Staying with the Trouble through Design Staying with the Trouble through Design Critical-feminist Design of Intimate Technology Marie Louise Juul Søndergaard Marie Louise Juul Søndergaard PhD Dissertation, 2018 School of Communication and Culture Aarhus University ISBN: 978-87-7507-436-5 DOI: 10.7146/aul.289.203 Staying with the Trouble through Design Critical-feminist Design of Intimate Technology Marie Louise Juul Søndergaard PhD Dissertation Aarhus University August 2018 Staying with the Trouble through Design: Critical-feminist Design of Intimate Technology by Marie Louise Juul Søndergaard PhD Dissertation School of Communication and Culture Aarhus University, 2018 Main supervisor: Lone Koefoed Hansen, Associate Professor, School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University Co-supervisor: Geoff Cox, Associate Professor, School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University and Associate Professor in Fine Art, School of Art, Design and Architecture, Plymouth University Graphic design and cover image by author Abstract This dissertation explores staying with the trouble through design as a design theory of intimacy and intimate technology. To research and design with the subject of intimacy is to trouble and to ask for trouble, and by staying with the trouble of intimacy, to paraphrase Donna Haraway, I articulate and perform a way of designing not as a way out of trouble, but as a way of making trouble and staying with the trouble. I argue that by staying with the trouble, designers may learn to be “truly present” and respond to social, cultural and political issues of intimate technology. The methodology interweaves design research, feminist technoscience, critical theory and software studies into a critical-feminist design methodology. As a response to design and designing intimate technology I have engaged in Donna Haraway’s “Staying with the Trouble” (Donna J. Haraway 2016) and solutionism as a critique of technology development, as well as feminist theories on fantasies of “the good life” and gender and technology, and critical theories on the role of intimacy in digital culture. Within the field of interaction design research, this dissertation’s contribution can be divided into three parts: 1) an exploration of the role of intimate technologies in our everyday lives and ways of being, 2) a critical and feminist design methodology of staying with the trouble through design, and 3) design proposals that stay with the trouble of designing with intimacy. My design research has evolved through four design projects that interweave different intimate topics and technologies through varied design practices: 1. PeriodShare: an internet-connected menstrual cup. 2. Marcelle: a wearable sex toy reacting on wifi- activity. 3. Ingrid: a woman living with electromagnetic hypersensitivity. And 4. Intimate Futures: two digital personal assistants where one is pushing back on sexual harassment and the other is assisting with hormone level tracking. The main contribution of the dissertation is the design methodology staying with the trouble through design, which is an anti-solutionist approach to design that interweaves the situated, personal and political role of design. By responding to/with trouble, rather than designing solutions to problems, staying with the trouble through design aims to better understand the conflicts and responsibilities involved in complex social, cultural and political issues, in order to imagine and design still possible futures. The design methodology interweaves three practices that unfold the self-reflective, ethnographic and collaborative process of staying with the trouble through design. The first practice, the willful practice of Staying with the Wrong, is a continuous process of becoming a feminist designer and it includes actively learning to be present; question the given as given, stay with the feelings you wish would go away, continuously practice self-reflection on own positionality and using feminist humour when designing with taboos. The second practice, Curious Visiting, encourages the designer to go beyond their own positionality, by listening to stories of pleasure and pain and visiting ongoing pasts and alternatives nows. This challenges the designer’s notion of the present by interweaving fact and fiction, and it highlights that this practice is never innocent but involves risks. Lastly, the third practice Collective Imagining highlights how design by proposing future change can respond to and/or with trouble and how we collectively can engage with futures to rewrite collective imaginings and tell other possible stories within and across social and cultural contexts. Together, these three interwoven practices propose a way of staying with the trouble through design, as a feminist contribution to current critical approaches within interaction design. Keywords Interaction design, intimacy, intimate technology, trouble, taboo, gender, speculative design, design fiction, feminist HCI, women’s health. Resume på dansk Denne afhandling udforsker at blive med besværet gennem design (oversat fra Staying with the Trouble through Design) som en designteori om intimitet og intime teknologier. At forske og designe indenfor emnet intimitet er at besvære og at komme i besvær, og ved at blive med besværet af intimitet, for at omformulere Donna Haraway, artikulerer og performer jeg en måde at designe ikke som en vej ud af besvær, men som en måde at skabe besvær og blive med besværet. Jeg argumenterer for, at ved at blive med besværet kan designere lære at være “oprigtigt tilstedeværende” og svare på sociale, kulturelle og politiske problemstillinger om intime teknologier. Metodologien sammenfletter designforskning, feministisk teknologividenskab, kritisk teori og softwarestudier ind i en kritisk-feministisk designmetodologi. Som en reaktion på design af intime teknologier, har jeg arbejdet med Donna Haraways “Staying with the Trouble” (Donna J. Haraway 2016) og solutionisme som en kritik af teknologiudvikling, samt feministiske teorier om fantasierne om “det gode liv” og køn og teknologi, og kritiske teorier om rollen af intimitet i digital kultur. Denne afhandling har tre bidrag indenfor feltet interaktionsdesignsforskning: 1) en udforskning af rollen af intime teknologier i vores hverdagsliv og subjektivitet, 2) en kritisk og feministisk designmetodologi af at blive med besværet gennem design, og 3) designforslag som bliver med besværet af at designe med intimitet. Min designforskning har udviklet sig gennem fire designprojekter, som sammenfletter forskellige intime emner og teknologier gennem forskelligartede designpraksisser: 1. PeriodShare: en internetopkoblet menstruationskop. 2. Marcelle: et sexlegetøj, som man kan tage på, der reagerer på wifi-aktivitet. 3. Ingrid: en kvinde der lever med elektromagnetisk hypersensitivitet. Og 4. Intimate Futures: to digitale personlige assistenter, hvoraf den ene reagerer på seksuelle krænkelser og den anden assisterer med måling af hormoner. Det primære bidrag i denne afhandling er designmetodologien bliv med besværet gennem design, hvilket er en anti-løsningsorienteret tilgang til design, der sammenfletter den situerede, personlige og politiske rolle af design. Ved at besvare (med) besvær, i stedet for at designe løsninger til problemer, er formålet med at blive med besværet gennem design at blive bedre til at forstå konflikter og ansvar involveret i komplekse sociale, kulturelle og politiske problemstillinger for at forestille og designe stadig mulige fremtider. Designmetodologien sammenfletter tre praksisser, som udfolder den selvrefleksive, etnografiske og kollaborative proces afat blive med besværet gennem design. Den første praksis, den villende praksis af at blive med det forkerte, er en vedvarende proces af at blive en feministisk designer og det inkluderer aktivt at lære at være tilstedeværende; udfordre selvfølgeligheder, blive med de følelser som du ønskede ville gå over, løbende praktisere selvrefleksion over eget ståsted og bruge feministisk humor til at designe med tabuer. Den anden praksis, nysgerrigt besøge, opfordrer designeren til at gå udover deres eget ståsted ved at lytte til historier om nydelse og smerte, og besøge vedvarende fortider og alternative nutider. Dette udfordrer designerens forståelse af nutiden ved at sammenflette fakta og fiktion og det fremhæver at denne praksis aldrig er uskyldig, men involverer risikoer. Afslutningsvist fremhæver den tredje praksis, kollektivt forestille, hvordan design, ved at foreslå fremtidig forandring, kan besvare (med) besvær, og hvordan vi kollektivt kan engagere os i fremtider for at genskrive kollektive forestillinger og fortælle andre mulige historier i og på tværs af forskellige sociale og kulturelle kontekster. Tilsammen foreslår disse tre praksisser en måde at blive med besværet gennem design som et feministisk bidrag til nuværende kritiske tilgange i interaktionsdesign. Emneord Interaktionsdesign, intimitet, intime teknologier, besvær, tabu, køn, spekulativt design, designfiktion, feministisk HCI, kvindens sundhed. Tak, tack, arigato, thanks: Acknowledgements That I alone stand as an author of this dissertation, as if I alone made this work, does not seem right. There are so many people that have contributed to this dissertation— through conversations, knowledge, support, hugs— and I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart. You all have a special part to play in the shaping of this dissertation, and neither the dissertation nor I would have been the same without having