Moist So Moist : Experiment 1
: Aim
The experiment asks what happens when a menstruator gathers the blood expelled from the body instead of disposing of it. Using a device for the collection, a menstrual cup, the experiment’s second focus is on the entanglement of the menstruating body and menstrual technologies.
The experiment thus investigates the narration of a dispersed self, the menstrual worlds of different menstruators, whilst hoping to create a situation where menstruation can be experienced as a process or state with ontological potential.
: Form
Menstruators will be split into two groups: one group with menstruators who have previously used a menstrual cup and one with menstruators using the cup for the first time. Testees will be asked to collect their menstrual blood and document the experience.
: Tentative working questions (experiment)
: What does it mean to narrate the self (and which self is narrated)?
: What is the stuff and matter of menstruation and how do we give it voice?
: How do menstruators (re-)experience their bodies when living them in conjunction with menstrual technologies?
: What does it mean to have a menstruation body that is mediated through menstrual cup?
: What does it mean to remove oneself from the tampon/pad industry and enter into a different menstrual economy?
: What worlds does a menstrual cup create?
: What knowledge does a menstrual cup hold, how does it intra-act with a human body?
: What could a feminist methodology look like, what could it give us or hold us back from?
: Tentative working questions (ethics)
: Ethics form in development building on (and questioning) university ethics forms.
: What are the implications of departing with a part of one’s body?
: How should we approach the ownership of these parts, with whom does it lie?
: How can we create an experiment setting that accommodates the ownership felt by the testee whilst not impinging on the researcher’s freedom to speculate?
: How can we construct a methodology in collaboration with testees, what ethical dimensions and questions would arise from a collaborative creation?
