Week 24 - Brainstorming & analysing

Concept development

After spending some time creating the fun fair themed Lego prototype I began to realise that despite it being interesting, I felt like the essence of my initial idea had been lost. From the beginning of fourth year I have wanted to design an interactive installation that incorporates data visualisation and illustrations. I want my installation to be simple but portray an important overall message. I feel like I have been spending too much time jumping to a final concept idea rather than looking at everything I have done and learned and how I can tie it all together.

Initially I wanted to focus my project around raising awareness about sexual harassment in urban areas as it is a huge matter of concern and something I am extremely passionate about. The more I researched the more I learned about how sexual harassment is not a one off incident, it is just another factor of everyday sexism. Tackling sexual harassment cannot be done overnight. There are hundreds of campaign's and movements in place across the world to end sexual violence and with the increase of Women's Right's Activists and the Feminism movement the world is slowly beginning to shift in the right direction.

After coming to the realisation that despite my efforts, I cannot in fact change the world overnight, I decided to focus on what was more achievable.

I had a look over all the research I have done over the past 8 months and realised I have learned so much about the world of Feminism and what it is like living a life faced with everyday sexism.

If you had asked me at the start of fourth year if I believed sexism was a big problem I probably would've rolled my eyes and said no. Perhaps because I was completely oblivious to the significance it has on my daily life.

I have been so focussed on raising awareness about sexual harassment I was unaware that this casual sexism was right in front of me the whole time. Rather than focussing on one specific aspect of this sexism I wanted to look at it as a whole and how learning about it has changed my opinions and perceptions on a lot of things. I have become so much more aware of the presence of sexism in my life and I want other people to acknowledge it as well.

As soon as you mention the word "Feminism" people that are not your stereotypical 'Feminists' begin to automatically shut down and generally ignore what you say next. I want to educate people on everyday sexism and make them aware that allowing those 'minor' transgressions gives license to the more serious ones,.

Feminism is more than intellectual debates on TV about unequal pay and female circumcision in the third world, with such bold action, many people have misconstrued the true definition of a feminist. While of course these issues are pressing, urgent and need to be discussed, the day to day problems of being a women are also important and something much easier to convey in an installation.

I wrote down some key words that relate to my project and that I need to keep in mind when I am developing my concept ideas for my installation. I want to investigate the prevalence of sexism and gender discrimination within modern society. I want my installation to be engaging to the everyday individual. I like the idea of using some sort of social experiment that highlights forms of gender imbalance and prejudice.

I want to design an interactive installation that aims to educate people in a fun and engaging way through using their unconscious bias to highlight the presence of sexism in daily life. I want to draw attention to their own internal dismissive behaviour, whilst keeping the light-hearted tone of the project as a whole.

Key insights from all research

I went back over all of my research from the past 8 months and picked out my most relevant insights that I want to keep in mind moving forward.

• Sexism is a socially acceptable prejudice; we live in a society that has normalised and allowed it to become so ingrained that we no longer notice or object it

• Women are trivialising their experiences of sexual assault because they are socialised into a patriarchal culture where sexual violence is normalised

• The phenomenon suggests that some men are so accustomed to feeling entitled to harass women because their assaultive behaviour is justified and the victim is blamed and persecuted instead

• What some young men are exhibiting is the potent culmination of exposure to a vast variety of misogynistic influences, compounded by wilful ignorance and glaring absence of education to offset the prejudicial attitudes formed as a result

• When people consciously pay attention to their actions it makes them aware of it makes them of their underlying internalised behaviour

• The simple act of sharing stories and raising awareness gives both women and men the strength and the impetus to make changes.

• The sense of solidarity that also comes with sharing stories can make huge difference, because women no longer feel they're standing up to street harassment alone.

• People are more likely to empathise and listen when you give them the opportunity to have their say because they feel like their opinion is equally valid

Next steps:

• Think about final concept keeping key insights in mind