OUIL401 Evaluation

What Skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

I have developed my research skills, using both academic sources and other sources to find information. I think I have applied this well as most points in my essay were backed up with quotes and evidence found through my research. Learning to write a discourse analysis on an image in the beginning was a really helpful skill to learn as I learned how to write about an image and back up my opinions on what it communicates with quotes from others. I was able to apply this skill in my essay as 3-4 images had to be included and analysed within the essay - I think I did this successfully. 

What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your practical outcomes?

I have found ways of finding academic research, such as searching for journals via google, searching for books via google and using the library to find books. Having many different sources stating similar facts makes the findings of my essay more reliable. I have also watched a few of Anita Sarkeesian's online videos, which informed my essay but I didn't reference. 

I learned that art and other such things can inform my practice without being completely related to it, for example the classical paintings where one was pictured as a subject and the other an object held relevance to my work without being related to geek culture or anything like that. I think that in the future researching various things would help as I could find relevant information where I wouldn't even think about looking. 

What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on them?

Finding academic sources on my topic (Misogyny within geek culture and how this affects a female audience) was a little difficult to begin with, I think one of the strengths was being able to track down these sources so my essay would not just be based on what bloggers write. My essay was quite niche but also broad at the same time, giving me a lot of options to go with. For example focusing on 'Geek culture' allowed me to encompass comics, video games, the internet, conventions etc rather than just limiting myself to 'comics'. This meant I could gather information from a wide range of sources and reference several different things. One of the most helpful sources I found was a book called 'How Geek Girls will Rule the World' which had loads of interviews with women working in several different areas of 'geek culture' and their experiences in the field. 

I think it was a strength of me to use a topic that I am passionate and opinionated about as it made the research fun to do rather than a chore, my essay was able to communicate my opinions as well as being backed up by facts. It has led me to ask more questions about female sexuality too that I can investigate further in the future. 

What weaknesses can you identidy in your work and how will you address this in the future?

I struggled a lot when it came to making the ideas from my essay visual. 

I don't think I gave myself enough time to investigate my ideas, as I found the idea of sexual object vs sexual subject really interesting and would have liked to have based my visual diagram around that but I found it very difficult to come up with ideas for that short notice. I definitely should have given myself a lot more time to investigate this as then my final image would probably be more successful.

My visual diagram is not my best work - again this comes down to not giving myself enough time - it is rushed and the technical image making skill in it could have been much much better if I had set aside more time for this. 

My essay is a little short - it still meets the 10% under 3000 words but if I could have written more it would have been better rather, I should have found just one more point to make rather than padding out the rest of my essay. 

This isn't really a changeable problem but due to my visual stress I am a very very very slow reader so reading through all of the research was often tiring or difficult - it was difficult to pick out important points from these massive blocks of text, this hindered me as I was unable to read as much as I would have liked to. 

Identify five things that you feel will benefit you during next years context of practice module?

• My research into women as a sexual subject or a sexual object is something I would definitely like to investigate more next year - including female sexuality. I have already got ideas and sources in mind. 
• Since I know I will have to make sense of my essay through drawings start drawing during the research stage as well as after the essay is written
• Better time management, especially when it comes to the final image. 
• Have some kind of reference masterpost so I don't end up trying to add all the references at the end & don't forget to image reference. 
• Work on it little and often rather than in  big rushed chunks. 

Visual Diagram

My visual diagram displays some stupid sexy superheroes somewhat as a satirisation of the sexualisation of women in geek culture. I wanted to take the idea of making something sexy and just warping it out of all control, making it so overt and in your face that it ceases to have sexual appeal and thus subverting the male gaze. I think that the idea has gotten across in this image. The labia lasso is a power I find very disturbing, I don't know why I drew it. The execution of this could have been a lot better - I left it incredibly late to do it which was a big mistake!! I rolled with the pastel colours cause I thought they gave a sense of femininity - sort of emulating the style of some modern cartoon girls & fashions. 

In a way I feel like by making this so sexual in a satirical way it transcends the joke-level and almost makes a statement about female sexuality in itself.

I would have really liked to have investigated the dynamics of women ad sexual subject vs women as a sexual object but I didn't give myself enough time to explore this. I think I could have made something really interesting if I had been able to but |I had no immediate ideas that would have been translated into image easily.