GSWS 3440F Gendered Blood: Critical Menstrual Studies

Assignment Outline
Biopedagogy and Body Literacy: Screenshot Elicitation (50%)

Assignment Milestones:
Tracking Journals 10% (7 total)
Roundtable 10%
Reflection Paper 25%
Progress Surveys 5% (2 x 2.5%)

In this assignment, students will select a mobile app that facilitates self-tracking of a passive and
‘natural’ bodily process, including but not limited to menstruation, sleep, steps, or mood.1
Throughout the semester, you will take screenshots of your engagement with the app and journal
your progress, participate in a ‘roundtable’ discussion with your peers about the process and
outcome of self-tracking, and write a guided reflection paper on how self-tracking enables you to
think about your relationship with technology, your body, and course concepts. More details are
below.

Stage 1: Tracking Journals

10%

You will create a single Google Doc or OneDrive file to serve as your Tracking journal for this
assignment. Share the link to your Google Doc with me so that I can pop in periodically to
assess your progress. Remember to set permissions so that I can read it!

Upload your screenshots to this Google doc and take brief notes under each one.

First Entry, due between Weeks 2-3/Sep 14-21:

Explore and select an app to self-track a bodily process of your choosing. You might consider:
- Ease of use, app design, and app features
- Cost and exposure to ads for free apps
- Privacy and data management policies of the app manufacturers
- Degree of gender inclusivity
- App reviews
- Comfort with sharing particular bodily processes with the professor and the class.

Prepare a brief (1-2 page) explanation of the app and a justification for your selection.2 Include a
screenshot or two to illustrate (not included in page count).

At least 6 additional entries, between Weeks 3-11/Sep 21-Nov 22:

1
Food and/or calorie-tracking is not permitted for this assignment. Chat with me about other options.
2
Students who object to using an app for self-tracking may choose to propose an alternative (a website, a written
journal, etc). Do consult with me to chat about the essential learning outcomes of the assignment before proceeding
with an alternative.
Some apps may invite daily participation, or more concentrated participation during certain times
than others, but we ask that you engage with your app at least once a week for 6 weeks. Open
your app and explore its features and information. Take a screenshot of anything that seems
significant to you as you navigate through the app. These might include (but are not limited to):
- Icons or other images to represent various bodily functions and app features
- “Badges” or other in-app prizes awarded for reaching certain milestones
- FAQ-style pop-ups with information or encouragement
- Calendars, graphs, or other visualizations or summaries of your tracked data

Alongside your screenshots, reflect on the following:

- What’s happening in this screenshot, and why did you take it?
- What does this screenshot tell you about your body or your experiences?
- What action(s) did you take in response to this information or image?
- What feelings do you have about this information or image?

Stage 2a: Progress Survey

2.5%

Due: between Week 6/Oct 12-Week 7/Oct 19

You will be sent a brief progress survey focused on the process of this assignment. Surveys will
be graded for completion and will include the following questions:
- How is self-tracking using the apps and journals helping you understand the course
concepts and your own relationship to technology?
- What do you like/not like about self-tracking?
- What do you like/not like about journaling your self-tracking progress?
- Is there anything you want us to know about this activity?

Stage 3: Roundtable
10%

Due: in-class discussion in Week 11/Nov 23. Make-up date with academic accommodation:
Week 12/Nov 30.

In small groups, present a sub-set of your screenshots, organized in a Powerpoint (or similar
presentation software) and talk with each other about your images and the process of self-
tracking. Questions for discussion may include:
- What’s happening in this screenshot, and why did you take it?
- Why did you choose this screenshot to present over your others?
- How does tracking make you feel or act?
- How does your self-tracking shape how you think about and “make sense” of your body,
yourself, and others?

Following the small-group roundtables we will debrief as a group.

 - What did you learn from each other about course concepts or your relationship to
technology?
- What, if anything, would you change about your relationship with self-tracking based on
your reflections and discussion?
- How does self-tracking inform or shape your everyday life?

Stage 3a: Progress Survey

2.5%

Due: Week 11/Nov 23-Week 12/Nov 30

You will be sent a brief progress survey focused on the process of this assignment. Surveys will
be graded for completion and will include the following questions:
- How did the Roundtable help you understand the course concepts and your own
relationship to technology?
- What new insights or ideas did you arrive at following your Roundtable discussion with
peers in-class?
- What do you like/not like about the Roundtable discussion?
- Is there anything you want us to know about this activity?

Stage 4: Reflection Paper

25%
10 pages

Due: Thursday, Dec 7 @ 11:59pm.

Reflect critically on your experience of self-tracking and participation in the Roundtable

discussion. Your introduction should provide a brief (2-3) sentence summary of the app and
bodily process you chose to track plus an overview of what you accomplish in your reflection
paper. Then, consider the following questions. You need to write in each category (academic,
personal, and political) but do not have to answer every question listed. You will make
substantive reference to course readings in the Academic section but should also make reference
to course readings (even briefly) in each subsequent section. Use sub-headings to organize and
divide your paper into three sections roughly equal in length. Include some of your screenshots!
These can be added in the body of your paper or as an appendix, but do not count toward your
page count.

Academic reflection
 What course readings or concepts were most useful to you as you engaged in self-
tracking? What course readings or concepts are most useful to you now, as you reflect on
your experience and Roundtable discussion?
o How do the readings help you better understand your discussion or experiences in
self-tracking?
o How did the Roundtable discussion or experiences in self-tracking help you to
better understand the readings?
 o Are there conflicts between your work and course readings or concepts? I.E., are
there questions posed by the reading that your experience fails to “answer”, or
visa-versa?

Personal reflection
 What feelings, if any, arose for you as you completed this project? Was there anything
about the process that made you feel uncomfortable? How do you interpret these feelings
in the context of our course discussions on gendered and natural bodily processes, the
concealment imperative, and stigma?
 Will you continue tracking after this project is complete? Why or why not? How did this
task help you understand your relationship to technology?
 How does your self-tracking shape how you think about and “make sense” of your body,
yourself, and others? How does it shape your everyday life?
 What is useful about sharing the information you get from tracking, whether with your
classmates or with other people in your life? Why might you want to share this data?
What did you learn from your peers?

Political reflection
 What does this process suggest about how menstrual3 products and knowledge (or
products and knowledge about other bodily processes) can be imagined to promote
empowerment and/or gender equity? Does this align with your own visions of
empowerment and/or gender equity?
 What did you learn from this project about social or political forces, the operation of
power, and the relationship between technology and embodiment? For example, what do
you think about the ways in which menstrual and other forms of self-tracking link
empowerment to self-surveillance? How does this relationship between power and
surveillance relate to other ideas and concepts you’ve learned about in your studies?
 Discuss the limitations and opportunities that menstrual tracking may present for gender
nonbinary and other people who menstruate. How might these technologies be used to
queer how we think of reproductive capacity beyond heterosexual relationships?
 How do you think digital technologies (including but not limited to self-tracking) can be
useful to promote menstrual health and education and reduce menstrual stigma? What
role or relevance can digital technologies play in cross-cultural or global contexts?
 What are the risks and benefits of using self-tracking apps for health-related purposes?

3
If you chose to self-track a bodily process unrelated to menstruation, we can consult about how to approach the
questions in this section.