Envisioning Feminist Science at Middlebury, Poster 35

What is feminist science studies? How does it operate at Middlebury? How can we interrogate science from a feminist perspective to think about reproductive issues differently? As part of our GSFS 0329: Politics of Reproduction... [ view full abstract ]

What is feminist science studies? How does it operate at Middlebury? How can we interrogate science from a feminist perspective to think about reproductive issues differently? As part of our GSFS 0329: Politics of Reproduction class, we addressed these questions through a multi-pronged project which included: a panel entitled Envisioning Feminist Science, which was attended by over sixty students, staff, and faculty; a week-long feminist science interactive chalk art installation that we changed daily in McCardell Bicentennial Hall; a Facebook page through which we compiled and distributed feminist science resources and that also served as a site of extended engagement beyond the installation and panel. Through this multi-faceted approach, we addressed implicit gender and racial bias in science and its relationship to coded language; the material effects of bad and sexist science; the need to move beyond simply the inclusion of women in science and toward feminist science; the bodies both used to produce and also ignored within scientific knowledge. In this presentation, we will share the outcomes and theoretical underpinnings of our project. In so doing, we will reflect on the ways in which scientific knowledge and the biomedical system inform broader understandings of reproduction and contemporary reproductive issues.