Attend to power at every stage: who is studied, whose voice is heard, and who gains from the findings.
- +Fits Feminist Epistemology, Standpoint Epistemology
- –Tension with Positivist Epistemology
Key thinkers: Sandra Harding, bell hooks, Patricia Hill Collins
The longer story
Feminist values start from a simple observation: research has never been neutral, so let's be honest about commitments. Who gets studied, who gets ignored, whose knowledge counts, who benefits? Power runs through the whole process. Feminist research attends to this—centres marginalised voices, questions whose perspective gets naturalised, examines how gender and intersecting identities shape knowledge production. This isn't bias replacing objectivity; it's honesty replacing pretence. If you're studying representation, voice, or power in any creative field, feminist values give you tools to see what supposedly neutral approaches miss.