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Running Head: Feminist Psychology Research

Feminist Research Methods and Developments Andrew Clavijo The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

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In this paper I will be presenting several examples of feminist research methodologies which advance the development of qualitative research. A common thread which will permeate this paper is the dedication to doing ethical research, and by doing so the focus of all of these research examples is what feminist ethicist Margaret Urban Walker (1998) calls the epistemic community, which reminds us that doing ethical research is essentially a search for other epistemologiessense-making mechanisms. In a contemporary climate where gender roles and expectations continually become convoluted and complex, recognizing new epistemologies can assuredly aid in our efforts to find new ways to make sense of the world. However, the acknowledgment of other perspectives and standpoints is not as simple as giving a voice to a traditionally underrepresented group, often such attempts at diversity fall the wayside of ornamental multiculturalism; as Krumer-Nevo (2009) has suggested, it is better to demand that marginalized knowledge be center stage, and not merely voice. Researchers Toerien and Wilkinson (2004) explore the power of norms by investigating the practice of body hair removaldepilationthrough an engaged research methodology that asks open-ended questions, and in doing so they allow the personal experiences shared by the women participants to reveal an epistemic standpoint; the participants subjective experiences with depilation make it possible to investigate the culturally dominant ways in which the women themselves construct what it means to be hairy/hairless, and (from the womens own perspectives) how others react to their hairy/hairless bodies (Toerien & Wilkinson, 2004, p. 71). Their research confirms the powerful influence that social constructions have on everyday lives. Women typically desire to be hairless rather than hairy, and as such they are giving in to conventional gender expectations and avoiding proscriptive behaviorssuch as being hairy. The research of Toerien and Wilkinson (2004) exposes the immense force that normative

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expectations exact on women by way of socially constructs: To say the depilation norm is a social construction is thus not to say it lacks power (p.89). The power that a norm like depilation has is sustained by the social price that one pays if that norm is violated. Depilation is a great example of how social constructs coerce humans into performing prescribed rolessuch as gender. Evidence of hegemonic oppression can be discerned by the presence of dichotomies which force the subject into an either/or dilemma. For example, the social construct of woman demands that depilation be performed, and failure to do so renders the woman dirty, as opposed to clean; the negative associations with hairiness were reported by all of the women involved in the Toerien and Wilkinson (2004) research, and ultimately left them feeling that they either had to be hairless or forfeit their identity as woman. Women are therefore forced by social constructs to be hairless, because failing to do so suggests that they are unkempt, unattractive and masculine (p. 85). Ali, Mahmood, Joy, Moel, Hudson & Leathers (2008), performed A qualitative investigation of Muslim and Christian womens views of religion and feminism in their lives (Ali, et al., 2008). Their findings reveal that these women derive empowerment from their religious practices, and as such a common wedge thought to exist between feminism and religion is problematized. These findings further suggest that therapists who employ feminist methodologies might unfairly dismiss the notion that religious women hold any sort of critical standpoint. It is true that for some women, religion may be negatively associated with patriarchy, oppression of womens rights, and intolerance. Yet, a lack of attention to the positive aspects of religion in womens lives denies a deeper understanding of women who may embrace strong religious values and the potential empowerment they may gain from their religion (Ali, et al., 2008, p. 38).

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The researchers also revealed that Muslim women were much more likely to identify themselves as feminists, and they even went so far as to suggest that Islam is very pro-feminist; Muslim women blamed culture, meaning the domineering patriarchy, for getting in the way of Islams true reverence of women and the female body. The researchers also discovered that all of the white Christian women that they interviewed, though they said they supported feminist goals of equality, refused to identify themselves as feminists. The Christian women consisted of white and black women; however, the majority of black women, on the other hand, were willing to take up the identity of feminist, even though they all expressed a problematic relationship with that term; this may be because of the historic exclusion of black women from feminist movements. The researchers also point to the historical association between empowerment and the church, which may allow black women to more readily assume a subjective position of social advocacy. As explained by Ali et al., The black church has [historically] functioned as the center of power and social life within the African American community (p. 45). By contrast, white women have historically been oppressed by the patriarchy of the church. Researchers Baird, Ruebelt and Szymanski (2007) look into the development of a feminist identity in men and its influences on the counseling practice of male therapists (p. 67). In doing so, they are challenging the assumption that only women can be feminist therapists, and in doing so they are also taking an ethical standpoint by not supporting such an essentialist notion; since feminist research is always already an act of resistance to oppression, the rigid practice of excluding men from being feminists doesnt coincide with basic feminist principles of gender construction: That is, if gender is socially constructed, then neither the biology nor the gender of the person thinking like a feminist in the therapist position ought to matter (Baird, et al., 2007, p. 69). This study examined the experiences of 12 white male therapists that call

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themselves feminists, and the purpose of this consensual qualitative research is to reveal how a male comes to identify himself as a feminist. A primary difference between men and women who identify themselves as feminists is that the men all had to come to terms with their own privileged position as men. The men interviewed all expressed a level of discomfort when they began understand and accept the privileged social position that they, as men, inherently occupied. However, the researchers were surprised to find that once these men consciously identified themselves as feminists, and as such incorporated feminist methodologies into their practice, they also began to have feelings of alienation and isolation as a result of identifying as feminist therapists (Baird, et al., 2007, p. 76). And finally, the researchers discovered that an important element that was necessary for the all of the men in the study to develop a feminist identity was the experience of having been mentored by a feminist. M.L. Burns (2006) suggests that feminist qualitative research would benefit from an increase in available data for analysis, as well as by affirming an ethical position and purpose, if the switch would be made from disembodied to embodied reflexivity. Embodied reflexivity can be deployed to interrogate ethical commitments, guide research discussions, enrich analyses, provide an adjunct corpus of reflexivity data, and contribute to the development of theories of embodied subjectivity (p. 3). Burns (2006) diagnosis a Western heritage of dualism, which she says prevents embodied research by privileging the mind and its cognitive standpoint. This notion comes from Burns recognition that a Western legacy of rationalism informs scientific research, and as such researchers are trained to keep objective and not contaminate the investigation with personal involvement. However, Burns is also quick to say that she is not merely relocating the center of research from the mind to the body; as she says, I am not

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supporting an idea of embodied responses as a privileged site or as fixed, accessible, essential, real, unmediated or potentially generalizable (Burns, 2006, p. 4). Burns (2006) undergoes this research with bulimic participants, and in doing so she is demonstrating the ethical imperative which underlies her mission; by approaching the body as both a material reality and also as a textual signifier, Burns is attempting to expose the social construction of it all. She engages her participants with a narrative approach to her research, and she also denies the body any identity of truth, which would suggest an essential location; Rather, Burns is treating the body like a big symbol pregnant with meaning, and in doing so she is exposing the body as a textual reality that participates in whatever sense-making appropriates it and gives it meaning. As such, embodied reflexivity reveals itself to be an ethical practice which axiomatically locates the body in a logical web of social constructs; In this way, particular types of corporeality do not express the one and only truth about the body, but rather articulate certain conditions of possibility (Probyn, 1991: 114) among multiple possibilities (Burns, 2006, p. 7). The topic of ethical responsibility in feminist research is advanced by L.R. Bloom & P. Sawin (2009), and as such they remind us that effecting social and policy change must be the driving force behind all qualitative researchthe goal. The research methods undertaken by both are consistent with feminist methodologies, which typically seek to create a collaborative relationship with study participants; however, their methods go beyond typical qualitative research and into a heavily embedded form of research the likes of which actually found Sawin living with, and forming a close relationship with, her subject. The researchers are operating on the ethical imperative that research should actually improve the lives of its participants. The researchers are following 5 ideals of research that they have come up with, they include: giving

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women voices and allowing them to express their experiences, and developing a research relationship; analyze data in order to reveal sites for social change and activism; make a difference with those we study; affect social policy and get heard by policy makers; and changing our lives and, in so doing, serving as models of social change (Bloom & Sawin, 2009). The researchers conclude their study by applying an ethical test to it. Bloom and Sawin (2009) employ a variation of The Golden Rule, in the form of social reciprocity morality advanced by Brantlinger (2003, 193), and in doing so they ask themselves if they had treated their study participants as ends in themselves, rather than as a means to an end; and they also ask themselves if the way that they treated their study participants would be the way that theyd want to be treated too. These ethical questions force the researcher to consider whether her involvement actually left the participant better off, and they also orient the researcher in such a way that theoretical work is not an end itself; but rather, theory remains linked with social advocacy movements. The research being done by Bloom and Sawin is a great attempt at bridging the gap between theory and practice, and it is done by evoking a collaborative spirit from their research. The final work that Ill be looking at is consistent with all of the others in that it too employs an ethical imperative. However, while most ethical endeavors align themselves with the purpose of giving a voice to a silenced population, Krumer-Nevo (2009) seeks to go beyond the metaphor of voice, and to the idea of knowledge (p. 279). Krumer-Nevo offers a new way of thinking about the standard critical project of giving a voice to an individual or group, by suggesting that the practice of giving a voice has become an inauthentic practice of cultural decoration, and as such academic elitists merely gather around to participate in the fashionable

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experience of listening to personal narratives of marginalized subjectivities. The claim is that people will gather to listen to marginalized personal anecdotes, but once the story is over they dont have any interest in the marginalized subjects analysis; When personal stories are emphasized but people are excluded from decisions over research or a conferences agenda or aim, these stories may actually serve voyeuristic purposes (Krumer-Nevo, 2009, p. 290). This is where the notion of moving from voice to knowledge comes from, because it is the knowledge of the [marginalized] individual that is dismissed by a fetish-like interest in only the voice. Approaching feminist research with the aim of ultimately displaying the knowledge of the participant, and not simply that persons voice, especially when dealing with impoverished women, is an ethical endeavor because it challenges normative expectations which reflexively assume that knowledge cannot come from poverty. The researchers achieved this end by changing the wording on conference programs from voice to knowledge. And conference goers responded by remaining attentive throughout the entire presentation by the marginalized subject, form personal narrative to her own analysis of why empowerment eludes the poor. As Krumer-Nevo (2009) reminds, voice in itself is not enough, because when treated in a depoliticized and decontextualized manner it can serve to disempower people in poverty and delegitimize their knowledge (p. 290). In conclusion, the development of feminist research methodologies continue to evolve in such a way that seeks to include more sense-making mechanisms into the discourse, and this coincides with the ethical project which any research involving marginalized persons must first and foremost be. The power of normative expectations was examined, along with some unlikely intersections, like that of feminism and religion, and that of male and feminism. Also, the

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notion of embodied reflexivity, which seeks to treat the body in as both material and text, was considered as a way of ensuring an ethical treatment of research. The idea that feminist research methodologies could remain stagnant, adhering to exclusive methods which are inflexible, seems like an oxymoron. Going form voice to knowledge, as purported by Krumer-Nevo (2009), offers an interesting strategy for escaping the traps of decorative multiculturalism/feminism.

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References Ali, S., Mahmood, A., Moel, J., Hudson, C., & Leathers, L. (2008). A qualitative investigation of Muslim and Christian women's views of religion and feminism in their lives. Cultural Diversity And Ethnic Minority Psychology, 14(1), 38-46. Baird, M., Szymanski, D. M., & Ruebelt, S. G. (2007). Feminist identity development and practice among male therapists. Psychology Of Men & Masculinity, 8(2), 67-78. Bloom, L., & Sawin, P. (2009). Ethical responsibility in feminist research: Challenging ourselves to do activist research with women in poverty. International Journal Of Qualitative Studies In Education, 22(3), 333-351. Brantlinger, E. 2003. Dividing classes: How the middle class negotiates and rationalizes school advantage. New York/London: Routledge. Burns, M. (2006). Bodies that speak: Examining the dialogues in research interactions. Qualitative Research In Psychology, 3(1), 3-18. Krumer-Nevo, M. (2009). From voice to knowledge: Participatory action research, inclusive debate and feminism. International Journal Of Qualitative Studies In Education, 22(3), 279-295. Probyn, E. 1993: Sexing the self: gendered positions in cultural studies. Routledge.

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Toerien, M., & Wilkinson, S. (2004). Exploring the depilation norm: A qualitative questionnaire study of women's body hair removal. Qualitative Research In Psychology, 1(1), 69-92. Walker, M.U. 1998. Moral understandings: A feminist study in ethics. New York/London: Routledge.

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