Key points for project enhancement:
- Need for more secondary research support: The tutor pointed out that although I have an abundance of references, they have not been fully utilized to academically support my arguments.
- Explore the Research Onion: The tutor noted my deductive research approach and encouraged a deeper exploration of the target audience and the description of male influence.
- Strengthen the argumentation: Citing evidence from secondary research would make my arguments more compelling.
Reflection:
Regarding references, I admit I have not organized them timely due to their complexity. However, my project has always been underpinned by substantial academic theory. My approach involves thorough research and deep analysis of academic theories before applying them to the project, which facilitates the development and exploration of new knowledge. I plan to organize the overall academic theories, which will be reflected in my report.
The Role and Importance of Lingerie:
- Concrete Concepts: My mentor believes that lingerie can materialize the project’s complex ideas and serve as a focal point for discussion.
- Privacy and Empowerment: Lingerie is intimate yet can be a statement of empowerment through design or discourse.
Reflection:
This past week was confusing, and I conducted related research. I understand the idea of concluding the project with lingerie, especially given the theoretical framework I’ve encountered so far. After a week of research, synthesis, and summarization, I reorganized my thoughts on the project and decided against integrating lingerie at this stage.
Next, I’ll perform a detailed analysis:
- Starting from an individual perspective. Currently, from the female intervention tests, I’ve found results pertaining to women’s self-acceptance. Through phenomenological theories, women are encouraged to experience their bodies interacting with the world. Participants, when closely examining their own bodies, become more aware that their bodies are not just physical entities but subjects capable of sensation, thought, and interaction with their environment, and they begin to acknowledge and accept their own bodies. This, I believe, is the essence of addressing the research question. For women in Chinese society, the initial issue to tackle is learning to accept their body image. While lingerie can serve as a medium, or academically speaking, as fashion prosthesis, before presenting oneself, one must learn self-acceptance. Moreover, while lingerie can indeed empower women, I believe the discussion around lingerie belongs to the next phase following this project.
- Cultural limitations, social expectations, and various policies make incorporating lingerie into the project challenging. For example, when I posted about the Crazy Horse show on social media, it led to cyberbullying. I’ve never shared experiences like naked ride on Chinese social media; these actions shock Chinese society’s women who struggle to accept them. In China, going out without underwear is still not recognized as appropriate, considered by many as highly indecent. During my research, I read about a Chinese woman’s five-year struggle with wearing underwear, who eventually gave up her bodily freedom for her job environment, choosing to wear uncomfortable lingerie. Surprisingly, she viewed her inability to choose not to wear underwear as a betrayal of feminism. In my opinion, her real issue was not fully accepting herself, leading her to waver between bodily freedom and social expectations, ultimately guided by societal norms to feel like a traitor to feminist ideas. Such stories highlight that discussions about bodily freedom in China are still at a fundamental level. That’s why I aim for more gentle, safe, and private interventions for women, targeting individuals as much as possible. I have some ideas about introducing lingerie, but they’re too bold for Chinese society and the internet, posing safety risks for me and the participants. It’s like trying to skip to level three in a game without completing level one. So, addressing women’s self-acceptance of their body image is the key to challenging Chinese cultural and social expectations of the female body. Only by shifting this point can we move effectively to the next stage.
In summary, during this week of contemplation and reflection, I’ve come to envision presenting two booklets: one for women, focusing on body exploration experiences, resembling the interventions to allow for safer and more private conversations about their bodies; and one for men, presented in a dialogic format. As the author, I will use text and images to help men understand that communication about female body image can be barrier-free and foster positive discussions. I believe this would be the best interpretation and conclusion for my project.