Potentially Sensitive Topics in Research
The thought of a semester full of research can certainly be seen as daunting, just as this blog post. After reading through all the transcripts from interviews done at Everdeen, I was filled to the brim with knowledge and information from all of the students and teachers. At this point, I was overwhelmed to say the least. Where do you even start from here? Well, the first step was to hone in on a topic to center our research around. https://giphy.com/gifs/26gJA9SSe4m54MYec/html5
Last year, after looking at class options, I chose a class in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. This class was extremely interesting, and made me more aware of feminist theories and gender roles in our world today. However, the topic of feminist theories and gender roles did not end in this class, it has been brought up countless times, especially in my sociology course. Due to the fact that the research for this class is group based, It was important for all members to consider the topics each other may be interested in focusing on throughout the research process. In my case, I essentially lucked out–we decided to hone in on the gender division in athletics at Everdeen.
In such a liberal institution such as Colby, gender is (for the most part), a talked about subject. It seems as though people are open to talk about such a topic. However, it is hard to know how to navigate a possibly sensitive topic with those who may not be comfortable with such. I, for one, know nothing about Australias, nor Everdeen’s for that matter, stance on gender and feminist theories. The issue I face with this is how does one go about researching a some-what controversial topic in a respectful and considerate manner when we are unaware of the stance the community of Everdeen takes on gender division.
From past experience and stories my peers have spoken of, it seems as though more times than not gender is a taboo topic. In an elite school, like Everdeen, I could see such a topic being swept under the rug. Just as all of us are on edge to not say the “wrong” thing, I would assume a school as a whole would be even more concerned.
With all that being said, controversy is something that makes for interesting and intriguing research. It is cliche to say, but sometimes within discomfort there is learning to be done. By focusing on gender division within an Elite School, it allows us to pick apart the flaws within the system. My group could have chosen to focus on the curricula, sports, or anything of that sort. By choosing to research gender division within athletics (an extracurricular that generally is associated with men), we have the potential to promote progressivity from our research. Although this is solely research on Everdeen, our findings from gender division can be projected on our future endeavors when we face similar issues in our lives.
Although this is just the beginning of our research, I can already tell this will be a learning process. I am still somewhat uncomfortable with directly bringing up touchy subjects in scenarios where I do not know the others stance. As I said above, being afraid to say the “wrong” thing is something we all face, however, uncomfortable topics are something that must be discussed, and I think by exploring a topic like gender division within in a prestigious school is something that needs to be more publicized and discussed more than it is in todays day and age.