{"667602":{"#nid":"667602","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Safe Spaces Facilitating Frank Discussions on \u0027Taboo\u0027 Women\u0027s Health Issues","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn many countries around the world, cultural and religious taboos create environments that silence women and gender minorities and restrict access to health information.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBut a team of graduate students within the School of Interactive Computing have explored how technology can help circumvent these barriers so that women can engage in freer communication on stigmatized health issues.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHannah Tam, Karthik Bhat, and Priyanka Mohindra conducted research to study how safe spaces could be curated to support 35 women of Indian origin in discussing subjects that are otherwise considered taboo.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENeha Kumar, an associate professor who teaches jointly with the School of Interactive Computing and the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, served as advisor to the students. Kumar is the director of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/www.tandem.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ETandem Lab\u003C\/a\u003E, which works to explore cultural taboos and investigate their impact on health and well-being among women and gender minorities internationally.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chi.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E[MICROSITE: Georgia Tech at CHI 2023]\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDuring the two-week study, the researchers provided the group with discussion prompts on stigmatized topics such as menstrual health, sexual wellbeing, fitness, body image, diet and exercise, and mental health.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTaboos persist because Indian culture is still largely patriarchal,\u201d Bhat said. \u201cThe cultural norm is that you don\u2019t talk about these things with other people, you don\u2019t talk about them with other genders, you don\u2019t talk about these things outside the home. It becomes hard to seek care where it\u2019s necessary and community where it\u2019s necessary.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe restrictions of societal taboos escalate when adolescent girls begins their menstrual cycles, Mohindra said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cEverything about how they\u2019re treated changes,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re not able to go to temples because it\u2019s considered impure. They\u2019re not allowed to serve food or go into the kitchen. Nobody should know you\u2019re going through that, even though it\u2019s a natural process.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAnything that has to do with intimacy or anything sexual and a woman is involved, that\u2019s looked down at no matter what age you are,\u201d she said. \u201cGirls are afraid to ask their mothers about these things.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETam said she and her colleagues used legitimate peripheral participation (LLP) as a framework to analyze the social learning that took place in the Whats App group they established for the study. The LLP framework creates social interactions among community members that enable them to share knowledge and experiences while allowing other members to observe and learn without actively participating.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe found that learning happened at all levels, which was applicable to both core members and peripheral members, or members who might not have been as active in the group,\u201d Tam said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe group of women participated with partial anonymity, which also provided a sense of security and comfort to most users. Using WhatsApp only required members to provide their phone numbers, which helped them conceal their identities to minimize the risk of facing judgment in their communities.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe group conducted follow-up interviews with 10 of the 35 participants and found that some had started connecting with other group members offline, which Tam said was a step forward from where they had started.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cPeople found relief in being able to talk openly,\u201d Tam said. \u201cOne member said she hadn\u2019t felt comfortable saying the word \u2018period\u2019 aloud \u2014 even among her close friends.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAs members were unpacking their experiences with taboos outside the group, that led to a lot of members questioning traditional systems and social structures.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe goal of the project, Bhat said, was not about making a direct impact on the health of the women participating. Instead, the researchers aimed to find ways in which social media platforms could enable sharing of sensitive information and equip participants with the ability to navigate cultural barriers.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur findings suggested that this space and our intervention gave them the avenue to learn how to engage on stigmatized health topics and then take these conversations out into the world,\u201d he said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere needs to be dedicated efforts to educating at various levels so that people who are in positions of power, such as governments and healthcare authorities, recognize and address the challenges in health communication that we saw, and work to address them. This is critical for women\u2019s health and wellbeing worldwide. But given that these problems exist and are not going away anytime soon, how can technology support us in addressing this gap now?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENew research from Georgia Tech\u0027s School of Interactive Computing investigates the use of curated safe spaces in India where women can talk openly about\u0026nbsp;menstrual health, sexual wellbeing, fitness, body image, diet and exercise, and mental health.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Peer-reviewed research explores cultural taboos and investigate their impact on health and well-being among women and gender minorities internationally."}],"uid":"32045","created_gmt":"2023-05-02 13:56:11","changed_gmt":"2023-05-02 14:00:17","author":"Ben Snedeker","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-05-02T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2023-05-02T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"670709":{"id":"670709","type":"image","title":"indian women_taboo subjects.jpeg","body":null,"created":"1683035784","gmt_created":"2023-05-02 13:56:24","changed":"1683035784","gmt_changed":"2023-05-02 13:56:24","alt":"A young woman makes a shushing gesture","file":{"fid":"253621","name":"indian women_taboo subjects.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/05\/02\/indian%20women_taboo%20subjects.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/05\/02\/indian%20women_taboo%20subjects.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":42935,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/05\/02\/indian%20women_taboo%20subjects.jpeg?itok=zrO1SgDk"}}},"media_ids":["670709"],"groups":[{"id":"50876","name":"School of Interactive Computing"}],"categories":[{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENathan Deen\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECommunications Officer I\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESchool of Interactive Computing\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003Enathan.deen@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["nathan.deen@cc.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}