My tutorial feedback made me realize that there’s still a significant gap in my project—ironic, given that my project is called Flag the Gap.

As Diana mentioned, I have the ingredients to bring everything together, but I need to find the right connection in my thought process to create something impactful.

I also had a call with Beatriz Leal, a Chilean feminist design teacher, seeking external validation. She gave me similar feedback and encouraged me to be more critical about how I refer to objects. She pointed out that I haven’t acknowledged the agency of objects and suggested that another angle for the project could be understanding the reasons behind their creation. However, I reaffirmed to her that this isn’t the direction I want to pursue.

So, what am I interested in? What am I trying to really pursue?

After some reflection, I believe my research is about raising awareness about the normalized gender norms that shape how people experience their daily lives. but what do I mean by normalized gender norms? The socially accepted ideas of how men and women should behave, and how distorted they are that people have found their ways of adapting to it. For example, for feeling safe women walk during the night with the keys on their hands just to feel safer. The gender norm is the expectation that women must constantly be vigilant and take extra precautions to protect themselves from potential threats, especially when alone in public spaces at night. We have normalized this behaviours. We have made this our reality.

The flag is the normalization in our mind and behaviours.

It’s not just about objects, but about our overall perception of reality.

Of course, there are still some gaps. Why am I focusing on individuals rather than the system? Honestly, addressing a massive capitalist, sexist system is a complex challenge. I think I have a better chance of making an impact by focusing on individuals.

But there’s another gap. So far, I’ve only spoken with women. I need to engage with men and even non-binary people—that could provide some valuable insights.

And still, this is a growing process, so I think I might shift with time.