Abstract
This paper investigates the feminist identity transformation strategies of "self-combing" women in late nineteenth-century China, who resisted patriarchal marriage identity by enacting alternative female identities through "Goddess Fictual" practice (goddess fiction belief and ritual performance). Through fieldwork of the historical residences and spiritual spaces of self-combing women, this paper identifies the goddess shrine as their new female identity performative site. It was within this specific site that spiritual goddess belief and identity ritual performance converged to support these women’s identities. Inspired by this historical experience, we translate this feminist practice into a new design methodology. It demonstrates how this historical "Goddess Fictual" practice can function as a modern feminist design methodology. We propose a four-stage framework called Design Goddess Fictual. This framework empowers women navigating identity dilemmas to find their voice, reimagining new identities that disrupt inherent ones to facilitate a plurality of women’s identities.
Keywords
self-combing women; feminist design; identity transformation; goddess fictual
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2940
Citation
Li, L., Caudwell, C., and Scott, R. (2026) Disrupting and reimagining women’s identities: A feminist design methodology inspired by the self-combing women’s “Goddess Fictual” practice, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2940
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Disrupting and reimagining women’s identities: A feminist design methodology inspired by the self-combing women’s “Goddess Fictual” practice
This paper investigates the feminist identity transformation strategies of "self-combing" women in late nineteenth-century China, who resisted patriarchal marriage identity by enacting alternative female identities through "Goddess Fictual" practice (goddess fiction belief and ritual performance). Through fieldwork of the historical residences and spiritual spaces of self-combing women, this paper identifies the goddess shrine as their new female identity performative site. It was within this specific site that spiritual goddess belief and identity ritual performance converged to support these women’s identities. Inspired by this historical experience, we translate this feminist practice into a new design methodology. It demonstrates how this historical "Goddess Fictual" practice can function as a modern feminist design methodology. We propose a four-stage framework called Design Goddess Fictual. This framework empowers women navigating identity dilemmas to find their voice, reimagining new identities that disrupt inherent ones to facilitate a plurality of women’s identities.