[9-19] Click here for body stories: Employing literary hypertext as illness narrative for women with hyperandrogenism
Presentation language：English
Turning towards the intersection of health and digital humanities, this project questions what the future of illness narratives may look like by considering how to “code” health liberation into the digital through literary hypertext technology.
Literary hypertext is a form of rhizomatic, nonlinear digital story writing that calls on the reader to participate in the narrative’s unfolding by selecting different hyperlinks. The medium holds imminent potential as a therapeutic tool for body-based concerns due to its ability to foster unique and helpful connections between ideas, encourage integrative thought, and support collaborative learning. Twine, one platform for literary hypertext, is a freely accessible, open source tool for nonlinear writing.
Through an interactive, online participant module facilitated in the Summer of 2020, a nonlinear digital storytelling tool (Twine) is evaluated as an avenue for women* with hyperandrogenism to write an experiential-based illness narrative.
Hyperandrogenism is a medical condition characterized by “excessive” levels of male hormones such as testosterone which, when identified in the female body, are associated with “masculinizing” symptoms.This research opens new path ways for women* to address the pathologization of deviant femininity through a re-imaging of illness narratives in the digital space.