Haters hate being hated on…

I’m in a social justice sexuality studies graduate program. Which means I am a feminist, anti-racist, sex-positive, trans inclusive, binary rejecting, structure dismantling academic.

Another way of saying that:  if you are a misogynistic, racist, slut-shaming, homophobe, oblivious to your privilege in society, I will call you out for your shit. And then I’ll publish it in a journal.

I’m an equal opportunity caller-outer. Fancy that. No one is exempt. Myself included. I threw together a mini-presentation about the data aggregation portion of my research plan for my thesis today. It was a way for me to get feedback from my cohort. I am afraid of losing the individual voices of the people who agree to be in my study. In all of the methodology we are being presented with, I don’t see enough examples of how to honor and respect the lived experiences of participants.

So I’m doing my best to piece together a coherent plan. This is the plan for the moment:

•Identify my own tacit assumptions
•Create the analysis taxonomy based upon the participant’s phrasing
•Ask the question, “Did I get it right?”
•Valid Data: “Do I, the researcher, really understand and describe what I am studying in the same way that the people who live it do?”
It’s the only way I can see myself being proud of the work I produce in this program. I can’t go into detail, as I’m still waiting for IRB approval, but I am excited to be doing this work. I am excited to question and poke and prod at the status-quo and I am super super excited to have the opportunity to walk my talk.
Haters hate being hated on…