One of the key lessons I took from reading this chapter is the importance of perspective. Apparent feminism is a methodology designed by Erin Frost to  emphasize the importance of being explicit about feminist identify in response to socially unjust situations. It also invites participation from allies who do not identify as feminist but do complementary work, and seeks to make apparent the way in which efficient work depends firmly upon the inclusion of a diverse audience.

Risk Communication refers to the exchange of real-time information, advice, and opinions between experts and people facing threats to their health, economic or social well-being. The ultimate purpose of risk communication is to enable people at risk to make informed decisions.

Risk communicators — including risk communication students — need to use a variety of epistemological perspectives, including apparent feminist perspectives, to think about how we define risk, and we need to re-consider how our perspectives influence our perceptions of the connections between risk, outrage, hazard, environment, economics, and embodiment.

The Sandman’s approach to risk communication:

Risk = Hazard + Outrage

In other words, Frost explains how she might consider swimming in the ocean a risky idea because of the possibility of a shark attack. Even though statistics tell her the hazard is extremely low. However, public outrage (think Jaws, for example) associated with such events is a significant enough value to deeply influence her perception of risk. Then, if we think about driving a car, and how a car accident is much more likely than a shark attack, there is little outrage from the public because we risk our lives driving every day.   

In this particular chapter, the author looks at apparent feminism — an example of risk communication.

“Apparent feminism can help teach instructors of technical communication how to recognize and mediate a variety of risks on behalf of themselves, their students, and the future audiences those students design and write for.” (27)

To enact an apparent feminist pedagogy, instructors can: 

• Work to make their own self-identifications and positionalities understandable to students.
• Encourage students to think about how the instructor’s situatedness affects  the design and function of the course.
• Model behavior that is socially just and culturally aware.
• Ask students to think about how trends and disciplines in teaching affect the way that students and the instructors approach the class.
• Ensure that they are assigning a range of material for students to read. This means paying attention to the genre of materials and to the sex, gender, ethnicity, and theoretical orientation, and goals of the authors of course texts.
• Lead students to consider the situatedness of the authors of class texts and other technical documents and stimulate their interest in thinking about the authors of apparently authorless documents that purport to be neutral or objective.
• Require interaction with gender-based and race-based issues.
• Facilitate collaboration between students.
• Support alternative forms of knowledge, learning, and production,
• Create a space for and value complex reflection on students’ own identities, embodiments, cultural situatedness — and attendant risks.

“We live in a culture where happiness and smoothness and efficiency as success are so expected that they seem to keep us from taking risks. But risks may be the very thing that our students need most to truly have transformational experiences.” (28) 

I really enjoyed how this chapter supports the attention of social justice, cultural theory, and intellectual diversity in technical communication’s practitioners. I think it’s important to recognize apparent feminisms in this field (and all fields) — but especially because it is rapidly becoming more diverse. I’m teaching technical communication this semester and 90% of my students are engineers, but I’ve noticed a rise in women in the STEM community, so I think addressing apparent feminism is a valuable lesson for all students. Which brings me back to the importance of perspective and how it has the ability to influence the perception of the public. It’s crucial to include all different types of perspective in the conversation. I’m interested in seeing how I can try to incorporate these methods into my teaching

How can students take risks in their work regardless of how someone is perceived?

How can I encourage students to consider the situatedness of the authors of class texts and other technical documents and stimulate their interest in thinking about the authors of apparently authorless documents that purport to be neutral or objective?

If you’re ever interested in reading more about this, it’s the first chapter of Embodied Knowledge and Risks, called “Apparent Feminism and Risk Communication”, by Erin A. Frost!

-Cameron