
and created characters derived from the cocurrent discourse into a more positive and
creative study were applied to the design of
clear critical space over the long-term.
Data: within the context of this thesis refers to the creative
and qualitative findings derived from the co-creative activity.
16

1
PHASE 1: Designer as
Instigator
visualizing and challenging
stereotypes;
authoring;

17

understanding through making.

1A. METHODOLOGY
Phase one presents the methodological
approach that allowed me to gain a better
overall understanding of current feminist
discourse. Figure 1 illustrates the process
I took to create each artifact. The cycle is
broken down into four stages: incubating,
identifying key concerns and approaches,
reacting, and reflecting. Each activity is
explained below.

INCUBATING

of information about the current feminist
movement: its ties to prior movements; its
relation to pop culture, feminist and antifeminist theories; current usages of the term
feminist; and current contexts / sites of
discussion and action. This was achieved by:
frequenting online forums, reading online
articles and academic journals, reviewing
feminist theory books and papers, having
conversations with feminists and nonfeminists, collecting visuals, and creating
mind maps.
Identifying (noticing and
applying key concerns and

IDENTIFYING:
KEY CONCERNS

REFLECTING

IDENTIFYING:

KEY APPROACHES

figure 4: The four-stage process
used in phase one.

Incubating (collecting and
initial synthesis of primary
research):

The incubation stage was a means for me
to collect and map out a significant amount

approaches):

Once I had a more solid understanding of
the current feminist discourse I was able to
identify key areas of exploration through
mind mapping. The two main areas of
potential exploration within current feminist
discourse that arose were privilege theory
and intersectionality. Upon further research
through reading modern social theorists
and online forums, it became evident that
there were three approaches that individuals
took while discussing the two issues, those
approaches being the use of: radical feminist
ideologies, reformist feminist ideologies, and
stereotypes. As both privilege theory and

18

Privilege Theory: is the sociological concept that some groups
of people have advantages relative to other groups based on
their race, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability and social
class (Twine, 2013) .

intersectionality are large multifaceted social
issues within feminism, I was able to create a
large generative exploration space for myself.
Here I was able to produce artifacts that
could critique the multifaceted issues as well
as my own process through reflection and
iteration.
As a start to this process, I visually
surveyed contemporary visuals created
from the feminist movement. I achieved
this by collecting images from the online
forums where feminist and anti-feminist
discourse was occurring, such as Reddit’s
r/feminism thread (Reddit Inc., 2015),
hashtags such as ‘WomenAgainstFeminism’
‘WhoNeedsFeminism’, Facebook groups
such as ‘EverydayFeminism’ (Facebook, 2015),
Twitter accounts such as ‘@FeministaJones’
(Twitter, 2015), and Instagram accounts
such as ‘feministprobs’ (Instagram, 2015)
and ‘rookiemag’ (Instagram, 2015). The aim
was to have a greater understanding of the
current state of feminism and its ties to prior
movements.

from prior movements and illustrating them
within a pop culture context feminists are
able to create a visual language that appeals
to the masses that frequent online media
sources, a tactic that was not utilized in prior
movements and has only come to being
because of popularity of social media. A
significant example of this tendency can
be seen in the work of Guerrilla Girls, an
activist art based group of anonymous
feminists whose use of humour, satire, and
pop culture consistently acts as a call out
against injustices against women within the
media (Guerrilla, 1995). Given this tendency,
I realized that satire would be a germane
means for designers to critique existing
understandings of feminism. In the reacting
stage of my process I applied visual satire to
existing artifacts in order to explore the four
areas I had previously identified: privilege
theory, intersectionality, reformist vs. radical
feminism, the media’s usage of stereotypes.
Reacting (making):

Irony: is a tool that can be used to express a meaning that is
opposite to what is understood or expected (Merriam-Webster
Online).

19

Once I had identified the areas of desired
This review, brought to the fore the
exploration and a pertinent means of critique
movement’s use of humour and pop culture
(satire), I began to respond to the information
references and icons as a means to call out
I had previously collected through the
injustices (Shifman & Lemish, 2011). By
creation of artifacts. My artifacts played
satirically reappropriating visuals and artifacts two roles within the reacting stage. Firstly,

through explorative making, which centred
on the subjects of feminist stereotypes,
radical feminism, and reformist feminism, I
was able to investigate and draw conclusions
about intersectionality and privilege theory
in contemporary feminist discourse. It was
through making that the debate around white
privilege (Hooks, 2000), the validity of white
feminist oppression (Hooks, 2000), and the
confusion derived from the intersectional
nature (Munro, 2013) of the movement was
brought to the fore.
It was through making and physically
working through these two major issues
within North American feminist discourse
that I was able to create a framework for
myself to work within. Through making,
conversing with my peers, and surveying the
visual discourse of current feminism, I was
able to determine which visual approaches
effectively depicted the issues and which did
not, and was further able to create a space in
which I could facilitate and create pertinent
potential feminist dialogues with other people
outside of my peer group.
Secondly, my artifact creation intentionally
sought to challenge people’s perceptions
of the term feminist by acting as tools
to spark discussion, my objective was to

provide viewers with “a counterpoint to the
world around them” though the satirical
visualization of stereotypes as well as
aesthetic explorations (Dunne & Raby, 2013).
I repeatedly applied satire and irony to my
made -reappropriated artifacts. I used them
strategically - to engage the audience in a
constructive way - to appeal to people’s
imagination as well as their intellect (Dunne
& Raby, 2013). I intentionally drew upon
viewers’ previous interpretations, relations,
and understandings of existing forms.
By applying satire and irony to these and
by reappropriating them, I created sites
for critique and questioning of existing
stereotypes, ‘feminist’ contexts and agendas.
Reflecting (re-evaluation):

Upon the completion of each artifact I
took time to reflect on the outcome and
the process. At this time I also invited
my peers to critique and aid in my own
reflection. Reflecting allowed me to identify
new generative nodes of inquiry and new
questions to explore in relation to both
feminism and my role and intentions as a
designer.

20

Repeating:

21

Each artifact I created was generated through
this process of incubate, identify, react,
and reflect. Each artifact was created based
on previous made inquires. I repeated this
process until I was ready to move beyond
responding solely, to secondary information
and my own making, towards facilitating
conversations with participants and having
people enter my making space.

22

1B. PANTSUIT EXPLORATION &
DECONSTRUCTION
Early on in my work I identified the pantsuit
as a worn artifact with which to explore the
feminist movement. As an iconic form that
is both a positive and negative denotative
(Supple, 2014) the pantsuit seemed a lucrative
site to explore women’s history and to
identify the multiple layers of encoded
meaning.

Pantsuit: a woman’s suit consisting of a jacket and pants
that are often made of the same material; coordinate
(Merriam-Webster Online).

figure 5: Two pages from the
Pantsuit Timeline Booklet

23

The pantsuit has served as icon - one
used as an identifier by both the current
North American feminist movement and
the media at large (Supple, 2014). Over the
decades, worn acts by influential women
and alterations made by fashion designers
have allowed this garment to demonstrate
and take ownership of cultural, social and
political status. According to Wright, the
pantsuit “is an apparatus of the public
sphere. It is about hierarchy and status, and
a garment for which the perceived message
is more important than the details of style”
(Lee Wright, 153), indicating the garment’s
significance as an icon in and of itself. Many
prominent feminist icons wear or have
worn the pantsuit and because of this it has
become a garment that represents women
who are fighting towards women’s rights,
as well as a tool for parodies of feminism
(Supple, 2014). Wearers and participants of
the fourth wave of feminism acknowledge

24

this, and have actively fostered a subculture
that re-appropriates the pantsuit in order
to mock negative stereotypes and parodies.
An example of this is Chanel’s 2015 Spring/
Summer collection, where models donned
hyper feminine versions of the 1920s suit
and re-enacted the types of feminist riots
that took place during the second wave of
feminism (King, 2014)
The pantsuit functioned as a stepping-stone
that led to deeper discussions pertaining to
feminism in my own making. Exploring the
pantsuit’s form and pattern allowed me to
consider it’s encoded cultural, historical,
theoretical, and political significations. It
was through this exploration I was able to
react, and critique current reformist feminist
ideologies.
Form:

I chose a 1996 McCall’s pattern, whose men’s
wear-inspired cut referenced both the 1980s
power suit and the 1930s androgynous suit.
I then selected a creamy white poly/rayon
suiting fabric with a ridged nature that would
provide structure for the blazer and pants.
The coupling of the men’s wear-inspired
pattern and the traditional suit fabric allowed
me to draw on and reference historical and
current associations with traditional women’s

figure 7: The McCall 1996
pattern used to make the pantsuit

pantsuit forms. I was conscious that my
act of making was a way to reconsider the
‘feminization’ of the pantsuit that has been
prevalent since the early 1990s and that relies
primarily on soft fabrics and prints (“Giorgio

25

figure 6 (previous page):
The Pantsuit Timeline Booklet cover

Armani”, 2004). Ideally, I hoped to facilitate
a site for discussion that challenged present
gender binaries found in clothing.
Pattern:

figure 8: The fabric being silk
screened

The use of a tessellated repeat motif was my
initial attempt to twist the pantsuit and create
a satirical piece that poked fun at the idea of
a ‘feminist pantsuit’ or ‘feminist power suit’.
I chose a script font that would juxtapose
notions of femininity onto my conventionally
‘masculine’ garment (the pant suit). The
repetitive graphic allowed me to explore the
visual shift of the term ‘feminist’ from legible
to abstract, in attempt to exhibit and question
the confusion within the feminist discourse,
as well as question the media’s branding like
approach towards defining feminism.
Form + Pattern:

The combination of the suit and repeat
pattern opened up questions around the
categorization of genders, the use of clothing
as a signifier of status or belief systems, and
the commodification of the term ‘feminist’.

figure 9: The pattern being
pinned to the fabric
26

Tessellated repeat: a pattern arranged in or having the
appearance of a mosaic, where the graphic element interlocks
in such a way that there are no overlays or uneven whitespace
(Dictionary.com).

27

Reflection:

Through conversations with other graduatelevel designers as well as design faculty it
became clear that the misalignments in the
pattern + form process did successfully
cause the term “feminist” to become an
abstract graphical pattern which suggested
the notion of the artifact as a commodity.
As a designer, this artifact was a means for
me to explore the notion of authoring and
creating a pantsuit that was a commodity.
Utilizing Marx’s philosophy of commodity
fetishism (1990), the aim was to illustrate
how current society as well as the fourth
wave feminist movement fetishes the
pantsuit in such a way that it prevents critical
dialogues around gender and feminism to
occur. Despite these accomplishments I felt
the critique I was facilitating amongst my
peers was limited and surface level at best.
I wondered if my mode of communication
was too abstract for viewers – if I was
asking too much – if the generation of
self-critique and inner dialogues reliant
on existing and partial understandings of
pantsuits and feminism, limited the potential
for uninformed individuals to participate. I
decided that I needed to further explore the
pantsuit’s connotations in other forms of
visual commodification, such as packaging,

figure 10(previous page):
The final pantsuit artifact

posters, illustrations and products. The idea
of exploring the pantsuit in a specific context
relative to modern day feminist stereotypes
became a driving force for my second artifact
as well as the desire to explore the pantsuit as
a hypothetical allegorical garment form.
My first artifact and its construction lead to
the following generative nodes and points
that were used to fuel further explorations:
•

•

•

•

It became clear that it is critical to identify
prominent wearers of the pantsuit or
events in which it was relevant, such that
the contemporary social understanding
of the suit can be contextualized.
Attention should be placed on the unique
ability of a designer to create and explore
the potential of creating objects that
illustrate commodity fetishism within
social movements.
How are the contexts in which ‘feminist
pantsuits’ are worn important to the
social movement, as well as to outsiders’
perception of that movement? Who is
the audience for the pantsuit – fellow
feminists or the “ other”?
Can the pantsuit serve as an allegorical
piece of clothing? What is the role of
allegories within feminism?

Allegory: a symbolic representation that stands for ideas about human life or
for a political or historical situation (Merriam-Webster Online).

28

Commodity fetishism: transforms the subjective, abstract aspects of
economic value into objective, real things that people believe have intrinsic
value. (Felluga, 2011)

1C. FEMINIST LEADING THE PEOPLE
After reflecting upon the commoditised
pantsuit that I had created, I began to look
WOMEN AS ALLEGORICAL
FIGURES OF LIBERATION
to further connotations connected to the
pantsuit form in both visual history and
everyday life. I identified the notion of the
“We Can
pantsuit as a uniform for activist women and Do It!”
Rosie
decided to use this as the site for my next
Liberty Leading
investigation for my second designed artifact.
the People

Taking the painting’s content and messaging
as the main drivers, I chose to deconstruct
and reconstruct the artifact in a digital
format and a contemporary context. I chose
to use it as a means to explore dystopian
future narratives of feminism, in such a

Wonder Woman

Cleopatra

Judith Slaying
Holofernes
figure 11: brainstorming
allegorical figures

way that critiqued the current usage and
understanding of privilege within feminist
discourses. My repositioning of the iconic
Marianne as a stereotypical white feminist
was done as a means of asking viewers to
consider the contemporary North American
tendency to see Caucasians as providers,
a role that extends toward the current
liberation of women of color, less privileged
women, and queer women (Hooks, 2000).
It also has significance via links to the idea
of white privilege in feminism, as discussed
by feminist theorists such as Bell Hooks
(2000) who explains how women of color

29

I began this phase by collecting images of
activist women in various art forms across
history (see figure 11). My aim was to gain a
better understanding of the role of garments
in the activist context, both in terms of
propaganda and revolutionary art. My process
of searching, sorting and pattern finding
lead me towards Eugène Delacroix’s painting
Liberty Leading the People. Marianne in this
painting is the personification of liberation
– the promise of social and political freedom
to the citizens of France. She is depicted as
a white female who is meant to represents
both an allegorical goddess and as a powerful
young woman of the people (Dorbani).

and other stereotypical white feminist visual
attributes on Delacroix’s figure of Marianne,
creating the new allegorical woman that is
shown in figure 21 - 23. The woman is a white
female with a ‘masculine’ haircut who is
wearing a pantsuit and holding a bra and a
feminist flag. The women’s short hair was
intended to represent the stereotypical notion
that feminist are unfeminine (Kim, 2012). The
bra was chosen to signify the second wave of
feminism and the iconic bra burning events
that occurred in 1968 (Lee, 2014).

figure 12:
painting work-in-progress

experience a greater level of oppression than
white women and Jane Gaines (1986) who
describes how feminist theory tends to utilize
the white middle-class values in its analysis of
women’s oppression. White privilege theory
in feminist discourse deals with the notion
that certain voices are discredited based on
their race (Hooks, 2000). I placed the pantsuit
White privilege: deals with the notion that certain voices are
discredited based on their race, while Caucasian voices are
credited (Hooks, 2000).

Additional props also played a role. The
revised flag that Marianne holds outstretched
alludes to ‘sisterhood’ within feminism
(Hooks, 2000). It depicts a Venus symbol
that is bleeding. The Venus symbol is used
frequently by individuals who identify
with the feminist movement in the form of
merchandise and artifacts from protests (Etsy,
2015). My bleeding version was an intentional
call out against the aggressive nature and
visuals being created online within the
current feminist movement that appearing on
Reddit’s r/feminism forum (Reddit, 2015) and
Tumblr accounts such as ‘feministcurrent’
(tumblr, 2015) and ‘the-glitter-clit’ (tumblr,
2015).

figure 13 (next page):
final painting artifact

30

31

Reflection:

This artifact allowed me to explore the role
we have as designers in terms of authoring
and illustrating potential dystopian futures
within current feminist discourse. Through
my manipulation of Delacroix’s painting
I was able to consider and probe notions
of radical feminism. Utilizing illustration
as my medium, I was able to draw upon
Delacroix’s depiction of the battle between
aristocracy and democracy in order to depict
the potentially violent future of a feminist
paradigm shift towards ‘matriarchy’. My
depiction of this feminist battle allowed
me to exhibit the pantsuit as a rejection of
traditional patriarchal gender roles and male
subjectivity. By amplifying existing ideologies
and forms I created a painting that questions
the viewer’s connotations of freedom, white
privilege, women’s liberation and oppression.
It was through this amplification of existing
ideologies that I was able to explore the use
of allegory within feminism and to consider
how allegory might be used as a tool to
critique current visual culture and modes
of representation connected to this social
movement. Allegories are currently being
used within feminism, my survey of work
in this domain over the past year has noted

figure 14: close up shots of
Feminist Leading the People

a consistent use of visual representation of
a stereotypical trope or image – that can be
positive or negative depending on the context.
I believe as visual creators we have an
opportunity to reroute this tendency that it is
possible to provide design artifacts and visuals
that critique feminist stereotypes and open up

32

Patriarchy: a system of society or government in which men
hold the power and women are largely excluded from it.
(Dictionary.com)

a more holistic discussion of the multifaceted
feminism of the fourth wave.
Acknowledging this has made me realize
that the contexts that I had been working
were outdated. The idea of considering more
current contexts and thinking of the potential
future consumers of feminism came to the
fore. This became the driving force behind
the creation of my third artifact.
My second artifact and its construction lead
to the following generative nodes and points
that were used to fuel further explorations:

•

•

It became evident that contemporary
contexts of how viewers consume visual
culture need to be explored, rather than
solely focusing in on historical paintings.
Designers should pay closer attention to
the utilization of allegorical figures as a
means to critique complex social theories
within feminism.
How can ‘feminism’ be used satirically
as a brand to critique how we currently
consume current gender and sexist filled
visuals? What role does race play with
these ‘feminist’ artifacts?

33

•

1D. FEMINIST BARBIE AND KEN DOLLS
Considering the future of feminism and
people who might take up the feminist
challenge invariably led me to children and
the people that guide and influence them
- their parents. This in turn led notions of
self (identity) and socialization. “Massproduced objects like dolls can tell us as
much about the creation and significance
of self-image in context of group identities.
Stereotypical definitions of gender are
particularly well reflected in the design of
adult dolls” (Attfield, 1996). With this in
mind I sought to explore the potential of
creating a product that expressed current
stereotypes of feminist ideals in a form that
is for children. Mattel’s line of iconic Barbie
and Ken dolls immediately came to mind as
a suitable site for challenging parents’, adults
understandings of feminism.
Aimed at young girls, Barbie’s creator Ruth
Handler claimed, “producing this type of
doll would allow young girls to explore
roles and professions”(Cokely, 2008). Since
its inception in 1959, the doll has developed
to include a range of stereotypical personas
and potential futures for young girls,
adapting to shifting gender roles in society
(Cokely, 2008). The depicted professions
include fashion model, doctor, pilot, athlete,
veterinarian, entrepreneur, teacher, fast-food

worker, pageant queen, a beach goer, marine
biologist, mother, babysitter, and a princess.
Barbie has been under consistent scrutiny
by the media for the dolls’ fully mature
body (Attfield, 1995), disproportionate
figure (Cokely, 2008), poor representations
of minorities (DuCille, 1996), out-dated
viewpoints on motherhood (Klassen,
2012), and the limited potential careers
and occupations of women (Rehel, 2014).
Nevertheless, Barbie remains a popular child’s
toy and is seen as a cultural icon and staple
in American culture, which she transforms to
reflect (Cokely, 2008).
Ken, the male counterpart to Barbie, was
introduced in 1961 as the fictional boyfriend
of the Barbie doll. Since his introduction
Ken has been represented as at least forty
occupations (Peason & Mullins, 1999).
Similarly to the Barbie, Ken also has been
under scrutiny for his poor representation of
men, but still remains an icon within North
American toy culture.
Arguably, the everyday consumer does not
deconstruct Barbie and Ken as societal
constructs; they see them as toys and do
not think of the potential subconscious
connotations that the dolls project onto

34

figure 15: Feminist Barbie pantsuit work-in-progress

children. It is through the Barbie and Ken
form and packaging that I set out to illustrate
Attfield’s idea that “toys [can] become the
vehicles for play through which different
aspects of the world can be encountered”
(1995). I also sought to apply satire - to
the creation of a Feminist Barbie and Ken
set – to a potential toy for a child that
depicts stereotypical notions of feminism.
My objective was to facilitate a situation
were parents might feel uncomfortable - be
triggered to challenge the gender stereotypes
and feminist stereotypes that the media
broadcasts to their children. Thereby rerouting the potentially problematic future
the current understanding of feminism could
cause.

Satire: is a tool that can be used within critical design as a way
of using humour to critique the everyday (Dunne & Raby,
2013).

35

figure 16 : Feminist Barbie painted gold

Preparing the Barbies:

figure 17: Feminist Ken painting gold

In order to create the artifacts, I decided
to modify existing Barbie and Ken dolls
and packaging. The dolls themselves were
stripped of their original clothes and
subsequently painted gold. The gold paint
was used to transform both dolls so that they
moved from being mere pieces of plastic
to trophy-like allegories of stereotypical
feminism. This ‘skin’ colour change also
allowed me to attempt to remove the
element of race from the dolls – to steer
the conversation and critique toward
sold misrepresentations and stereotypes
of mainstream feminism while drawing
attention to Barbie’s poor representations
of people-of-color. Once the dolls were
painted, I redressed them into miniature
pantsuits that mimicked the larger suit I had
created earlier, utilizing the same fabric as
the original artifact. The idea was to reapply

figure 18 : Feminist Ken pantsuit
work-in-progress

36

the connotations of the satirical pantsuit
and explore the notion of play in toys, the
goal of which was to exhibit the problem of
widespread stereotypes of feminism.
The Dieline: Visual information

The text on the packaging serves three
purposes: it exhibits branded elements,
contains cautionary toy box safety standards,

CONFORMS TO / CONFORME AUX NORMES DE
SÉCURITÉ DE / CUMPLE CON LAS NORMAS DE
SEGURIDAD DE ASTM 5963

CC

©2014 FEMINIST BARBIE. All Rights Resereved. Tous droits
réservés. FEMINIST, BARBIE and associated trademarks and
trade dress are owned by FEMINISTS. ® and ™ designated
North American trademarks of FEMINISTS, except as
noted. MADE IN CANADA. © 2014 FÉMINISTE BARBIE .
Tous droits Resereved . Tous droits réservés . FÉMINISTE ,
Barbie et marques associées et robe de commerce sont la
propriété par les féministes . ® et ™ désigné marques
nord-américaines de féministes , sauf indication contraire.
FABRIQUE EN CANADA .
WARNING: Small parts. •ATTENTION: Petites pièces. •
ACHTUNG: Kleine Teile. •ATTENZIONE: Contiene pezzi
dimensioni. WAARSCHUWING: Kleine onderdelen.
ADVERTENCIA: Peligro de atragantamiento. Juguete
non recomendado para menores de 3 años, porque
contiene piezas pequeñas que podrian provocar
asfixia en caso de ser ingeridas o inhaladas por el/la
niño/a. ΠΡΟΕΙΔΟΠΟΙΗΣΗ : Μικρά κομμάτια . VARNING :
Små dele. UYARI : Küçük parçalar .

MADE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA. AS A PART OF CHRISTINA
WHITE’S MDES THESIS. 2014

Segurança

INNAC
3+

WARNING:

CHOKING HAZARD - Small parts
Not for children under 3 years

ATTENTION:

0CP 0061

DANGER D’ÉTOUFFEMENT
- Petits éléments. Ne convients
pas aux efants de moins de 36 ans.

N

CE-BRI/INNAC-00128-04A
NM 300/2002
Segurança do Brinquedo

Compulsório

INMETRO

C

S T

CONTENTS: dolls
CONTENU: poupée
CONTENIDO: muñeca
CONTEÚDO: boneca

feminist

feminist

figure 19 : Feminist Barbie package

and provides a narrative text that depicts a
story about the doll. The fictional narratives
in my packaging depict two characters,
Barbie, the archetypal feminist stereotype,
and Ken, the stereotypical subordinate male
feminist.
Writing on the female doll’s box:
The new Feminist Barbie comes with her

37

The Dieline: Added Text

The new Feminist Barbie comes with her signature pantsuit
and mean, bitchy attitude! Her pantsuit is fitted, but don’t let
that fool you… it’s a strong power suit, and this girl means
business! She’s here to fight the patriarchy and crush any
man in her way*. This Barbie has a huge ego complex and
won’t not stop telling you how oppressed she is. She’s
probably a lesbian or a bitch, or both! She’s not wearing
heels because she’s a feminist, heels are oppressing, and
men create them so that women could be objectified.
You go girl!
*Male tears sold separately.

R

For the packaging, red and gold were used
to draw upon the dolls’ colour palette, while
gradients and other icons were pulled from
the existing boxes’ visuals. The graphics
were informed by current contemporary
iconography used in feminist online spaces.
The Venus symbol with a fist through it refers
to the American wartime propaganda image
“We Can Do It!” created by J. Howard Miller
in 1943 (Gassner, 2012). It is often used in
online feminist forums where it serves as a
means of empowerment and a nod towards
the fight against systems of patriarchy. It
can be found on sites such as Tumblr blogs
such as ‘the-daily-feminist’, websites such
as ‘EverydayFeminism’, Reddit’s r/feminist
forum, Buzzfeed’s feminist tag, and other
social media sites.

R

Doll / Poupée / Pop
Muñeca / Boneca / Docka / Lalka
Baba / Panenka / Bábika / Bebek

signature pantsuit and mean, bitchy attitude!
Her pantsuit is fitted, but don’t let that
fool you… it’s a strong power suit, and this
girl means business! She’s here to fight the
patriarchy and crush any man in her way*.
This Barbie has a huge ego complex and
won’t not stop telling you how oppressed
she is. She’s probably a lesbian or a bitch, or
both! She’s not wearing heels because she’s a
feminist, heels are oppressing, and men create
them so that women could be objectified. You
go girl! *Male tears sold separately.
Writing on the male doll’s box:
The new Male Feminist Ken comes with
the same pantsuit as Feminist Barbie, his
companion in fighting female oppression!
He’s wearing a fitted pantsuit in a women’s
cut, is a supporter of women’s rights, and is
a total sap. He’ll constantly mention that he
‘isn’t like most men’, and that he understands
the oppression felt by women. Male Feminist
Ken will stand by Feminist Barbie and aid in
her fight against misogyny and the patriarchy,
helping her tear down any men who get in
their way!
The text on the boxes is meant to be satirical,
as it utilizes exaggerated feminist stereotypes
in order to construct a humorous narrative.

The goal was to create a body of text that
resembled the articles of satirical news site
The Onion (2010).
Reflect:

As a designer, this artifact allowed me to
explore and expose the potential of authoring
propaganda toys and incite questions around
the role Barbie dolls currently play in the
shaping of current society. By creating and
authoring a commoditised artifact with clear
and direct ties to an iconic brand, I was able
to effectively satirize feminist stereotypes
through juxtaposition and appealing to
viewers via humour. The dolls allowed me to
look at toys in “the dynamic context of mass
consumption” (Attfield, 1995), and explore
the potential of objects of play within a
material space, historical time and cultural
phenomenal.
Upon the creation of the Barbie and Ken
boxes I realized that I had achieved my
intended goal of creating a satirical toy that
questioned the current state of mainstream
feminism, though it did not touch upon
showcasing the intersectionality of the
movement that I had originally intended.
Neither of the dolls managed to showcase the
muddiness or noise of the movement. This

38

The Onion (2010), is an online news provider which generally
provides tongue-in-cheek commentary on current societal issues
by blowing certain elements out of proportion.

became the topic of exploration within the
next artifact.
My third artifact and its construction lead
to the following generative nodes and points
that were used to fuel further explorations:

•

•

•

Attention should be place on the ability
to use branding as a satirical tool in
critiquing a designed artifact’s ability to
create a fetishized object of the feminist
movement – an object that could be seen
as a trophy, or allegorical object of the
movement.
Designers should explore the
manipulation of existing forms to create
effective and relatable social commentary
on movements such as feminism.
It became evident through making that
identifying the future participants of the
feminist movement is a critical element
- one that is needed in order to facilitate
discussion about future contexts.
What role does a male viewpoint play
in this thesis? Have male voices been
explored effectively? How can work be
depicted so it is apparent that different
voices have been considered? How can
intersectionality be explored in such
a way that it illustrates those different
voices?

39

•

40

1E. INTERSECTIONAL FABRIC
After the creation of the Barbie and Ken
dolls, I sought to explore the notion of
intersectionality and illustrate the lack of
cohesion in the current feminist movement.
Kimberlié Crenshaw introduced the theory
of intersectionality in 1989, which examines
how biological, social, and cultural categories
such as: gender, class, race, ability, location,
culture, sexual orientation, religion, and
other axes of identity interact on different
levels and contribute to both social inequality
and injustice (Crenshaw, 1993). Since then,
the theory “has become the predominant
way of conceptualizing the relation between
systems of oppression which construct our
multiple identities and our social locations
in hierarchies of power and privilege”
(Carastathis, 2014).
It is because of the current intersectional
nature of the feminist movement that it has
broken down into sub-movements. These
sub-movements allow for more inclusive
feminism that affords and expects different
voices and identities. While this inclusive
form of feminism is allowing for a larger
group of supporters of feminist thought,
there is some resistance in both the academic
world and the everyday environment. The
notion of intersectionality within feminism
is constantly questioned, as the thought

of “including race, class, sexuality, and
other identity markers in feminist analysis,
[cause] some [to] say, [that] intersectional
feminists are spreading the movement thin
and undermining its unity” (Uwujaren & Utt,
2015).
With the fourth artifact I sought to visually
depict the intersectionality of feminism by
utilizing the text graphic that I had created
for the pantsuit project. Through the use of
graphic tools such as color, repetition, and
overlapping form I wanted to visualize the

Intersectionality: examines how biological, social, and cultural categories
such as: gender, class, race, ability, location, culture, sexual orientation,
religion, and other axes of identity interact on different levels and
contribute to both social inequality and injustice (Carastathis, 2014).

41

figure 20 (previous page):
Feminist Barbie and Ken doll

figure 21: Stamping the fabric

volume of voices and lack of cohesion that
intersectional feminism is creating. I made a
stamp that could be used to easily reproduce
the original ‘feminist’ text block and used it
to create a series of randomized, repeated
graphic patterns. This allowed me to quickly
cycle through colours, which further enabled
me to intuitively use various colors and
impromptu patterns as a means of visually
representing the different voices within
feminism.
Reflection:

Once the piece of cloth was stamped, I
began to notice that I had been approaching
authoring the visual representation in a very
literal way. Upon reflection, it became evident
that stamping was not representative of the
abrasive nature of contemporary feminism
in the digital space, nor was it representing
Uvujaren and Utt’s (2015) notion that
intersectionality is wearing the movement
thin. As per my own reflection I began to
question the role of the designer in authoring
and creating commoditised objects within
feminist discourse. I wondered if there was a
way to experiment and explore more abstract
methods of making and intersectionality
that did not create products that could be
fetishized.

figure 22: Fabric work-in-progress

My fourth artifact and its construction lead
to the following generative nodes and points
that were used to fuel further explorations:
•

•

It became evident that to work in a less
literal matter I had to explore more
abrasive ways of working, like glitching,
data bending, and other abstract methods
of making.
Can working abstractly aid in the
visualization of the notion of ‘wearing
thin’ that is occurring within the current
feminist movement?

42

43

figure 23 : Intersectional fabric final

1F. GLITCHES - ABRASIVE EXPLORATION
Drawing upon my desire to work abstractly
and affect a more subtle tone within my
work, I decided to draw upon more abrasive
methods of making. I sought to explore
the potential usage of ‘data bending’ as a
means to abstractly show the notion that
intersectionality is “wearing the movement
thin” (Uwujaren & Utt, 2015). Data bending,
in the case of images, is a process of
manipulating information (code) from a
created image using software designed to edit
files of another format, such as a text editor
(Geere, 2010). As a designer, data bending
was a means to depict the abrasive nature of
the current feminist movement by abstractly
modifying an original image I had created.

Rethinking typefaces:

Based on my prior explorations and
reflections, I concluded that I needed to
explore different typefaces in order to more
clearly portray the variety and volume
of voices within the feminist movement.
After choosing several typefaces and
laying them out in close proximity, I again
created a graphic pattern from the myriad
representations of the term ‘feminist’.
Data bending:

My newly created graphic image (see figure
24) was ready to be manipulated through data
bending. I duplicated the file and opened the
duplicate in a text editor. This allowed me
to alter the code of the image. I left the top
third of the code alone to ensure that I did
not corrupt the file, and began to inject the
term ‘feminist’ into the latter sections of the
code. I then exported the code, subsequently
transforming the image into ‘glitch art’
(Geere, 2010). This process was repeated six
times to create six separate images, which
allowed for a progression to be shown. (see
figure 25)
As a designer, the repetitive process of
altering the image was a way of depicting the

figure 24 : ‘feminist’ in different fonts

44

Glitch art: A type of art that uses software to intentionally
disrupt the information contained within a visual file to create
a different looking visual file (Geere, 2012).

constant change that is occurring within the
current North American feminist movement.
The more that I injected the term ‘feminist’
into the previous images’ code, the more the
words of the image were visually distorted
and rendered unclear. Further, my lack
of direct control over the visual outcome
was a way for me to visualize and consider
the lack of cohesion or centralization
within the movement and the overall
inability of members and society to define
or contextualize notions of feminism in
contemporary culture.

to explore abstract methods of illustrating
complex social problems. It provided me
with potential tools and methods of abstract
making that could be used within future
artifacts outside of this thesis, but overall,
I felt this exploration went too far from the
commoditized artifacts that where authored
prior. It is with this realization that I began
to rethink the level of abstraction needed to
create an artifact that fetishized feminism. I
began to consider ways that I could critique
the viewer’s understanding of what was being
satirically presented to them.

Reflection:

My fifth artifact and its construction lead to
the following generative nodes and points
that were used to fuel further explorations:
•

•

It became clear that to move forward
it was critical to explore and evaluate
the level of abstraction needed to
communicate the complexity of
intersectionality within an artifact while
still making sure it is accessible to a broad
audience.
How can the utilization of juxtaposing
voices create a visual debate? What role
does utilizing editorial graphic skills
play in this juxtaposition? How can I use
those skills to still maintain the notion of
‘wearing thin’?

45

Once finished, I began to realize that this
exploration was not successful. While I had
intended to design an abstract visualization
of my research on feminism, the final
outcomes were too abstract and extremely
difficult for viewers to understand without
additional context. I do think that utilizing
data-bending as a make technique was
interesting. My work, once contextualized
did succeed in facilitating a dialogue around
the potential future notions of feminism,
which is the goal of this thesis research.
As an abstract visual form however the
insight remained hidden. In terms being a
designer as author, this artifact allowed me

figure 25 : Glitches - abrasive exploration
46

1G. JUXTAPOSING VOICES
THROUGH POSTERS

In order to showcase Brodsky and Hooks’
opposing views, I chose to juxtapose topical
quotes and visual representations of eight
individuals as posters, including four media
icons and four academics. Half of the

individuals and their selected quotes support
Brodsky’s assertion, while the other half
support Hooks’ views.
Media icons that were chosen and why they
are significant:
1. Lorde (musician/ performer): Lorde calls
attention to other pop culture icons that
reject feminism, or who partake in antifeminist ideologies.
2. Beyoncé (musician/ performer): Beyoncé
is a spokesperson for women’s rights,
sexual liberation of females, and a
supporter of female empowerment.
3. Pat Robertson (media mogul / author):
Pat Robertson is a media figure that
partakes in anti-feminist discourse and
consistently calls negative attention to
feminists.
4. Miley Cyrus (musician/ performer):
Miley is a current advocate for females to
take ownership of their sexuality.
Academic feminists that were chosen and
why they are significant:
1. Dr. Alexandra Apolloni (PhD in
Musicology, editor-in-chief of Echo):
Alexandra Apolloni argues that Miley
Cyrus’ projected interpretation of

47

After the data bending exploration that
occurred in section 4f, I decided to move
back towards using a more literal approach
in my work. I sought to do this by drawing
on the notion of intersectionality and
the differing of voices within the current
feminist discourse in both pop culture and
academia. An example of this binary is
Hook’s viewpoint on the media and pop
culture icons, particularly how such figures
are fuelling “the tropes of the existing,
imperialist, white supremacist, patriarchal
capitalist structure of female sexuality”
(Hooks, 2014). This perspective stands in
contrast to Brodsky’s assertion that pop
culture icons are allowing young women to
experience accurate portrayals of feminism
outside of the classroom (Brodsky, 2014).
With this in mind I sought to create an
artifact that could illustrate opposing
viewpoints and the current debate within the
movement. My work knowingly pointed to a
contemporary feminist schism - the academic
and pop culture definitions of ‘feminist’ do
not always align.

feminism is a valid form for modern
feminism, and wants it to be taken
seriously.
2. Dr. Bell Hooks (PhD in English, author,
social activist): Bell Hooks is an advocate
for women of colour in feminism,
intersectional activism, and radical or
reformist feminist thought.
3. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (MA in
Creative Writing, MA in African Studies,
author, public speaker): Chimamanda
Ngozi Adichie is a public speaker that
talks about how feminism needs to be
inclusive.
4. Robin Morgan (political theorist, lecturer,
poet, activist): Robin Morgan is an activist
for women’s rights, a strong believer
in ‘sisterhood’ and in fighting against
supposed male oppressors.
Poster Creation:

Each of the four posters was to depict one
media icon and one academic (see figures
27 - 30). I formed the backgrounds by
manipulating and abstracting images of
the eight individuals and turning them into
images of TV static (see figure 26). I was
seeking to metaphorically represent the
amount of ‘buzz’ and ‘noise’ around the
exhibited viewpoints within the poster itself.

Once I had chosen a quote from each
individual I began to couple them in such a
way that, when placed on a poster, it could
visually exhibit a debate. For each poster, one
quote was red while the other was black, as
these two colours have similar visual contrast
values against the chosen background, which
allowed me to draw equal emphasis to both.
This facilitated a visual exploration of current
dichotomies within the feminist movement,
while also very clearly depicting varying
definitions of feminism.
Reflection:

Overall the posters were a means for me to
revert and explore the amount of authoring
a designer needs to take on in order achieve
and illustrate a debate. Through this
artifact, like the first four (the pantsuit,
painting, Feminist Barbie boxes, and fabric),
I explored the potential of authoring and
creating commoditised artifacts that present
fetishized notions within current feminist
discourse. The intention of the posters
was to allow viewers a representation of
the un-united discourse within feminism,
such that they could reflect and potentially
ask questions about the dichotomy and
constant redefinition that is occurring within
the movement. This afforded viewers the

48

ability to question the validity of the current
discourse of feminism when presented with
examples of debate between feminists.
Upon reflection I began to notice that the
posters (and the other artifacts that I had
created so far) did not have multiple entry
points of engagement, and were not always
understandable to those unfamiliar with
the topic. While the posters successfully
illustrated the un-unified front within
feminism I was conscious that they
were merely visual representations of a
conversation and did not necessarily facilitate
discussion.
My sixth artifact and its construction lead to
the following generative nodes and points
that were used to fuel further explorations:

•

At this stage it became apparent that as
a designer I had to switch from creating
visuals that could spark conversation to
actually facilitating conversations with
other creative. It was this desire to involve
other people that it was critical to also
explore different levels of engagement
such as co-creation and gaming.
What happens when the designer steps
down from being author and becomes
facilitator? What happens when the

figure 26: Glitches - background static

participant is asked to become speculator
or imaginer?

49

•

50

figure 27 :
Poster 01: Beyoncé vs. Bell Hooks

51

figure 28 :
Poster 02: Lorde vs. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

52

figure 29:
Poster 03: Robin Morgan vs. Pat Robertson

53

figure 30:
Poster 04: Miley Cyrus vs. Alexandra Apolloni

1H. PHASE 1 - CONCLUSION
Understanding through making:

My aim in phase one was to better
understand the current state of feminist
discourse by exploring feminist initiatives
from a historical and cultural perspective. My
work concentrated on researching literature
on social theory in close conjunction
with my own making, which I used as a
means for exploring context. By applying
a generative approach that intentionally
pulled on previous written and visual
work to kick-start the creation of my own
artifact responses I gained access to a more
nuanced understanding of the past decade of
feminism.
This approach allowed me to visually explore
intersectionality and privilege, two key areas
that I had identified within feminism while
reaffirming their importance. The artifacts
created in phase one and the acts of making
connected to them served as a significant
means for my growing understanding of
the social domain I had chosen to address.
As time passed I began to reassess the
significance of these to my own practice as
a designer. Through them I was forced to
consider and examine the role of artifacts
as sites of exhibition and as receptacles
and conveyors of satire and irony. My own

creative output served to challenge both
my own and others’ (people who viewed
the work) understanding of complex social
theories connected to the feminist movement.
Initially I projected that the outcomes from
this phase of work would make up my main
body of work. I was intent on taking on the
role of designer as instigator and author of
content. However, my role understanding
of authoring changed over time. I began to
be aware that I was working within a bubble
that limited others’ ability to join in a true
conversation with me. I realized that I would
need other people and their opinions to
permeate my work if my objective was to
incite and facilitate conversations. I began
to understand that instigating modes of
collaboration would be key to formulating
these conversations. I began to develop
a participatory creation exercise to help
provide further insights on the way in which
people associate clothing and fictions with
the future of feminist discourse and allow
me to facilitate a collaborative dialogue with
others. My intent was to facilitate making
and thinking opportunities for others - to
find a way to externalize (both for myself
and others) the internal dialogues that
I underwent during my own process of
making.

54

Designer as Instigator:

As a designer the acts of authoring that I
undertook in phase one were significant.
Through transforming and expressing
content through graphic devices I was able to
take on and explore my own design activist
voice (P.-A. Hillgren et al. , 2011). I was also
able to consider the designer’s responsibility
in relation to changing and potentially
altering the heavily laden cultural content
within feminism. I considered personal voice
and the task of interpretation in this context.
Through the authoring of designed artifacts
intended to critique and explored a set of
issues within feminism I was able to gain a
nuanced understanding of intersectionality
and privilege in relation to radical and
reformist feminist ideals. Creating these
artifacts allowed me to explore and reveal
the opportunities, raise questions, highlight
controversies within current feminist
discourse (P.-A. Hillgren et al. , 2011).
I remoulded the ‘raw’ material that I had
collected through researching both academic
and pop feminist culture literature then
re-contextualized it visually, by making it
legible to a new audience and concurrently

critiquing the existing discourse within and
around feminism.
As important as authoring was in allowing
my growth of understanding of the feminist
space it presented a surface level critique
that did not take into consideration an
important element of the feminist discourse
today – the voice of others. It did not
enable me to produce artifacts that created
the dynamic conversations needed in this
space. I began to see that due to it’s reactive
nature authoring was merely a means of
repackaging existing stereotypes. While it
drew people to take notice and poked fun
at the current understanding of feminism it
did not allow for a much-needed deeper level
of engagement from the viewers. Noticing
this shortcoming I realized that insight from
methodologies used in the domain of design
for social innovation might be useful. Placing
the participant in the center of the design
process would allow me to collect different
voices within feminist discourse (Burns et al.,
2006). By inviting other creative individuals
into the design space I afforded myself the
means to shift from working solo as author
to working with others as a facilitator, which
opened up the conversation space.

55

The role of authoring as a

2
PHASE 2: Participant
as Imaginer
prototyping;
co-creation;
participatory;
opening the conversation
space through making;
speculating.

56

57

2

2A. METHODOLOGY
Following the insights and shortcomings of
phase one, I began to plan a participatory
generative design activity for the second
phase of my research. The aim of this study
was to facilitate a collaborative dialogue
with others through making, similar to the
internal dialogues that I underwent during
my own process of making. The intention
was to allow participants to use the provided
tools to reveal and explore the deconstruction
and reconstruction that occurs with the
current usage of the term ‘feminist’, as well
as to incite discussions around the political,
social, and historical significance of clothing
in relation to feminism. The participatory
generative activity was formulated based
on Sanders & Stappers’s ‘make and say’
techniques (2012). Below is a breakdown
of the reasoning for and explanation of the
implementation of these techniques.
Make:

Participants were asked to work alone on
the generative activity, in which they were
instructed to use tools to re-imagine one
of several gendered garments that had
been placed on a table. The tools that were
provided allowed participants to cut up,
sew, disassemble, recreate, and mark up
the garment regardless of their sewing or

making abilities. Tools that were provided
were: scissors, staplers, tapes, markers, inks,
water, paints, fabric swatches, paper, foam
paper, and the ‘feminist’ stamp that had
been designed for phase 1, section E. The
range in tools and open method of assembly
allowed participants to work quickly and
experimentally. It enabled them to disregard
rules of fashion and social expectation - to
speculate on what could be instead of basing
their creative decisions on what currently
exists.
This activity allowed the participant to
perform the creative act of deconstruction
and reconstruction while thinking about
notions of gender in garments, and the social
implications therein. ‘Re-imagine’ was used
as a trigger word because it was abstract and
ambiguous enough to allow for multiple
meanings and executions. The distinctive
‘feminist’ stamp also incited participants to
speculate about possibilities pertaining to
the future of feminism, and the social space
occupied by the reconstructed garments.
Say:

After each participant re-imagining his or her
chosen garment, I conducted an interview
with him or her. Participants were asked

58

Gendered garments: pieces of clothing that are socially and
culturally connected and enforce the gender binary (Paoletti,
2012).

twelve questions, which are listed below
alongside the rationale for each:

which they interacted with the garment, or if
it made them want to challenge the garment’s
gender.

59

1. Why did you choose the garment you did?
This was to get participants to start thinking 6. What were you thinking about when you
about what made them select their garment. took apart the garment?
This question was to allow participants to
2. Is it significant to you in any way?
start to describe their thought process and
This was to get participants to elaborate
begin to consolidate their thoughts from the
upon their answer in question one, and see if previous questions.
there were any other factors that drew them
towards the garment.
7. What tools did you use? Why did you
choose those?
3. Do you know the social, political or
This was to allow participants the ability to
historical significance of this garment?
elaborate on their make process, and to allow
This was intended as a means to get
me to evaluate which tools worked and which
participants to begin to make connections
didn’t.
between women’s clothing and social,
historical, and political theory.
8. Describe your make process.
This question was to encourage participants
4. Do you agree or disagree that the garment to walk me through their process so I could
you took apart is gendered?
gain a better understanding of what they did.
This was to begin to get participants to think
about gender and potentially reconsider their 9. What are your intentions with the new
answer from question three.
garment?
This was to allow participants to begin
5. How does that effect the way you interact to explain what their motives were while
with it?
making, and to determine what they thought
This was to encourage participants to
“re-imagine” meant.
consider whether notions of femininity had
influenced their making, altered the way in
10. In what context would someone wear the

new piece you created?
This question was to allow participants
to speculate the potential wearer of the
garment, and where she/he/it would wear it.
11. Is the new garment you created more or
less gendered?
This question was to encourage participants
to begin to reflect on whether or not their
new garment had broken the connotations of
the original garment.
12. Did this exercise make you think more
about the social implications and potential
implications of clothing? Yes or no, and
why?
This question encouraged participants to
reflect upon the study and if they felt that
being put in the role of imaginer/ speculator
made them question clothing more.
figure 31: Participants working on garments

figure 32: The table set up for the study

60

2B. MAKE ACTIVITY FINDINGS
General findings:

Irregular findings:

Three participants added elements of
functionality to their created garments by
adding pockets, removing shoulder pads,
and opening existing pockets. Additionally,
four participants removed elements of

figure 33: Participant planning out their garment

functionality by turning their chosen
garments into accessories, cutting holes that
revealed skin, or removing sleeves.
Two participants removed the labels from
their initial garment and placed them on
the fronts of their newly created pieces of
clothing in order to brand their creations
while ridiculing the garments’ original brand
identities. Another participant took the
‘feminist’ stamp and applied it on the left
chest portion of the garment to resemble
a nametag, further bolstering notions of
gender in the garment and implying that its
hypothetical wearers are aligned with the
feminist movement. Several participants took
fairly simple garments and added intricate
elements to it such as braided ropes, shapes
cut out of other pieces of fabric, and stickers
that created patterns.

61

Participants sifted through the pile of clothes
that they were to choose from until deciding
upon a garment to ‘re-imagine’. After they
had made their decision they would lay their
garment on the table, put it on the dress
form provided, or try the article of clothing
on before deconstructing it. Once they had
decided upon a potential way to start they
would scan the tools on the table, which
usually lead to them reaching for the scissors.
Participants overlapped, pinned, tied, turned
inside out, turned around, stapled, taped,
stickered, stamped, added, and subtracted
the garment while making. Tools that were
chosen allowed participants to work quickly
and experimentally and enabled them to
disregard rules of fashion. The re-imaged
garments were either hyper-feminine or
largely unisex, challenging the pre-existing
gender conventions and social implications of
the original clothing.

figure 34 :
Participant 1’s ‘re-imagined’ garment

62

figure 35 :
Participant 2’s ‘re-imagined’ garment

figure 37 :
Participant 4’s ‘re-imagined’ garment

63

figure 36 :
Participant 3’s ‘re-imagined’ garment

figure 38 :
Participant 5’s ‘re-imagined’ garment

64

figure 39 :
Participant 6’s ‘re-imagined’ garment

figure 41 :
Participant 8’s ‘re-imagined’ garment

65

figure 40:
Participant 7’s ‘re-imagined’ garment

figure 42:
Participant 9’s ‘re-imagined’ garment

66

figure 43 :
Participant 10’s ‘re-imagined’ garment

2B. SAY ACTIVITY FINDINGS

Participants generally indicated that they
were drawn to articles of clothing that
they were either visually attracted to or
could fit into. When asked about why the
garment they chose was significant to them,
they would say that it reminded them of a
moment in their life, or that it was similar
to something they would wear. Most
participants did not know the social, political,
or historical implications of the garment
they had chosen to deconstruct, though they
could identify whether or not the garment
was conventionally gendered. Participants
did explain that the gendered nature of their
chosen garment influenced the way the ‘reimagined’ it.
When describing their process, participants
broke down how they made their final piece
and what they were thinking during it. All
participants touched upon the fact that their
process was playful and allowed them to
be experimental due to the openness of the
make activity. Participants were divided in
making the garment more and less gendered.
When asked if the make study made
them think more or less about the social
implications and potential implications of

clothing, participants all replied ‘yes’, and
indicated that having a play space to explore
the potential allowed them to more easily
‘re-imagine’ the garments.
Irregular findings:

Several participants explained that they saw
the initial garment as gendered based on
the cut, style, fit, color, and pattern. One
participant in particular mentioned that
the pattern was the defining attribute from
the garment, which lead her to think of the
type of person that would wear it. A few
participants who chose garments opposite
their gender explained that they sought to
make the garments unisex, and in doing so
made the initial garment less gendered. Other
participants explained that they wanted to
create something that pushed the boundaries
of femininity and moved more towards
performance pieces or hyper sexualized pieces
of clothing.
The most interesting irregular finding from
the study was how, when asked to provide a
context in which his or her new garment was
worn, each participant described a fictional
character or context. Below are the ten
characters and contexts that came from the
say activity.

67

General findings:

1. Participant one imagined a fictional queer
military woman with multiple badges.
2. Participant two imagined fictional model
at an experimental fashion show or an event
where clothing is talked about.
3. Participant three imagined a fictional
character that could wear the garment to a
work or office environment.
4. Participant four imagined a fictional
feminist activist that would go utilize the
provided stamp to stamp the word ‘feminist’
everywhere.
5. Participant five imagined a fictional
character that was an experimental fashion
wearer and enthusiast.

figure 44 :
Participant 8 wearing her garment during the Say activity

9. Participant nine imagined a fictional
6. Participant six imagined a fictional female character that wore a feminist work jumpsuit
alien that would be the first extraterrestrial to and was interested in politics and culture.
contact the people of Earth.
7. Participant seven imagined a garment that
he could wear, was unisex, and could fit into
modern styles of dress.
8. Participant eight imagined a fictional
character that would wear her garment like a
costume, similar to cosplayers.

10. Participant ten imagined a fictional
character that wanted to over-sexualize their
graduation as a means to critique professional
ceremonies and socially approved ways of
dressing.

68

Cosplayer: a person who partakes in the art or practice of
wearing costumes to portray characters from fiction (such as
cartoons, comics, science fiction, movies, animes, mangas,
television shows) (Dictionary.com).

2C. PHASE 2 CONCLUSION
Reflection:

Overall, phase two was successful. I was
able to facilitate a space where participants
could ‘re-imagine’ garments in such a
way that allowed them to experiment and
play with pre-existing gender norms and
social conventions. Going into the planned
participatory generative design activity, I
sought to incite conversations around the
political, social and historical significance
of clothing in relation to feminism;
however, it quickly became evident that
participants rarely thought about these
three notions when conversing or thinking
about the clothing. Instead, they were
more interested in explaining more radical
notions of dress and femininity. The resulting
artifacts reminded me of my attempts to
visualize radical feminist ideas and the idea
of challenging current visual and social
implications of the gender binary.

the say activity that the garments they had
created were becoming props of sorts to
hypothetical futures, futures that I was
internally creating and thinking of during
the interviews. I became intrigued in this
idea of the participant creating a narrative
framework that a designer could illustrate
and elaborate upon later - as a means to
collaboratively speculate possible futures
while incorporating multiple individuals’
viewpoints. Taking the narratives and ‘props’
that had been created I moved onto phase
three, where I sought to design and elaborate
upon these radical feminist futures.

69

It was interesting that participants did not
speak about their newly created pieces as
garments that could be worn in ‘real life’,
but spoke about them in such a way that
allowed me to imagine a hypothetical future
where they could work in. Participants were
speculating a potential future of feminist
clothing, and it became evident to me during

3
PHASE 2: Designer as
Reactive Speculator
prototyping;
critical play;
speculating;
role-playing.

70

71

3

3A. FEMINIST GUIDES - METHODOLOGY
The data collected from phase two informed
my own making. I broke down the artifacts
that participants had created into two
categories: those that were performative
versus those that were functional.
The garments that fit into the ‘performative’
category were pieces that participants
considered as accessories, or were made as
intentional critiques of hyper-sexualized
forms of femininity. The garments in this
category explored notions of feminist
activism and the potential for clothing to be a
conversation starter about societal paradigm
shifts. They relate to the activist approach of
radical feminism. Conversely, the garments
that fit into the ‘functional’ category were
pieces that participants added pockets to,
removed sleeves some, made elements less
sheer, added opened un-functional pockets,
or transformed in such a way that daily tasks
were easier to complete. The artifacts in this
category explored notions of fixing existing
problems within garments and women’s
modes of dress and the implications therein.
They relate to the inclusive and intersectional
approach of reformist feminism. I applied
these findings to the same methodological
cycle that I had used during phase 1 (see
figure 4). I used them as a means to assess
whether collecting participatory data in any

way altered the process I had previously
established for myself. In doing so, I sought
to determine whether participatory data
lead to more successful outcomes, and to
investigate if the data affected the satirical
tone of the created artifacts. Two artifacts
were created based on the performative and
functional categories identified above.

72

3A. FEMINIST GUIDES - PROCESS

hierarchal structures

I began to explore hypothetical hierarchal
structures that might use the ‘performative’
and ‘functional’ approaches identified from
phase two. I was interested in linking these
to representations of radical and reformist
feminist agendas. After researching and
surveying existing hierarchal structures
for women, I decided to create a satirical
representation of radical and reformist
feminism using visual cues from the Girl
Guides of Canada. Girl Guides of Canada
is an organization that enables girls to be
confident, resourceful and courageous, and
to make a difference in the world and within
their communities (Girl Guides, 2012). They
achieve this by supporting girls to achieve and
succeed through earning merit badges based
on the completion of adventures, challenges,
and international experiences (Girl Guides,
2012).
I was interested in the potential of
transforming several of the stereotypes
revealed during phase one such as the idea
that: feminists are un-feminine, feminists
are aggressive, feminists wear pantsuits, and
feminists victimize women (Kim, 2012). I
sought to create tasks that members of

these hypothetical radical and reformist
organizations might have to complete
in order to receive badges of merit and
subsequently advance in their respective
movements. The purpose of the exercise was
to draw attention to social structures that
enforce dogmatic adherence to particular
interpretations of feminism, and to also
criticize the stereotypes associated with these
tactics of cohesion.
I created fictional radical feminist
organization that used badges, sashes,
and guidebooks. By using the information
collected from the ‘performative’ category
artifacts such as: the utilization of costumes
and accessories to critique the socio-cultural
understanding of gender, the activist-like
characters that came from the say activity,
and the intentional critiques created of the
hyper-sexualization within femininity.
Members within this fictional ‘Feminist
Guide’ structure are referred to as ‘sisters’,
as a means to satirically allude to Hooks’
notion of sisterhood within feminism (2000).
Members can earn badges by completing
tasks that are depicted in their guidebook,
and upon achieving a badge members are
encouraged to pin the badges to their sash.
Badges explored: hyper-sexualization of

73

Thinking about cult-like

EM

BE

R

-F

INIST CLU
M
E

-

-F

M

B

Unlike the radical structure, however,
members of this ‘Feminist Guide’ are referred
to as ‘supporters’ to satirically represent the
inclusionary and relatively passive nature
of reformist feminism. Just like the radical
‘Feminist Guide’ organization, members
can earn badges to pin to their sashes by
completing the tasks in their guidebook.
Badges within the reformist structure
explore feminist education, intersectionality,
the inclusion of male feminists, and other
stereotypes of the reformist feminist
movement.

-

I created a parallel fictional reformist feminist
hierarchal structure that also employs badges,
sashes, and guidebooks. Using information
collected within the ‘functional’ category
such as: the exploration of fixing existing
problems within garments and women’s
modes of dress and the implications therein
by adding pockets, opening up areas,
removing shoulder pads and de-gendering
existing pieces of clothing.

INIST CLU
M
E

B

women; sisterhood; ‘no-shave’ culture within
feminism; the stereotypically combative
nature within radical feminism; and several
other stereotypes depicted in phase one. An
example of the types of badges and their
corresponding achievement is pictured in
figure 48.

M

EM

BE

R

figure 45 : The badges within two fictional
Feminist Guides

74

BE

R

M

EM

BE

R

M

EM

BE

R

-F

-F

C

OL

LE C TOR

figure 46 :
The badges within two fictional Feminist Guides
75

EM

-

M

ALE TEAR
M
-

-

-

-F

INIST CLU
M
E

B

INIST CLU
M
E

B

B

INIST CLU
M
E

figure 47 :
The two fictional Feminist Guides booklets
76

BE

LITTLE SISTER

KICK BACK SISTER

BIG SISTER

CALL OUT

LEADER

ANGRY SISTER

Light pink badges are given
to new sisters within their
first year.

R

Given to sisters who
physically engage in battle
against anti-feminists.

INIST CLU
M
E

-

M

EM

BE

Medium pink badges are
given to sisters who have
been Feminist Guides for
over 2 years.

R

INIST CLU
M
E

Given to sisters who make
an effort to speak up for
fellow sisters.

B
-

-F

EM

B

-F

M

M

EM

BE

R

Feminist Guide Leaders will
be given a dark pink badge.

Given to sisters who
showcase extreme levels of
anger towards anti-feminist
groups.

MEMBER BADGES:

ACTIVIST BADGES: vol 1.

Member badges are given to all sisters of the Feminist
Guide upon joining. Each color represents a different
ranking within the Feminist Guide.

Activist badges are given to sisters who complete the
activist task that go with each badge. Volume One badges
are given to sisters with extreme levels of anger.

04

UNITED SISTER

Given to sisters who show
outstanding support in sister
to sister relations.

05

NIPPLE FREE-ER

Given to sisters who actively
participate in the notion of
“freeing the nipple”.

POWER TO THE SISTER

FUZZY FIGHTER

RALLY PARTICIPANT

MAKE-DOWN

Given to sisters who support
their local Feminist Guide
riot subclubs.

Given to sisters who
participate in Feminist
Guide rallies.

Given to sisters who refuse
to shave and partake in
socital body hair norms.

Given to sisters who reject
societal beauty norms of
wearing make-up.

ACTIVIST BADGES: vol 2.

ACTIVIST BADGES: vol 3.

Activist volume two badges are given to sisters who
support rallies and activist movements within their
Feminist Guides communities.

Activist volume three badges are given to sisters who
reject societal beauty norms, and show excellence in
Feminist Guide ideologies around beauty.

06

07

figure 48 :
Pages from the Feminist Guide Booklet

77

-F

B

INIST CLU
M
E

-F

-

-

-F

INIST CLU
M
E

B

B

INIST CLU
M
E

M

EM

BE

R

M

EM

BE

R

78

figure 49 : The badges from the blue
Feminist Guides

79

figure 50 :
The badges within two fictional Feminist Guides

-

-F

B

INIST CLU
M
E

EM

-

EM

B

ER

B

INIST CLU
M
E

-

M

EM

BE

PARTICIPANT

HELPING HAND

ASSISTANT

NURSE STATUS

MANAGER

LENDING HAND

Light blue badges are given
to new supporters within
their first year.

R

INIST CLU
M
E

M

-F

BE

B

-F

M

R

Medium blue badges are
given to supporters who
have been Feminist Guides
for over 2 years.

Feminist Guide Managers
will be given a dark blue
badge.

Given to supporters who
help others.

Given to supporters who
provide medical assistance
to someone in need.

Given to supporters who
showcase extreme levels of
sharing.

MEMBER BADGES:

HELPING BADGES: vol 1.

Member badges are given to all supporters of the Feminist
Guide upon joining. Each color represents a different
ranking within the Feminist Guide.

Helping badges are given to supporters who complete the
helping task that go with each badge. Volume One badges
are given to supporters who exhibit extreme helping
qualities.

04

UNITED SUPPORTER

Given to supports who show
outstanding support in member
to member relations.

05

CONNECT(ECH)ED

Given to supporters who
actively participate in online
discourse positively.

LOVING HAND

ONLINE SUPPORT

ONE LOVE

UN-OFFICAL ANCHOR

Given to supporters who
support their local Feminist
Guide.

Given to supporters who aid
in Feminist Guides globally.

Given to supporters who
provide comfort to other
supporters online.

Given to supporters who
provide pressing news to
others about current issues.

HELPING BADGES: vol 2.

HELPING BADGES: vol 3.

Helping volume two badges are given to supporters who
support others within their Feminist Guides communities.

Helping volume three badges are given to supporters who
provide information and navigator online platforms with
Feminist Guide ideologies in mind.

06

07

80

figure 51 :
Pages from the blue Feminist Guides

3A. FEMINIST GUIDES - REFLECTION
The creation of the fictional Feminist
Guides was a means for me to explore the
use of participatory data and its effect on the
satirical outcome of my make process. The
participant data from phase two effectively
informed and augmented my designed
artifacts in this latter stage. The range
of understandings and contexts that were
derived from the say activity in phase two
facilitated the creation of nuanced fictional
hierarchal structures for this project that
represented both reformist and radical
feminist agendas. A more sophisticated
degree of satire (than found in phase one)
was achieved as a result.

points, which were used to fuel further
explorations:
•

•

•
The two artifacts described above
successfully used existing hierarchal
structures and stereotypes and presented
them as satirical futures of the feminist
movement. Despite this success, I still
felt I was missing an opportunity to explore
the participants’ garments and characters
derived through the participant making
process of phase two. I decided to explore
the potential of the participants’ characters
to contextualize potential fictional futures
of feminism.

By using the participant’s viewpoints
and artifacts I was able to generate a
much deeper and meaningful artifact
that illustrated a satirical commentary on
current feminism.
The artifacts from phase two brought
to the fore the desire to explore the
created garments as instigators to spark
conversation around the future of
feminism and to flush out the character
personas that participants described
during the say activity.
After creating the Feminist Guides it
became apparent that a more critical
method of participant engagement
should and could be explored such as
role-playing.

My seventh artifact and its construction
lead to the following generative nodes and

81

Role-playing: To assume deliberately the part or role of
another person or character; to act out (Dictionary.com)

3B. FUTURE FEMINISM ROLE-PLAY GAME
- METHODOLOGY
Role-playing:

Role-playing is defined within design as
the practice where a group of individuals
deliberately assume a character role in a
constructed scene with, or without, props
(Simsarian, 2003). Within a design for
social innovation context role-playing can
be seen as “a vehicle that allows for the
exploration of actions that depart from the
norms” (Boess, 2006). This act is also seen
in popular table talk RPGs (role-play games)
such as Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder,
and Savage Worlds (Grigsby, 2012). Within
this realm of play players determine their
actions of their characters based on their
characterization, and personality derived
from their character cards. Roleplaying
within this context allows for:
•
•

•

•

The ability to explore possibilities that
may not be easily achievable in the world
Building a deeper understanding of
feminism grounded within a new radical
context that is presented in the game
The ability to explore different view
points on feminism that may be different
than the player’s
Have players identify with one of the
feminist categories each character card
based off of the props from phase two.

The designer within this role-play scenario
can take on the role of the Game Master
or director where they prompt participants
to answer questions as the character based
on the issues within feminism that are
depicted in phase one. By asking questions
based around the complex problems within
feminism the designer is facilitating and
helping the player act through the problem
space by thinking of it through the lens of the
character they chose.
The character cards:

Drawing from the content and fictional
characters from phase two’s interviews I
began to speculate and design a fictional
world inhabited by the persona my
participants had described to me. Each
character was given a name, a role within
their fictional world, and a hypothetical
environment to live in. This information was
then used to aid in illustrating each character
so that a playing card could be made of each.
The aim was to illustrate the diverse futures
of feminism that were derived from phase
two and create personas that players could act
as through role-playing, as a means to explore
a different value systems.

82

Table-talk role-play game: a form of role-playing in which
participants describe their characters’ actions through speech.
Participants base those actions on their characters’ personality
traits (Kim, 2008).

3B. FUTURE FEMINISM ROLE-PLAY
GAME - PROCESS
Character Cards

In order build on the fictional characters
referred to by my participants in phase
two, as well as create characters from the
hierarchal structures I had created in 3a,
I began to develop more refined personas
for each character. The following questions
were employed in the development of these
personas:

Full
Ti
Age tle: Tara
:
Occ 22 years McNeals
upat
ion:
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ford
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LG
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Educ ent
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Herio inking
Dec
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Prot c
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Polit tive
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is
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six tim ble
es

1. What is the character’s name?
2. How old is the character?
3. Where is the character from?
3*za
le: Xa
Full Tit known
ent
Age: un tion: Presid
Occupa Ouaxon 3
n:
igi
Or

5. What does the character represent, as
pertains to feminist discourse?
Once the twelve character bios were created I
began to illustrate what they would look like
based on the answers to the five questions
and the garments created by participants in
phase two. Character cards that contained the
illustration (on the front side) and character’s
bio and personality traits (on the back side)
were designed.

c
Patrioti willed
gve
Asserti dent Stron nable
en
ratic
Perso sible
Indep y
Aristoc
erl
Respon
Noble atic Lead rly
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Conside
t
plane
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ent fro
presid arge of tra about
ch
le
a is the
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by
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lated
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n
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ison be pathizes
em
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ea
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Full
Ti
Age tle: Dak
:
ot
Occ 35 years a Milar
up
Orig ation: Pr
in: To
ront oject lead
o
Asse
rti
Aggr ve
essiv
Crea
e
tiv
Activ e
ist

Polit
ical
Inde
pe
Blun ndent
t
Opini
onat
ed

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ra
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Outra yourselfe
r
Self- geous
Case
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y
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slut
nd th
at st
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Sh
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er
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g
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ter of
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grou
p.
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ng
s-ters
Agai and
nst Ca
t

figure 52 :
Feminist role-play game character cards

83

4. What is the character’s occupation?

Full Title: Sister Carol Denver
Age: 28 years
Occupation: District 49
Feminist Guide Leader
Origin: Vancouver Area

Agressive
Activist
Assertive
Disciplined

Independent
Leaderly
Strong
Opinionated

Rule follower
Political
Strict
Authoritarian

Carol has been a Feminist Guides Sister
for the past twenty years. She has moved
up the rankings in her area and is now
the leader of her district. She is extremely
opinionated and in your face. She is a
strong believer in the sisterhood and
supporter of her fellow sister. Carol tells it
like it is and doesn’t sugar coat it.

figure 53:
Carol card

Full Title: Commissioner Ashley Nenano
Age: 30 years
Occupation: Central North America
Fem[e]nist Guide
Commissioner
Origin: Minnesota

Full Title: Tara McNeals
Age: 22 years
Occupation: Stanford University’s
LGBTTIQQSA Club Recruiter
Origin: Stanford

Passive
Loyal
Caring
Ethical

Loud
Agressive
Persuasive
Cynical

Genuine
Many-sided
Reliable
Sensitive

Sociable
Paternal
Neutral
Progressive

Ashley was appointed Commissioner of the
Central North America’s Fem[e]nist Guides
earlier this year. He is understanding and
soft spoken amongst the members. He
understandings intersectionalism and the
importance of inclusion within the
Fem[e]nist Guides. Ashley goes out of his
way to make sure everyone in his area feels
comfortable and safe.

figure 54:
Ashley card

Courageous
Confident
Educated
Decisive

Freethinking
Herioc
Protective
Political

Tara is the LGBTTIQQSA recruiter at
Stanford University. She runs the club’s
vegan Wednesday meals and the poster
making sessions. Tara is loud and in your
face, she is the leading figure in all
LGBTTIQQSA events, riots, and sit-ins.
Tara is not afraid to stand up for what she
believes in, even if it gets her into trouble
as she’s already been arrested six times
for protesting!

figure 55:
Tara card

84

Full Title: Dakota Milar
Age: 35 years
Occupation: Project lead
Origin: Toronto

Creative
Imaginative
Lyrical
Passionate

Experimental
Innovative
Spontaneous
Critical

Spontaneous
Excitable
Flamboyant
Political

Jaiden is a runway model in NYC.
[S]he is currently the face of Vivienne
Westwood’s 2025 experimental clothing
line that challenges notions of feminine
within North American society. Jaiden
is creative and opinionated, she considers
herself to be androgenous and rejects
hyperfemininity.

figure 56:
Jaiden card

Assertive
Aggressive
Creative
Activist

Political
Independent
Blunt
Opinionated

Full Title: Casey Day
Age: 19 years
Occupation: Student
Origin: New York City

Liberal
Do it yourselfer
Outrageous
Self-sufficent

Casey is a DIY activist living in NYC. She
partakes in the yearly slut walk and is a
street artist that stamps her ‘feminist’ tag
around the streets of Brooklyn. She is the
leader of her local Feminist Girl Gang and
proud supporter of the Cis-ters Against Cat
Calls group.

figure 57:
Dakota card

Assertive
Aggressive
Creative
Activist

Political
Independent
Blunt
Opinionated

Liberal
Do it yourselfer
Outrageous
Self-sufficent

Casey is a DIY activist living in NYC. She
partakes in the yearly slut walk and is a
street artist that stamps her ‘feminist’ tag
around the streets of Brooklyn. She is the
leader of her local Feminist Girl Gang and
proud supporter of the Cis-ters Against Cat
Calls group.

figure 58:
Casey card

85

Full Title: Jaiden Knowles
Age: 20 years
Occupation: Runway model
Origin: New York City

Full Title: Xa3*za
Age: unknown
Occupation: President
Origin: Ouaxon 3

Full Title: Kai
Age: 20 years
Occupation: Singer
Origin: Los Angeles

Creative
Activist
Liberal
Colorful

Glamorous
Independent
Outspoken
Flamboyant

Experimental
Strong-willed
Charismatic
Original

Kai is a singer in LA who is well known for
her over the top costumes and outspoken
nature around women’s rights. She does
not believe in labels and makes all of her
own clothes as she refuses to conform to
trends. Kai uses her clothing as a means to
express and perform her desired gender.

figure 59:
Kai card

Aristocratic
Noble
Charismatic
Considerate

Assertive
Independent
Leaderly
Orderly

Full Title: Allan McGreggor
Age: 22 years
Occupation: Student
Origin: Scotland, living in Chicago

Patriotic
Strong-willed
Personable
Responsible

Xa3*za is the president from the planet
Ouaxon 3. She is in charge of travelling
to new planets to educate people about
Ouaxon 3, a planet only populated by
women. Xa3*za is the liaison between her
home planet and earth, as she empathizes
with the human race.

figure 60:
Xa3*za card

Kind
Charismatic
Caring
Courageous

Artful
Educated
Dependent
Liberal

Clear-headed
Practical
Personable
Responsible

Allan is a university student studying
architecture in Chicago. He is rational,
clear-headed, and very liberal. Allan is
kind, understanding, and usually tries to
empathize before picking sides on
controversial topics.

figure 61:
Allan card

86

Creative
Optimistic
Caring
Courageous

Artful
Imaginative
Confident
Curious

Full Title: Raileigh Pogue
Age: 25 years
Occupation: graduate student
Origin: New York City

Full Title: Mackenzie Sighn
Age: 24 years
Occupation: Street Artist
Origin: Montreal

Experimental
Fun-loving
Personable
Genuine

Maddie is a student and professional
cosplayer. She is also in charge of the
Geek Girls club that meets at every Comic
Con to promote and protest against the
sexualization and mistreatment of women
in costumes. She is against slut shaming
of any kind, especially women in costumes!
Maddie is confident and creative and uses
her fashion skills to make her ideas come
to life, and to pretend to be other people.

figure 62:
Maddie card

Adventurous
Creative
Rebellous
Outspoken

Artful
Sneaky
Confident
Political

Abrasive
Blunt
Cynical
Demanding

Mackenzie is a street artist living in
Montreal. The subject matter of her work
is illustrating the injustices Canadian
women have to deal with on a daily basis.
She also secretly at night goes out with
her crew and tags ‘feminist’ on major
corporations that are deemed sexist.

figure 63:
Mackenzie card

Loud
Creative
Rebellous
Outspoken

Blunt
Provocative
Confident
Quirky

Independent
Outrageous
Flamboyant
Spontaneous

Raileigh is a 24 year old graduate student
at Parsons studying performance art. She
is graduating this year and is planning to
act out against the fact she is being forced
to wear a gown and dress to her graduation.
Raileigh rejects notions of the feminine in her
everyday dressing, but in her performances
she uses feminine tropes to satirically mock
gender in society.

figure 63:
Raileigh card

87

Full Title: Maddie Wong
Age: 21 years
Occupation: Student /
Professional cosplayer
Origin: San Diego

Game Play

university refuses to press charges, and
the police dismiss it because of what the
Upon the completion of the cards I began
victim was wearing. You hear that a rally is
prepping for the table-talk game by creating a happening on campus to fight for the girl it
series of scenario questions based on current happened to. Do you attend? If so what do
content found in online feminist discourse.
you bring? Why didn’t you attend? What will
The questions focused on issues such as:
you do instead? Are you outspoken at the
current call-out culture, intersectionality,
event? Are you passive? Do you try to break it
privilege, and the utilization of stereotypes.
up? Why?
Below are the scenarios questions that were
created.
3. You attempt to apply for a job, but you are
told to sign a contract that says you will be
1. You just left the bar from a fun night out
making 15% less because of your skin color
with your friends. You’re a bit drunk, and
and an extra 5% less because of your gender.
decide to walk home because of the weather. What do you do? What are you thinking?
You walk about ten blocks before making a
Do you say anything? Do you storm out? If
right hand turn; the bar is no longer in your
not why? If you do nothing there, do you do
sight, and its oddly quiet for this time of the anything later when you get home?
year. You continue walking and suddenly
begin to hear a car slowing down behind
4. You wake up to a threatening note taped to
you. Slowly the window is lowered and you
your door. It says ‘Continue your disgusting
hear the words “hey slut” being shouted at
feminist acts and anonymous will kill you. We
you, as if the driver was trying to pick you
are everywhere. We will find you. We know
up... What do you do? How do you react? Are all’. What do you do next? Do you tell the
you mad? Why? What is your next course of police? Do you continue what you’re doing?
actions? How will you execute them? Do you Do you ignore it? Do you use this as fuel to
get others involved or do this solo? If you do spark more rebellion?
nothing, why?
5. You come across x (another player in the
2. A rape incident happens at the local
game) as you both are partaking in the same
university in the city you are living in. The
feminist march when something terrible

88

happens. You see x (a different character) has
fallen, as have many other marchers. You look
around and see an anonymous terrorist group
of anti-feminists shooting tear gas into the
crowd. What do you as a group decide to do,
and why?
6. As a group you are at a convention about
women’s rights and out of nowhere you
hear someone outside scream ‘help, rape’.
The entire room goes silent, and you hear it
again, this time with much more worry in
the person’s voice. “Help.... rape.” You look
around, half of the convention hall is still
sitting, the other up on their feet. You begin
to notice people running towards to door,
where the sound is coming from... what do
you do?

to come up with their answers either alone
or in a group setting. Players mostly acted
out their answers alone, but when groups of
players felt that individuals were acting out
of character they would attempt to correct
the situation, often by proposing alternate
ways in which the character in question could
respond.

89

Halfway through gameplay, the players asked
me if they could each choose an additional
character card to play with. This was to test
if it was possible for the players to quickly
envision and take on the role of a new
character, regardless of their initial choices.
Gameplay continued and lasted for about an
hour after the switch. Once gameplay was
completed players were asked to relay their
overall thoughts about the game and how
Once I had formulated the scenario questions it affected their opinions on the scenarios
that the players were to answer in character,
depicted to them.
the game was ready to be played. By asking
my fellow peers I was able to assemble
a group of four players. Players were
initially informed that they were to choose
a character card from those provided and
read it over, after which they would answer
questions from the perspective of their
chosen character. The players were asked
the six questions clockwise, starting with the
player sitting closest to me, and were allowed

90

3b. FUTURE FEMINISM ROLE-PLAY GAME
- REFLECTION
Overall, I found the role-play game and
character cards to be the strongest artifacts
from this thesis, as they successfully incited
users to act and think through a problem
space from points of view other than
their own. It was interesting to see how
players would correct each other if they
felt as though the other player was not
maintaining character while responding,
further encouraging them to empathize
with a variety of possible outlooks. This
exercise lead to the group gaining greater
understandings of multiple new perspectives
pertaining to current issues within feminist
discourse.
After completing the game the players
noted that acting like a character that was
different from themselves allowed them to
think about what they would actually do
within a similar real-life scenario, and what
that scenario meant and entailed in a sociocultural context. They also observed that
the characters they were able to choose
from were exaggerated depictions of current
societal tropes, that enabled them to more
easily identify how the character might be
portrayed. While the characters that had
been created based on previous participant
output in phase two worked well, they also
felt too similar - too or homogenous from my

figure 65:
Future Feminism Role-play Game cards

perspective. The players corroborated this,
noting later that a diverse set of characters
to choose from would have allowed for
a more dynamic experience, one where
characters could potentially dispute amongst

91

figure 64 (previous page) :
Future Feminism Role-play Game play through

themselves, and in which multiple separate
narratives could be brought into play. Further
reflection leads me to posit that the game
could facilitate more discussions about
potential futures through the use of scenarios
that shift away from the current model that
focuses primarily on contemporary everyday
experience, and concentrates on encouraging
players to critique existing socio-cultural
paradigms pertaining to feminist discourse.
My eigth artifact and its construction lead
to the following generative nodes and points
that were used to fuel further explorations:
•

•

•

After game play testing it became evident
that role-playing could be used as a means
to act through the feminist ‘problem
space’ as a different person in attempt to
get them to see the space from a different
viewpoint.
It became clear through testing and from
the literature that critical play we used as
a tool to allow designers and participants
to envision and speculate the future of
feminism.
It became noticeable that more diverse
characters had to be created so that
players could choose from a spectrum of
liberal or conservative characters.

Full Title: Tara McNeals
Age: 22 years
Occupation: Stanford University’s
LGBTTIQQSA Club Recruiter
Origin: Stanford

Loud
Agressive
Persuasive
Cynical

Courageous
Confident
Educated
Decisive

Freethinking
Herioc
Protective
Political

Tara is the LGBTTIQQSA recruiter at
Stanford University. She runs the club’s
vegan Wednesday meals and the poster
making sessions. Tara is loud and in your
face, she is the leading figure in all
LGBTTIQQSA events, riots, and sit-ins.
Tara is not afraid to stand up for what she
believes in, even if it gets her into trouble
as she’s already been arrested six times
for protesting!

figure 66 :
Close ups of the back of a Future Feminism
Role-play Game card

92

CONCLUSION
Project Assessment

93

futures that participants could interact with
and act out through the use of characters.
This thesis sought to explore the potential of From a design perspective the aim of this
textiles and worn or product based artifacts
entire body of work has been to explore the
as means to illicit discussion and reflection on capacity of the designer as reactive speculator
the frequent redefining and recontextualizing and to consider the role of the designed
of the term ‘feminism’ in North American
artifact as an intermediary of existing
society. To that end I aimed to create a
content that is inherently conversational in
framework with which to create design based nature. The designer and the artifact are not
artifacts and sites for dialogue. I began by
disassociated entities in this framework rather
collecting information on the current social- they have a causal relationship and a capacity
political lenses that are used within feminism. to work in tandem to create further sites of
discussion.
The first phase of my work explored the
notion of designer as instigator, a method
Framed within the context of feminism the
that allowed me to react to social theory and artifacts that I produced exhibited (to varying
research through making. The insights that
degrees of success) the capacity of textiles
I collected in the initial stage of my work
and consumer, product-based artifacts to
subsequently led me to develop and facilitate spark conversations around an important
new means of creating and connecting others contemporary social issue. Additionally, it
in conversation. I designed a speculative
illustrated the potential of using artifacts to
co-creative activity and was able to incite
facilitate and inform designers’ understanding
participants to engage in the creative reof stereotypes within movements such
assembly of clothing. This process and the
as feminism. The creation of artifacts
participants’ self-driven creation and dressing enabled myself as a designer to break down
of fictional characters provided the genesis
contemporary feminist discourse, to create
for a new body of work. My role shifted from conceptual models (see figures 1-4), and to gain
that of design facilitator to one of reactive
a nuanced understanding of the polarizing
speculator. I began to contribute and add to
theories within the movement.
my participants’ creation and imaginings.
I created a subsequent series of conceptual

By placing participants in the center of the
design process both in phase two, and again in
phase three I opened up conversations around
semiotic relations pertaining to reformist and
radical feminist issues and sites.

usage for future design work of this genre.
Additionally, given that my model was
developed based on feminist concerns, it may
not be immediately applicable to other social
movements without preliminary adaptations
or accommodations.

Limitations:
Long-term Directions:

While this thesis explores both radical and
reformist approaches to feminism, the created
artifacts within phase one are still situated
primarily within reformist feminism, as they
involve reappropriation of existing forms and
everyday contexts. Additionally, the focus on
satirical use of textile forms that identify with
feminist stereotypes may be misunderstood as
a desire to create feminist ‘uniforms’, which
is counter to the inclusive nature of modern
feminism, and furthermore an unnecessary
(and unwelcome) stable identity marker for
its members.
Being that feminism is an expansive and
complex topic for a designer to approach
within the span of a Masters’ thesis, it is
evident to me that a major limitation of my
work is its scope. While I developed a model
for exploring complex social movements
from a design perspective, both individually
and collaboratively, further application and
refinement of this model would validate its

Moving forward, intend to further explore
the limitations of this thesis - to utilize and
refine the methodological approach, detailed
above, through an ongoing investigation
of intersectionality and privilege within
feminism. Expanding upon this work through
the creation of further fictional futures,
role-playing opportunities and refinement of
the existing game structure will allow me to
create critiques that expose new alternatives
and a potential future of humanity
unaccompanied by sexism.
This thesis lead to the following generative
nodes and points that were used to fuel
further explorations:
•

Further exploration based on the
garments from phase two is needed
in order to facilitate the creation of a
satirical and hypothetical garment that
is appropriate for the current feminist

94

•

•

movement. My interest in this derives
from the clothing labels that were reappropriated by participants (see phase
two). Such a garment that could be used
to spark deeper discussions on the subject
of feminist identity, unity, and inclusivity
– three topical issues within current
feminist discourse that were revealed
during phase one.
As roleplaying often involves physical
performance, the application of garments
created in from phase two as costumes
for future game play is a fertile area of
further exploration. This new area of
inquiry could provide further means of
critique and new forums for discussion.
It could also apotentially allow players to
engage more closely with their chosen
character(s).
Actively using clothing as a medium for
both participants and designers to explore
speculative and inclusive futures could be
a means to project futures that effectively
remove gender exclusivity - (a key goal of
radical feminism).

three-phase methodology. My hope is that
other designers will be able to apply the
phased approached used in this thesis to
tackle similar complex social content or as
case study to facilitate conversations that
encourage the everyday public to consider
how design can help feminist discourse
to remain resilient and critical. I strongly
believe that with the assistance and curation
of designers, the current feminist discourse
could be fostered in such a way that moves
towards a potential future where sexism is no
longer an issue.

95

The approach I’ve developed is intended
to allow designers to draw insight and to
facilitate further conversations regarding
the future of feminist discourse. This has
been done through the use of a generative

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This paper discusses and analyses the gendering of
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This paper explains how making things strange
can be a way to raise questions and critique every
day life. This thesis utilizes this explanation to
illustrate how prototypes can challenge our
understanding of societal problems.

This paper described the use of humor within the
current feminist movement and explains how it
is both successful and unsuccessful. Billingsley’s
explanation of humor and satire within feminism
allowed me to explore a critical design approach in
my making.
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drs2006/wonderground/proceedings/fullpapers/
drs2006_0204.pdf

Boess’s explains role play as a vehicle to explore
actions and ideas from outside the norm. This
thesis used Boess’s explanation to explore the use
of table talk role-play games to explore potential
futures of feminism that are outside of the norm.
Boesveld, S. (2014, July 25). Not all feminists: How modern
feminism has become complicated, messy and
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Billingsley, A. (2013). Laughing against Patriarchy: Humor,
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alienating/

This newspaper article discussed and depicted the

96

messiness within the current feminist movement
due to stereotypes, and pro- and anti-feminist
online movements. Boesveld’s explanation of the
messiness and stereotypes was used as primary
research, which incited my making.
Bosch, T. (2012, March2 2). Sci-Fi Writer Bruce Sterling
Explains the Intriguing New Concept of Design
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Than a Trend. Spin Magazine. Retrieved from http://
www.spin.com/articles/feminism-music-trend-2014beyonce/

This article describes the use of the term feminist
and feminist ideologies within pop culture.
Brodsky’s explanation of feminism and the use in
pop culture was used as information that inspired
making.

slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/03/02/bruce_
sterling_on_design_fictions_.html

Burns et. Al. (2006). Red Paper 02: Transformational
Design. Design Council, 1 – 33. http://www.

Bridgeman, J. (2011). Wise women in community: building on
everyday radical feminism for social change. Interface.
3(2), 288-293

cihm.leeds.ac.uk/document_downloads/
REDPAPER02TransformationDesign.pdf

This report outlines the utilization of participants
and prototypes within Social Innovation. This
thesis uses this explanation while explaining how
Social Innovation techniques can be drawn upon
while exploring and researching potential feminist
futures.

This journal entry provides new questions to
existing problems on how women look at power,
society, and feminist resources while seeking
social change. Bridgeman’s explanation of current
feminism in relation to social change was used
to contextualize modern feminism in Social
Innovation discourse.

Carastathis, A. (2014). The Concept of Intersectionality in

Brodsky, R. ( 2014, December 14). Feminism in 2014: More

Cokely, C. L. (2008). Barbie. In J. O’Brien (Eds.). Encyclopedia

Feminist Theory. Philosophy Compass. 9(5), 304-314

This paper explores the current intersectional
nature of contemporary feminism. Caratathis’s
explanation of intersectionality was used to
solidify Hook’s work (2000) within the current
decade.

97

This article illustrates and explains the use of
props within speculative design, and the role of
speculative design in critiquing the everyday. This
explanation and citation of Sterling’s work was
used to explain the created props in phase two.

of Gender and Society Vol. 1 (53-55). California: SAGE
Publications, Inc.

in such a way that describes its historical, social,
and political significance within the French
revolution. It was from this description I was able

This encyclopedia entry explains the history of
Barbie dolls and their significance within society.
Cokely’s explanations of the dolls were used to
frame the Feminist Barbies created within this
thesis.

reappropriate and create a digital painting that
mocked and juxtaposed feminist ideals onto it.

Cosplayer (n.d). In Dictionary Reference online. Retrieved from

This definition was used in this thesis to define
what cosplay and cosplayers are.

This book describes notions of white privilege and
misrepresentations within feminism and Barbies.
DuCille’s explanation of misrepresentations of
women of color in Barbies was used within this
thesis.

Crenshaw, K. (1993). Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality,

Dunne, A. & Raby, F. (2013). Speculative Everything: Design,

Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of

Fiction, and Social Dreaming. London: The MIT

Color. Stanford Law Review, 43, 1241-1299.

Press.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cosplay

This paper provided me an in depth understanding
of intersectionality and what it means in terms of
one’s identity and the identity of women of color.
This paper is used within this thesis to frame
the meaning of intersectionality within feminist
discourse.

DuCille, A. (1996). Skin Trade. Massachusetts: Harvard
University Press.

Dunne & Raby’s book describes and explains
the field of critical design and the use of fictions
and artifacts within fictions in relation to social
change. This book aided in the formation of this
thesis’s methodologies.
Egalitarian [Def. 1] (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster Online.

Dorbani, M. B. (n.d.) July 28: Liberty Leading the people.

Retrieved February 20, 2015, from http://www.

Louvre online database. Retrieved from http://www.

merriam-webster.com/dictionary/egalitarianism

louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/july-28-liberty-leadingpeople

The Louvre site describes the Delacroix painting

This definition describes what the term means in
todays society. It was used in this document as a

98

social movement that encompasses both sexes.
Etsy Inc. (2015). Modern Girl Blitz. Retrieved from https://
www.etsy.com/ca/shop/ModernGirlBlitz?ref=relatedshop-4&ga_search_query=feminism&ga_search_
type=all&ga_view_type=gallery

This shop sells feminist merchandize that draws
icons from prior feminist waves and protests. This
thesis uses this shop as an example for the types of
feminist artifacts that are being sold.

theory/marxism/modules/marxfetishism.html

Felluga’s explanation of Marx’s commodity
fetishism outlines how society adds value to
objects while looking at monetary value and
narrative value. This concise explanation was used
to talk about commodity fetishism within this
thesis.
Felski, R. (1989). Beyond Feminist Aesthetics: Feminist
Literature and Social Change. Massachusetts: Harvard
University Press.

Facebook (2015). EverydayFeminism. Retrieved from https://
www.facebook.com/everydayfeminism

This facebook group is one of the social media
groups for the online magazine of the similar
name. This thesis uses this group as an example of
one of the online spaces people can converse.

This book explains and explores aesthetics within
feminism, stereotypes and defining visual factors
within the movement. I used this as a means to
explore aesthetics within the feminist movement.
Feminist. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster Online. Retrieved
February 20, 2015, from http://www.merriam-

Faq. (2010). In The Onion’s Frequently Asked Questions:

webster.com/dictionary/feminist

Editorial. Retrieved from: http://www.theonion.com/
faq/

This source was used to solidify and validate
the Onion’s use of satire as a means to critique
society. This explanation was used to cite the site
within this thesis.

This definition describes what the term means
with in todays society. This definition was used as
the main thesis.
Gaines, G. (1986). White Privilege and Looking Relations:
Race and Gender in Feminist Film Theory. Cultural
Critique, 4, 59 – 79.

Felluga, Dino. (2011). Modules on Marx: IV: on commodity
fetishism. Introductory Guide to Critical Theory.

This paper explores white privilege within film

99

Retrieved from https://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/

theory, and explains privilege within feminist
succinctly. This definition was used to formulate
my greater understanding of the issue.

choices he made in the 1990s when it came to
women’s pantsuits. This was used to explore the
gendering of pantsuits throughout history and
what that meant for women.

Gassner, D. (2012). We Can Do It! A Semiotic Approach
to J. Howard Miller’s Rosie the Riveter Poster and

Grigsby, J. (2012, February 15). Top 10 Current Tabletop

the Morale of World War II Era American Women.

Role-playing Games. ListVerse. Retrieved from http://

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven – Faulteit Letteren,

listverse.com/2012/02/15/top-10-current-tabletop-

1-17

role-playing-games/

This paper explains the Iconic Rosie the
Riveter Poster as a iconic feminist artifact. This
explanation was used to explain the utilization
of the first through the Venus symbol within the
feminist movement.

Grigsby explains the top ten tabletop role-play
games within this article. This thesis uses this list
to explain the current popular role-play games.
Guerrilla. (1995). Confessions of the Guerrilla Girls.
Michigan: HarperPerennial.

Geere, D. (2010, August 17). Glitch art created by
‘databending’. Wired.co.uk. Retrieved from http://
www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-08/17/glitchart-databending

This article provided a succinct definition of glitch
art and databending. These two definitions were
used within this thesis to explain both terms.

This book explains the process of the activist
group Guerrilla Girls. This explanation was used
to explain how the group is a successful creative
group that utilizes humor to spark social change.
Ham, E. (2014). Varieties of Feminism. Earl Ham
Sociology Pages. Retrieved from http://www.
earlhamsociologypages.co.uk/Varieties%20of%20

“Giorgio Armani”. (2004). Encyclopedia of World Biography.

feminism.html

Retrieved from Encyclopedia.com:http://www.
encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404700269.html

This encyclopedia entry explains Armani’s suits
throughout the decades, and specifically the

This article provided context in which I was able
to contextualize the fact that modern feminism
utilizes notions of radical feminism.

100

Hillgren et al. (2011). Prototyping and Infrastructuring in
design for social innovation. CoDesign: International
Journal of CoCreation in Design and the Arts, 7:3-4,

around current feminist discourse within society.
This instagram was used in this thesis to illustrate
the online discourse.

169-183.
Instagram (2015). Rookiemag. Retrieved from https://
instagram.com/rookiemag
This paper outlines the usage of prototyping as
a means to drive innovation. This thesis uses this
explanation of prototyping in all three phases, to This account posts images and sparks discussion
illustrate the utilization of prototyping as a means among teenage girls around a variety of issues,
including feminism. It is founded by a prominent
for Social Innovation within feminist discourse.
online feminist.
History. (2012). In Girl Guides of Canada. Retrieved from Girl
Guides of Canada – Who We Are – History. https://

Irony (n.d.) In Merriam-Webster online. Retrieved from http://

www.girlguides.ca/GGC/Parents/Who_We_Are/

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irony

History/GGC/Parents/Who_We_Are/History.
aspx?hkey=114c5cc2-4baa-431e-9e6f-6012efd68b8c

This resource explains the history and meaning
behind Girl Guides. This explanation was used
and explored as a potential context to make with.

This definition was used to explain the meaning
of the term ‘irony’ within this thesis.
Kahn, K. F. & Goldenberg, E. N. (1991). The Media: Obstacle
or Ally of Feminists?. AAPSS: American Feminism: New
Issues for a Mature Movement , 515, 104 – 113.

Hooks, B (2000). Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate
Politics. Massachusetts: South End Press.

This book was one of the most significant books
within this thesis as it provided outlooks on
almost all of the current issues within feminism.

This paper explores the positive and negative
effect of the media within feminism. This thesis
draws upon this paper to explain both sides within
feminism.
Kim, J. (2008). “Narrative” of “Tabletop” RPGs. Darkshire.

This account posts images and sparks discussion

Retrieved from http://www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/
rpg/whatis/tabletop.html

Kim’s explanation of table talk games provides a

101

Instagram (2015). Feministprobs. Retrieved from https://
instagram.com/feministprobs/

concise definition of how games like Dungeons
and Dragons work. This explanation was used to
make the game in phase three as well as provide
context for the current definition of table talk
games.

This article explains the stereotypes within the
past decade about Barbie dolls. Utilizing these
examples I was able to illustrate the controversies
around the dolls.
Lee, J. (2014). Feminism Has a Bra-Burning Myth Problem.

Kim, S. (2012, July 24). How most things you know about

Time Magazine online. Retrieved from http://time.

feminism are vicious conservative lies. Everyday

com/2853184/feminism-has-a-bra-burning-myth-

Feminism Magazine. Retrieved from http://

problem/

everydayfeminism.com/2012/07/feminist-myths/

This article depicts stereotypes within the current
movement. Kim’s list of stereotypes are used
within this thesis.

Lee’s article explains the ongoing myth within
society of what occurred during the 1968 Miss
America. This thesis looks at Lee’s point of view
pertaining to the importance of the issues within
women’s rights over the artifacts.

King, J. (2014, September 30). Chanel Taps Gisele and Kendall
For Feminist Protests on the Runway. Harpers Bazaar.

Marx, K. (1990). Capital. London: Penguin Classics.

Retrieved from http://www.harpersbazaar.com/

This article explains the Chanel runway show that
occurred that payed homage to the second wave
feminist movement. This article is cited to explain
the runway show within this thesis.

This book provided me with an understanding
of commodity fetishism that allowed me to
understand the role of the designer in creating
consumer goods. Marx explores and explains the
meaning of capital, consumer goods, commodity
fetishism, and their role in our day-to-day lives.

Klassen, A. (2012, January 21). Mattel’s New Bald Barbie Doll,

Munro, E. (2013). Feminism: A fourth wave?. The Political

fashion/fashion-week/a3773/chanel-spring-2015/

and More Controversial Barbies: Pregnant Barbie. The

Studies Association (PSA). Retrieved from http://www.

Daily Beast. Retrieved from http://www.thedailybeast.

psa.ac.uk/insight-plus/feminism-fourth-wave

com/galleries/2012/01/21/the-most-controversialbarbies-ever-made-photos.html#slide_8

This paper explore and explains the fourth wave
and validates its inception. This paper is used to

102

validate the fourth wave’s existence.
O’Neil, L (2014, July 28). ‘Confused Cats Against Feminism’
Lampoon online anit-feminist movements. CBC

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/patriarchy

This definition was used to define the patriarchy
within this thesis.

News – Community. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.
ca/newsblogs/yourcommunity/2014/07/confused-

Pearson, M. & Mullins, P. R. (1999) Domesticating Barbie: An

cats-against-feminism-lampoon-online-anti-feminist-

Archaeology of Barbie Material Culture and Domestic

movement.html

Ideology. International Journal of Historical Archaeology,
3(4), 225-259

This news article explains the satirical websites
and hastags being used to poke fun and mock the
feminist movement. This thesis uses this article as
a means of exhibiting the use of satire within the
feminist movement.

This paper explains the controversies that have
arose since the creation of the Barbie. This thesis
uses these controversies to contextualize the
importance of exploring the Barbie form as an
prevocational artifact.

Pantsuit. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster online. Retrieved from
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/
pantsuit

This definition is used in this thesis to explain
what the North American understanding of the
term pantsuit is.

Reddit Inc.(2015). r/feminism. Retrieved from https://www.
reddit.com/r/feminism

This subreddit hosts a online forum in which
people can converse about feminism. This cite was
used to illustrate the online discussions that are
currently happening.

Paoletti, J. (2012). Pink and Blue: Telling the Boys from the
Girls in America. Indiana: Indiana University Press.

Redfern, C, & Aune K. (2010). Reclaiming the F Word: The
new Feminist Movement. London, & New York: Zed

Patriarchy. (n.d.) In Dictionary.reference. Retrieved from

Books, & Room 400.

This book explains what is occurring within the
fourth movement, and how in current society the
term ‘feminist’ is seen as a pejorative term. This
was used in this thesis as a means of validating the

103

Paoletti in this book defines what gendered
clothing is within North America. This thesis uses
his definition to define gendered garments.

fact the term is now pejorative.
Rehel, J. (2014, March 5). Barbie bashing: Playing with iconic
doll may lead girls to limit career choices, U.S. study
says. National Post online. Retrieved from http://
news.nationalpost.com/2014/03/05/barbie-bashing-

Publishing.

This paper explores the notion of white privilege,
and women of color within feminism. This thesis
uses this exploration as generative nodes in the
make process.

playing-with-iconic-doll-may-lead-girls-to-limitcareer-choices-u-s-study-says/

Role-play (n.d.). In Dictionary. Reference online. Retrieved from
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/roleplay?s=t

This article explains what the limiting amount of
career options shown in Barbies has lead and can
lead to within young girls. This thesis uses this to
cite the idea of Barbie’s exhibiting limited career
choices for women.

This definition was used in this thesis to explain
what roleplaying means.
Sanders, E. B. N, & Stappers, P. J. (2012). Convivial ToolBox:
Generative Research for the Front End of Design. The

Rock, M. (2013). Designer as Author. Multiple Signatures: On

Netherlands: BIS Publishers.

Designers, Authors, Readers and Users . Retrieved from
http://2x4.org/ideas/22/designer-as-author/

Rock outlines what authoring means in relation
to graphic design practice while explaining it
through multiple lenses and schools of thought.
His explanation of authorship was used in this
thesis to explore authoring within design research
in relation to opening up feminist discourse.
Sanchez-Hucles, J., et Al. (2012). The Multiple Identities
of Feminist Women of Colour: Creating a New
Feminism?. In R. Josselson & M. Iarway (Eds.),
Navigating Multiple Identities: Race, Gender, Culture,
Nationality, and Roles. (91-112). New York: SAGE

This book explores and explains the tools used
within generative participatory research. This
thesis uses this books explanation of co-creation
as a tool to engage participants in making.
Shifman, L. & Lemish, D. (2011) ‘“Mars and Venus” in Virtual
Space: Post-feminist Humor and the Internet. Critical
Studies in Media Communication, 28(3), 253-273

This paper explores the use of humor within the
current feminist movement online. This thesis
utilizes this exploration to spark making as well as
validate the use of humor within feminism.

104

Simsarian, K. (2003). Take it to the Next Stage: The Roles
of Role Playing in the Design Process. CHI: New

thesis utilizes this as a source of inspiration in the
make process.

Horizions, 1012 – 1013. http://hasso.stanford.edu/
readings/p1012-simsarian.pdf

Tesselated (n.d.). In Dictionary Reference online. Retrieved
from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/

Simsarian explains how role-play can be used to
speculate the future and flush out the things that
are outside of everyday life. This explanation was
used to illustrate how design currently uses roleplaying as a research tool.

This definition was used in this thesis to explain
what a tessellated repeat was in relation to this
thesis.

Steinmetz, Katy (2014, November 12). Which Word Should

Tumblr (2015). Feministcurrent. Retrieved from http://

Be Banned in 2015? TIME Magazine – Society. Retrieved

tessellated?&o=100074&s=t

feministcurrent.tumblr.com/

from http://time.com/3576870/worst-wordspoll-2014/

This article illustrates TIME Magazine’s
submission of the term ‘feminist’ into their
‘Words that Should be Banned’ poll in 2014. This
article is used in this thesis to showcase how the
media can dictate how we see the term feminist.

This blog is one of the biggest online feminist
blogs on Tumblr and has one of the biggest
followings. This blog was used in this thesis to
illustrate the conversations on Tumblr around
current feminist discourse.
Tumblr (2015). the-glitter-clit. Retrieved from http://theglitter-clit.tumblr.com/

Supple, E. (2014, November 5). What’s Up With Hilary

Pantsuits?. Fembot Magazine. Retrieved from http://
fembotmag.com/2014/11/05/whats-up-with-hilaryclinton-and-the-medias-obsession-with-her-pantsuits/

This article explains and illustrates the fourth
wave’s connections with Hilary Clinton and the
pantsuit, and how the media has taken this. This

This tumblr illustrates the types of voices and
language being used on Tumblr pertaining to
feminist discourse. This thesis uses this blog as an
example to show the type of language being used
online by feminists.
Twine, F. W. (2013). Geographies of Privilege. NYC, New
York: Routledge

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Clinton and the Media’s Obsession With Her

This book provided context on the complex topic
of privilege. It allowed me to gain a nuanced
understanding of the issue and be able to link it
back to feminist discourse.
Twitter (2015). FeministaJones. Retrieved from https://
twitter.com/feministajones

This Twitter account is the personal account of
the writer and founder for the blog of the similar
title. This thesis uses this Twitter account as
an example of the other accounts found on the
platform.
Uwujaren, J. & Utt, J. (2015). Why Our Feminism
Must Be Intersectional (And 3 Ways to Practice
It). Everydayfeminism. Retrieved from http://
everydayfeminism.com/2015/01/why-our-feminismmust-be-intersectional/

This article explains what intersectionality is in
succinct terms and explains why it is important
to modern feminism. This thesis utilizes this
explanation to explain the importance and
definition of intersectionality.
Wright, L. (1989). Objectifying Gender: The Stiletto Heel.
In J. Attfield & P. Kirkham (Eds.), A View from the
Interior: Feminism, Women, and Design. (7-19). London:
The Women’s Press Limited.

This paper explains the gendering of clothing
within society, and the understandings and
misconceptions with the stiletto heel. This
thesis uses theories from this paper to support
the potential of clothing within feminism.

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A
Appendixes
photo citations;
grad show exhibition space

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photos;

A. GRAD EXHIBITION PHOTOS

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