The Positionality Paper
So for one of my classes, I was tasked with writing a “positionality paper.”
Basically, it’s an introductory piece of who you are as it pertains to your perspectives. From my understanding, it’s for research purposes; it’s laying the foundation for how you will approach subjects of interests.
My experience while writing the paper was very tough.
For those who aren’t aware:
My primary research interests include studying the psychology behind sex crimes and pedophilia, analyzing the utilization of sex in advertisement and mass communication, supporting innovations to sexual and reproductive healthcare, and reviewing sex as a business: how it defines society’s approach to sex and sexuality.
I wrote a lot about my defining moments that spark my interest in sexology, and in a lot of ways, I felt uncomfortable. Why? Because I had to do a lot of reflecting, and I even had an epiphany. To bare my soul to my professor was kind of scary, and I even felt a bit insecure. It’s not that I don’t trust my professor (as my professor strikes me as warm and very personable), but I’m just afraid of what my professor will think of me after reading it. I don’t think I wrote anything bad, but there are a few things in that paper that not a single soul knows about yet. And my professor is the first to know.
So yeah.
I may end up publishing that paper, but I don’t know how far in the future that’ll be. It’ll be very far, though.
My positionality paper has definitely laid the blueprint for my dissertation journal, so we’ll see where it goes from here.
