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Highfire Feminism: Sexism in Ceramics Publication Project

Welcome (back) to Highfire Feminism!

Highfire Feminism, founded in 2021 by Sunshine Cobb and Ayumi Horie, is gathering responses that will inform a publication offering strategies to address, teach about, and confront sexism in ceramics. Co-edited by Jasmine Baetz and em irvin, this resource will support ceramicists navigating systemic issues. While the publication focuses on American studio ceramics, we welcome global perspectives and participation.

If you participated in the last Highfire Feminism survey in 2021, you may notice some familiar questions. While we did not have the bandwidth to take the project further than sharing data in lectures, we are now ready to take the next step by revisiting the material, continuing to listen, and expanding our scope. We are grateful for your participation in our past work and your continuing participation in Highfire Feminism. Analyzing and publishing the data collected from this second survey is instrumental to making change. We will be in a better position to trace patterns over time and approach these issues with the depth and care they deserve.

If you're new to the Highfire Feminism please *click* the link for more information on our past work. 🔥🔥🔥

PLEASE NOTE:

- At the end of this survey, you’ll be asked to review and agree to a set of consent terms. Please read them carefully before submitting.

- There is a glossary at the end of this survey if you need it to assist you with this survey.
- There are 5 sections of questions to this survey.
- This survey will take at least 30 minutes to complete, with most people finishing in about an hour.
- Deadline: September 20, 2025. Any responses received after this date won't be included in the publication but will be considered for future projects.

Section 1: Identifying Information

These questions help us credit your contributions to this survey while respecting your preferences for anonymity and consent.

1. What is your name?

Your name will only be accessible to Highfire Feminism and its editors. In Question 3, you may choose to have your published responses be anonymous.

2. What is the best email to contact you?

An email address is required to complete this survey. We will only use it to request your explicit written permission if we wish to publish written responses from section 4 and all responses in section 5.

3. If you provide explicit written permission via email for us to publish responses, how would you like to be attributed?

3. If you provide explicit written permission via email for us to publish responses, how would you like to be attributed?
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Section 2: Demographic Information

Your responses in this section may be included in aggregated data analysis for publication without prior contact. These questions help us understand who makes up the Highfire Feminism community and the scope of our reach.

1. Please identify the gender you most identify with:

1. Please identify the gender you most identify with:
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If you answered "Other" please write your answer to the question below:

If you would like to further describe or clarify your gender identity, please do so here:

2. What is your sexual orientation?

2. What is your sexual orientation?
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G

If you answered "Other" please write your answer to the question below:

If you would like to further describe or clarify your sexual orientation, please do so here:

3. Please indicate your race and/or ethnicity (select all that apply)

3. Please indicate your race and/or ethnicity (select all that apply)

If you answered "Other" please write your answer to the question below:

If you would like to further describe or clarify your race and/or ethnicity, please do so here:

4. What is your age range? 

4. What is your age range? 
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5. Do you identify as having a disability?

In the United States, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provides the legal definition of disability.
5. Do you identify as having a disability?
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Section 3: Workplace Information and Experience of Harassment or Discrimination in Ceramics

Your responses may be included in aggregated data analysis for publication without prior contact. These questions help us follow how ceramics institutions address exclusion and the forms of discrimination ceramists experience.

1. What is your primary place of work in ceramics? (Check all that apply)

1. What is your primary place of work in ceramics? (Check all that apply)

If you answered "Other" please write your answer to the question below:

Please share the country in which you're working, living, and/or that is the focus for your answers in this survey. Feel free to list multiple geographic contexts.

2. Does your workplace, facility, or institution have any of the following policies in place? (Check all that apply)

2. Does your workplace, facility, or institution have any of the following policies in place? (Check all that apply)

3. Do you know where to access these policies?

3. Do you know where to access these policies?
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4. Has your facility/organization/institution been receptive to implementing policies on equity, harassment, and inclusion?

4. Has your facility/organization/institution been receptive to implementing policies on equity, harassment, and inclusion?
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If comfortable, please specify the facility/organization/institution:

Section 4: Experiences of Harassment or Discrimination in Ceramics

This survey focuses on sexism and misogyny, but we also recognize their intersections with other forms of discrimination. Some options in this section extend beyond gender and sexuality.

Your multiple-choice or checkbox responses may be included in aggregated, anonymized data for publication without additional notice. However, we will only consider using your written responses with your explicit written consent via email. These questions help us better understand how harassment and discrimination are experienced in the ceramics community.

1. Please indicate if you have personally experienced any of the following in ceramics. (Check all that apply)

1. Please indicate if you have personally experienced any of the following in ceramics. (Check all that apply)

If you answered "Other" please write your answer to the question below:

1a. When did you experience this form or these forms of discrimination or harassment?
Please include any details about the time frame—such as the year(s), how long it lasted, or how often it occurred.
Examples:
– Every week for 5 years
– One instance in 2021

2. Please describe any experiences of discrimination or harassment you’ve encountered within ceramics. Sharing your experience can help us understand when, where, and how incidents occur, who is involved, and what patterns emerge.

3. Please indicate if you have witnessed or been a bystander to any of the following in ceramics. (Check all that apply)

3. Please indicate if you have witnessed or been a bystander to any of the following in ceramics. (Check all that apply)

If you answered "Other" please write your answer to the question below:

3a. When did you witness or were a bystander to this form or these forms of discrimination or harassment?
Please include any details about the time frame—such as the year(s), how long it lasted, or how often it occurred.
Examples:
– Every week for 5 years
– One instance in 2021

4. Please describe any experience you’ve had as a bystander, or any discrimination, harassment, or exclusion you’ve witnessed in ceramics.

5. Please indicate if, looking back, you may have contributed to harm or upheld inequitable practices in ceramics, whether intentionally or unintentionally. (Check all that apply)

5. Please indicate if, looking back, you may have contributed to harm or upheld inequitable practices in ceramics, whether intentionally or unintentionally. (Check all that apply)

If you answered "Other" please write your answer to the question below:

Section 5: Strategies for Addressing Exclusion and Discrimination

We will seek your explicit written consent via email before using your responses from this section in a publication.

1. How do you address sexism in your daily life, classrooms, studios, or ceramic practices?

2. What strategies have you found most effective in fostering inclusivity in ceramic spaces?

3. What strategies have you found most effective in shifting power dynamics in ceramic spaces?

4. What impact did the 2021 lecture, Power and Equity: Sexism in Ceramics, have on your teaching, studio practice, organization, or class if applicable?

Consent to Participate in this Highfire Feminism Survey

By consenting to participate and submitting this survey, you acknowledge and agree to the following terms:

- Once submitted, responses can’t be changed in the survey form.
- You grant Highfire Feminism and its editors (including but not limited to Ayumi Horie, Sunshine Cobb, em irvin, and Jasmine Baetz) a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual right to your responses and to publish aggregated data from sections 2 and 3 and multiple-choice or checkbox responses from section 4.
- This survey is for research and publication purposes only. It is not a formal complaint and will not be used in legal proceedings or investigations.
- We cannot guarantee confidentiality. While we won’t publish names or directly identifying details, written responses, even when anonymized, may still be recognizable to others based on context or phrasing.
Summary of Response Use:
- Section 1 | Identifying Information: Emails will never be published and will only be shared with Highfire Feminism and its editors, unless you give explicit written permission otherwise. Your name will only be published if you chose to do so in Question 3, and we will contact you before publishing anything with a name attached.
- Section 2 | Demographic Information: Responses may be included in aggregated data analysis for publication without further contact.
- Section 3 | Workplace Information and Experiences of Harassment or Discrimination in Ceramics: Responses may be included in aggregated data analysis for publication without further contact.
- Section 4 | Experiences of Harassment or Discrimination in Ceramics: Multiple-choice or checkbox responses may be included in aggregated, anonymized data for publication without notice. Written responses will only be considered for publication with your consent.
- Section 5 | Strategies for Addressing Exclusion and Discrimination: We will request your written consent before publishing any responses from this section.

By selecting “I Consent” and submitting this form, you confirm that you understand and agree to these terms.

By selecting “I Consent” and submitting this form, you confirm that you understand and agree to these terms.
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Glossary (of some terms)

- Ableism: Discrimination, bias, or structural barriers that disadvantage people with disabilities. This includes denial of access, failure to provide reasonable accommodations, or assumptions about capability. Ableism is often embedded in institutional practices that privilege normative bodyminds and marginalize disabled ways of being.

- Ageism: Discrimination or stereotyping based on age. In professional settings, it can shape hiring, pay, promotion, and inclusion. Ageism affects people across the age spectrum—often targeting both older adults and younger people through assumptions about competence, value, or experience.

- Bystanding: Witnessing harm—such as discrimination, harassment, or exclusion—without intervening. Bystanding may be passive (staying silent) or complicit (choosing not to act). In institutional and community settings, bystanding upholds harmful dynamics. In contrast, active bystander intervention involves disrupting harm, supporting those affected, and challenging systemic injustice.

- Discrimination: Unfair or unequal treatment based on protected characteristics such as race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, or religion. Discrimination can be overt or systemic, shaping access to employment, pay, promotion, education, and safety. In many countries, including the U.S., forms of discrimination are legally prohibited under civil rights law—but often persist through structural inequities.

- Gaslighting: A form of psychological manipulation that causes someone to question their memory, perception, or credibility. In institutional settings, it often appears when reports of discrimination or harm are minimized, denied, or reframed to discredit the person speaking up.

- Harassment: Unwelcome behavior based on race, gender, sexuality, disability, or other aspects of identity that creates a hostile, intimidating, or demeaning environment. It may be verbal, physical, or psychological, and can occur in workplaces, studios, classrooms, or public forums.

- Hiring Discrimination: Biased or exclusionary hiring practices that disadvantage candidates based on protected characteristics—such as race, gender identity, age, disability, or sexual orientation—rather than relevant qualifications or experience. These patterns often reflect systemic inequities.

- Homophobia: Prejudice, discrimination, or hostility toward people who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Homophobia can manifest through verbal harassment, exclusion, unequal treatment, or institutional barriers in professional and educational spaces.

- Pay Transparency: The practice of openly sharing salary ranges, pay structures, and compensation data to promote fairness and reduce wage gaps across race, gender, and other identities. Pay transparency supports accountability in addressing systemic pay inequities.

- Physical Assault: The intentional use of force or unwanted physical contact that causes or risks bodily harm. In institutional or professional settings, assault violates personal safety and may be connected to broader dynamics of power and control.

- Pregnancy Discrimination: Unfair treatment based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions. This includes denial of accommodations, job opportunities, or promotions, and penalizing individuals for medical needs or family care responsibilities related to pregnancy.

- Racial Discrimination: Unequal treatment based on race, ethnicity, or national origin. It includes overt acts—like harassment or exclusion—as well as systemic inequities in hiring, compensation, access, and representation. Racial discrimination can be both direct and embedded in policies, practices, and institutional culture.

- Sexual Assault: Any sexual act or contact without consent, including unwanted touching, coercion, or forced sexual activity. Sexual assault is a violation of bodily autonomy and safety.

- Sexual Harassment: Unwelcome sexual conduct—including advances, comments, or coercion—that affects someone’s access to work, education, or safety. It includes quid pro quo harassment (where benefits are conditioned on sexual compliance) and hostile environment harassment (where sexual behavior creates a toxic climate).

- Transphobia: Discrimination, exclusion, or hostility toward transgender, non-binary, or gender-nonconforming people. Transphobia appears in policy gaps, refusal to use correct names or pronouns, barriers to employment, and institutional or social erasure.

- Unfair Compensation or Pay Disparity: Unequal pay for similar work based on identity factors like race, gender, or disability. This includes wage gaps, opaque pay structures, and lack of recognition for labor performed by historically marginalized groups.

- Whistleblower Retaliation: Negative consequences faced by individuals who report misconduct, discrimination, or unsafe conditions. Retaliation may take the form of firing, demotion, exclusion, or other punishments that discourage speaking out.

- Discrimination: Unfair or unequal treatment based on protected characteristics such as race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, or religion. Discrimination can be overt or systemic, shaping access to employment, pay, promotion, education, and safety. In many countries, including the U.S., forms of discrimination are legally prohibited under civil rights law—but often persist through structural inequities.

- Gaslighting: A form of psychological manipulation that causes someone to question their memory, perception, or credibility. In institutional settings, it often appears when reports of discrimination or harm are minimized, denied, or reframed to discredit the person speaking up.

- Harassment: Unwelcome behavior based on race, gender, sexuality, disability, or other aspects of identity that creates a hostile, intimidating, or demeaning environment. It may be verbal, physical, or psychological, and can occur in workplaces, studios, classrooms, or public forums.

- Hiring Discrimination: Biased or exclusionary hiring practices that disadvantage candidates based on protected characteristics—such as race, gender identity, age, disability, or sexual orientation—rather than relevant qualifications or experience. These patterns often reflect systemic inequities.

- Homophobia: Prejudice, discrimination, or hostility toward people who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Homophobia can manifest through verbal harassment, exclusion, unequal treatment, or institutional barriers in professional and educational spaces.

- Pay Transparency: The practice of openly sharing salary ranges, pay structures, and compensation data to promote fairness and reduce wage gaps across race, gender, and other identities. Pay transparency supports accountability in addressing systemic pay inequities.

- Physical Assault: The intentional use of force or unwanted physical contact that causes or risks bodily harm. In institutional or professional settings, assault violates personal safety and may be connected to broader dynamics of power and control.

- Pregnancy Discrimination: Unfair treatment based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions. This includes denial of accommodations, job opportunities, or promotions, and penalizing individuals for medical needs or family care responsibilities related to pregnancy.

- Racial Discrimination: Unequal treatment based on race, ethnicity, or national origin. It includes overt acts—like harassment or exclusion—as well as systemic inequities in hiring, compensation, access, and representation. Racial discrimination can be both direct and embedded in policies, practices, and institutional culture.

- Sexual Assault: Any sexual act or contact without consent, including unwanted touching, coercion, or forced sexual activity. Sexual assault is a violation of bodily autonomy and safety.

- Sexual Harassment: Unwelcome sexual conduct—including advances, comments, or coercion—that affects someone’s access to work, education, or safety. It includes quid pro quo harassment (where benefits are conditioned on sexual compliance) and hostile environment harassment (where sexual behavior creates a toxic climate).

- Transphobia: Discrimination, exclusion, or hostility toward transgender, non-binary, or gender-nonconforming people. Transphobia appears in policy gaps, refusal to use correct names or pronouns, barriers to employment, and institutional or social erasure.

- Unfair Compensation or Pay Disparity: Unequal pay for similar work based on identity factors like race, gender, or disability. This includes wage gaps, opaque pay structures, and lack of recognition for labor performed by historically marginalized groups.

- Whistleblower Retaliation: Negative consequences faced by individuals who report misconduct, discrimination, or unsafe conditions. Retaliation may take the form of firing, demotion, exclusion, or other punishments that discourage speaking out.