Theory and research assignment: eye-witness reports.

week 1
eye withness report:
(me)

We were introduced with a question: What influence will non-gendered bathrooms have on the way we see gender at a very young age? After some talking, we walked around the school building, and surroundings. We would stand still on different locations to sense the differences of these locations. After the walk we discussed our findings and continued. We red parts from the article together, and at home I red the whole article.

I felt like I was becoming more aware of my surroundings in different ways. As an example: When we were walking in school in the stairways, it felt really unnatural for me to stand still. It felt i was blocking the way for other people. Stairs have a system of people passing each other to reach another floor, it is always in motion. I don't like to block people, or have the feeling to irritate someone.

In the article and conversation in class we talked about non-gendered bathrooms. I personally am not bothered by using non-gendered bathrooms. I do not feel uncomfortable as a cis-woman to share a bathroom with men or other genders. For me it would not have made a difference if I had non-gendered bathrooms since elementary school. In my group I noticed that opinions different. A lot of cis-woman or cis-men do feel uncomfortable to share a bathroom with the opposite gender. In that way, it would be a good start to introduce non-gendered bathrooms to change the way we see gender. And also to comfort people which do not identify with female or male.

In the conversation we had in class I became more aware of the ways i have been hold back myself. Because I am a white cis-woman, doesn't mean I am privileged and will never experience being treated differently. People are often placed in boxes or being treated different because of their identity. For me I am mostly treated different because I am a woman. My teacher in high school wouldn’t let me do a higher level of math (which I am very good at), because I was a girl and wouldn't study a 'complicated course' where math would be involved, that's what he thought.

week 2
eye witness report 2:
(my cat)

I am sitting on the lap of my owner. She is petting me and I want to lay down. She is putting some glassen on and is taking me in her arms. We are walking into a dark rooms and I suddenly hear a lot of loud noises. I feel a little bit scared because I don't know what is going on. I do not feel comfortable because the music is so loud and i am trying to get out of her arms.

When she puts me down I saw all the colored spots on the ground. I didn't knew what they were, and i tried to catch them but they all sliped away from my paws. I was very confused. I saw some other humans and my owner making weird movements, and they all were wearing these weird glasses. My owner always make these weird movements at home on these loud noises, and i don't know why.

The music got louder and started to change and I was really fed up at this moment. My owner knows i don't like these loud noises so I tried to escape. I was scratching against the curtains to grap her attention. She knows when I scratch the door i want to get out. It looked like she wasn't hearing me so I walked up to her and did some meow's. She putted her glasses off and picked me up again. Now she is makeing these weird movements while holding me in her arms. They lights are back on and the music stopped and we walked out of the room. Finally. Now i can relax and sleep on her lap while she is talking to the other humans.



For the second class we were introduced by the disco at school with some 'special glasses'. We were all asked to bring a song with us to play at the disco in a dark room with disco ligths, without telling eachother wich song belonged to oneother. After the disco we discussed our findings with eachother in a listener, speaker and observer method. After the discussion we formed groups and started with our own project. After the class i became more aware of my surroundings. It felt more natural for me to see how a certain enviroments such as the music or disco, influence how people or my cat will behave. Do they want to dance? Do they feel awkward? Is this type of music fitting for a disco? How are the glasses influence my behaviour? I feel i am more aware of 'sensing different' and like to discuss my findings with the others and asking questions. We started thinking about concepts for the group assignment. Through this class it was more obvious to me what this practice really was about.

Week 3&4
Group project
eyewitness report 3:
(a tampon)

This day I was so happy. I was sitting in a box with the other tampons for almost six months in a dark toilet. The human took the box with her today so finally I would come to use. She was on her period.

I was traveling a lot in the bag until she finally pulled open the box. I saw a lot of humans and they were making a lot of sounds. I heard music playing in the background, and the humans made their own music with their voice. I saw one human standing above me, and the other humans walked around me and the human. It sounded very good but I was confused why they were all making music. Is this a kind of ritual for the human because she got her period? Are they all happy for her she finally became a woman?

She picked up the box and I thought it was my time to shine. All the humans started screaming, it was very loud. She held up the box a lot higher and she turned around the box. At that moment me and all the tampon fell down in the stairway. It felt like I was falling for minutes and then hit a human on their head. After the hit I fell on the ground. I and the other tampon were heavily injured as we all layed down on the cold ground. We all been there for hours until we were picked up by the human. We were all placed back into the box and then again in the bag. She was definitely not on her period. I will be patiently waiting again in the box until she will get her period.


The group project was called 'Opera Vagine'. It was a piece of music about the different perspectives on the organ. It is a mysterious thing or even universe and we liked to dive in with it in the project. We liked it to be very playful and also search for the boundaries because for some people it can be a taboo. The opera was held into the staircase in school through every floor, and it gave a very nice result for the music. The five people in the project took all a different part in the music piece. The gynecologist was leading the people down the staircase while the music started. First we ran into the 'urine' He was singing his perspective on the questions that were asked. Then you went down some steps and you would find 'pubic hair' and it was asking all the questions. After some more steps we would found ' sperm' and it will sing his perspective on the questions. And below the stairs you would find 'period' and it would also sings her perspective. When the people all came down I would throw tampons down the stairs (Eye witness report). Because everyone had different positions in the stairs the singing merged perfectly, and while walking down the music changed because some voices would be more clear than the other. And the end of the walk we would all scream and the people would walk through a very enlightened space, which meant the birth of a human or being.