Week 1- Overview -UX of shifting stereotypical perceptions

July 6th-12th

The first week for the Final major project started with us deciding our topic and writing a review for it. My topic for this was “Could cultural experiences help shift stereotypical perceptions surrounding gender in India?” This evolved quickly into “shifting stereotypical perceptions surrounding menstruation in India through cultural experiences”.

Overview

Even today, women in India have to fight for being treated with dignity. Stereotypes and taboos of being impure and dirty while menstruating are still prevalent in India. A strong social exclusive society has banned menstruating women from places of worship, from the kitchen and gone as far as not using the same utensils as the rest of the family (Garg and Anand, 2015)

Approximately 70 women in Gujrat, a state of India, were made to remove their clothes to prove they were not menstruating on the claim that they had entered a temple. This incident happened in the year 2020, in an era of strong narratives on the empowerment of women and moving away from patriarchy. A lot of these stereotypes surrounding menstruation still exist in India despite urbanization and globalization. These stereotypes are the underlying problems for a lot of social problems such as cognitive performance. ( Wister, Shipman, 2013)

India has a strong history of cultural arts, like dance, music, and theatre (Vidyarthi and Rai, 1977). These performative acts have known to build a community while looking after their survival.

This thesis project will look at how these cultural experiences can assist in bringing a shift to the stereotypes of menstruation, particularly in rural India. I will employ performance as a tool to research behavior change. I believe there is a connection between sensory cultural/religious experiences and behavior change.

How is it relevant to me?

I have long noticed the need for radically changing the narratives surrounding gender. Being around victims of stereotypes, I am highly motivated to research this topic. The influence behind this project would definitely be to structure and place me as a socially aware designer. I would like to position myself in the education field where I could use my skills as an Experience designer to explore the patterns of human behavior.

Timeline of the project

Stereotypes in India surrounding menstruation

I started by studying the stereotypical perceptions that surround women in India.

After I had a basic understanding of the stereotypes and the injustices that menstruators have to face in India, I decided to dig deeper into the adaptation of menstruation in mythology. I found a story that poses as the origin of menstruation.

I also noticed an unusual dichotomy in the way society looks at menstruators. On one hand, remnants of the goddess rhetoric still exist, present in so-called Ritu Kala Samskara(period parties), common in South India, where the family throws a big celebration for a girl upon her first period, dressing her up in finery and giving her gold. But on the other hand, those exist to celebrate the fertility of the girl — who will now finally be able to fulfill her one, true purpose in life, birthing babies which rises social stereotypes about women.

The Curse: A Cultural History of Menstruation, which quotes social anthropologist Mary Chadwick saying, “From one aspect the woman who may not be approached is inviolable, holy; another aspect she is polluted, unclean. She is what the Romans call Sacra, sacred, and accursed.”

Feedback

As it was the first week, most people were gaining a basic understanding of the topic. One thing which Erick pointed out was that I should try to situate my project in a socio-economic class, or it would be very hard to narrow it down. It would be good to look at the project from a micro perspective.

Takeaways

The first week leaned more toward gaining a fresh perspective on the topic. It also meant that due to the lockdown in India, I was able to do only desk research. It was good to learn how data collection could be better and how it can help narrow down the brief. It was also interesting to treat my own body as a way of researching as I am a menstruator.

References

Chrisler, J.C., 2013. Teaching taboo topics: Menstruation, menopause, and the psychology of women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 37(1), pp.128–132.

Delaney, J., Lupton, M.J. and Toth, E., 1988. The curse: A cultural history of menstruation. University of Illinois Press.

Garg, S. and Anand, T., 2015. Menstruation related myths in India: strategies for combating it. Journal of family medicine and primary care, 4(2), p.184.

Kissling, E.A., 1996. “That’s just a basic teen‐age rule”;: Girls’ linguistic strategies for managing the menstrual communication taboo.

Lamborn, A.M., 2017. It’s About ‘That Time’to Break the Cycle: A Rhetorical Analysis of Challenging Menstrual Taboos.

Vidyarthi, L.P. and Rai, B.K., 1977. The tribal culture of India. Concept Publishing Company.

Wister, J.A., Stubbs, M.L. and Shipman, C., 2013. Mentioning menstruation: A stereotype threat that diminishes cognition?. Sex roles, 68(1–2), pp.19–31.