Embodying Ethics

Abstract

Arguably, as a feminist practitioner-researcher, my concern with a range of ethical issues is heightened since I bear a moral responsibility for my politics and practices (Ramazanoglu and Holland 2003). This mirrors my position as a therapist where I am actively involved in safe practice and abiding by a professional code of ethics. These ethical issues stem from a belief in change at a personal and social level by means of embodied and intersubjective processes. As a result of this position, I view both therapy and art as social intervention. For me, the creative process in both arenas can act as a social tool as well as an expressive one. Moreover, creating research for the ‘bookshelf’ is a significant sociopolitical intervention since, from a feminist perspective, it is important to use the ‘master’s tools to dismantle the master’s house’ (Fonow and Cook 2005: 2211), thus emphasizing the need to both address and deconstruct hidden hierarchies in (verbal and non-verbal) language and textual practices.