Are objects neutral or “sexist”?
Does design contribute to the patriarchal system of oppression?

Historically, users of twentieth-century industrial design products were modeled on the so-called average man: a male individual, capable, abstracted from context. The very history of design, even when written by women, still reflects male logic: either by focusing on famous names, inventions, and the success of a few for a few; or because objects, even when designed by women, adapted to standards set by men; or because the social history of women’s material production was narrated in a passive—or even oppressive—logic.
Looking at design through a feminist lens allows us not only to expose exclusion, but also to question what—and who—design systematically fails to see. This is not only a matter of gender, but of all those subjects and objects rendered invisible, marginalized, or deliberately ignored by dominant design paradigms. From this perspective, it becomes possible to imagine a world in which women create tools that ensure their reproductive health, pleasure, and safety—beginning with a reappropriated understanding of their own bodies.

Chiara Alessi, a leading expert in design, describes some of these projects, from the gynecological chair to the speculum and self-diagnosis tools, to menstrual devices and sexual pleasure products. A provocative, eye-opening essay that rethinks design as a tool for gender critique.