Abstract
This paper aims to learn from existing design research literature on taboo topics to inform the development of a research project about sexual health in later life. Participatory design approaches can play a role to better understand the complexities of researching taboos and navigate in sensitive situations. A rapid literature review focused on taboos related to people’s individual sexual experiences of the body, resulted in identifying five actionable design considerations: 1) make taboos visible and interactive for people to respond to, 2) use humor to overcome the awkwardness of taboos, 3) design together on taboo subjects for more inclusive futures, 4) stimulate learnings about the taboo for researchers and participants, and 5) include moments of reflection during the design research process. The design considerations provide an initial step for a four-year study exploring the taboo of intimacy in skilled nursing facilities together with residents and staff.
Keywords
Design Research, Taboo, Intimacy, Sexuality, Participatory Design
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.674
Citation
Lefévre, Y., Hendriks, N.,and Wilkinson, A.(2023) We’ve never learned to talk about it’: Considerations for design researchers to address intimacy and sexuality., in De Sainz Molestina, D., Galluzzo, L., Rizzo, F., Spallazzo, D. (eds.), IASDR 2023: Life-Changing Design, 9-13 October, Milan, Italy. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.674
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
shortpapers
Included in
We’ve never learned to talk about it’: Considerations for design researchers to address intimacy and sexuality.
This paper aims to learn from existing design research literature on taboo topics to inform the development of a research project about sexual health in later life. Participatory design approaches can play a role to better understand the complexities of researching taboos and navigate in sensitive situations. A rapid literature review focused on taboos related to people’s individual sexual experiences of the body, resulted in identifying five actionable design considerations: 1) make taboos visible and interactive for people to respond to, 2) use humor to overcome the awkwardness of taboos, 3) design together on taboo subjects for more inclusive futures, 4) stimulate learnings about the taboo for researchers and participants, and 5) include moments of reflection during the design research process. The design considerations provide an initial step for a four-year study exploring the taboo of intimacy in skilled nursing facilities together with residents and staff.