Image
Source
Lee, Rachel; Bullock, Hannah; Maju, Mehar; Westmoreland, Drew; Apolloni, Alexandra. 2018. “Created Image: Data on Gender Differences in Attitudes toward Becoming Fragrance-Free.” In Canary Narratives: Visualizing Gender, Chronic Illness, and Exposure, created by Rachel Lee, Alexandra Apolloni, Molly Bloom, and Mehar Maju. In Visualizing Toxic Subjects Digital Exhibit, curated by James Adams and Kim Fortun. The Center for Ethnography. March.
Language
English
English
Substantive Caption
In 2018, CSW researchers surveyed 700+ UCLA undergraduates to understand how fragranced products impact educational outcomes and how gender can influence attitudes and behavior regarding fragrance use. We aimed to assess how EDC exposure presented a potential barrier to students with MCS or aversions to fragrances.
The comments demonstrate that more females reported being personally impacted by fragranced products. Males were more accepting of fragranced product use in the context of adhering to social norms. One male commenter wrote: “still would rather have fragranced smells than a smelly classmate who is made fun of or ridiculed for smelling bad.
Respondents were asked to evaluate the statement: “Aerosol sprays, scented personal care products, and/or hand soaps do not contain chemicals.” Eighty-nine percent of respondents (n = 631) disagreed. Fifty-one percent (n = 618) stated that the survey did not cause them to reconsider their fragranced product utilization. Responses revealed that personal attachment to fragrance and fear of bodily odors overrode willingness to alter fragrance product use despite knowledge of toxic exposure. This suggests a gap between knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. While some respondents understand the risk of using such products, some possess a low self-perceived risk, which is not adequate enough to cause a behavior change.
Approximately ¼ of survey respondents were male, and ¾ were female. Percentages in the visualization reflect the percentage of male and female respondents who provided comments related to the given theme, as indicated on the label under the bottles.
Design Statement
We present this visualization because:
Spaces to write comments regarding whether the survey respondent has learned anything from the survey instrument conventionally function as closing vehicles to check whether the aims of the survey have been achieved. In the spirit of “canary activism,” the most desirable yield on this question would be something like 51-100% of responses indicating “From the survey I learned the potential health hazards of fragrances and now wish to become fragrance-free to support those with MCS and the health of my own body.” Real life observation and provocation yields more arrayed responses that can be further analyzed.
We approached data-coding from an ethnographic perspective. Dwelling on these comments has raised the prospect that our previous presumption (see above on “low hanging fruit”) was likely incorrect. Individuals are attached to masking bodily scents with fragrances despite health risks, and worry about social stigma from “smelling bad.”