Working on research for looking at trends in the Texas Legislative Session Minutes to look for the legislating of sexuality, women’s reproductive health, age of consent… This session would be a teaching session to provide participants a view into the conceptualization of the first phases of the project, a chance to search through the pdfs of the Texas Legislative Records, and a view at the end result of the first phase of the data mining. Participants will want access to internet, Adobe Reader, and a spreadsheet program (preferably Xcel).

In her 2010 Ted Talk, Courtney Martin, blogger at Feministing.com, the most widely-read feminist publication in the world, highlights the impact the Internet, digital networking, and social media have made on feminist activism saying, “Feminist blogging is basically the 21st century version of consciousness-raising.” In the last few years informative and cheeky hashtags like #yesallwomen, #bringbackourgirls, #menexplainthingstome, and #bindersfullofwomen have raised consciousness about national and global women’s issues.

While it may be clear that feminist activism and consciousness-raising has gone digital, what implications does this have for Women and Gender Studies as a field? What about the activist nature of the Feminist classroom? How can we (students, scholars, activists) embrace digital consciousness raising without becoming arm-chair activists? I’d like to lead a conversation that attempts to answer some of these questions–and I can provide relevant scholarship on feminist pedagogy–but I hope participants will have their own ideas and stories to tell as we work to understand these ideas together.