Sexing Up the Subject
Methodological Nuances in Researching the Female Sex Industry
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 18995605 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Teela Sanders (0000-0001-6392-6896, University of Leeds, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2006 |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 449-468 |
| Publication date | 2006-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sexualities (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1363-4607 • E-ISSN: 1461-7382 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1363460706068044 |
| OpenAlex | W2113490529 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 61 |
| References cited | 29 |
There has been a recent expansion in research into various markets and aspects of the sex industry. With investigation on the increase, this article takes a step back to consider the trials and tribulations of researching female sex work. First the article reviews the difficulties that can be posed by ethics committees and offers solutions to convince officials of the feasibility of the setting and method. Second, concentrating on the access phase, I explore the methodological nuances of researching the sensitive, sometimes hidden and often illicit world of commercial sex. Third, I analyse how inquiry into commercial sexual behaviour and the sexual fieldsite presents particular issues in terms of managing ethical dilemmas in the field; negotiating the researcher role; and both the pleasures and dangers of researching this aspect of social life where the main topics are sex and money. In the conclusion I draw links between the methods used to investigate the sex industry and the development of theoretical debates. These points will be made with reference to the literature and my own work over the past five years in the UK sex industry, including a 10-month ethnography of the indoor prostitution markets
Ethnography · Human sexuality · Negotiation · Political science · Public relations · Sex work · Sexing · Social science · Sociology · Engineering · Gender Studies · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk · Medicine · Sex work and related issues · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology
You see how good-looking Lee Ann is!” Establishing field relations through gendered and racialised bodily practices
Social Construction of Sex Work
Prekäre Freizügigkeiten
Research on indoor sex work in Poland
Trustwork
Tojisha Participatory Action Research in Sex Work Studies
Sex work-based livelihoods in post 2000 in Zimbabwe
‘Framing figures’ and the campaign for sex purchase criminalisation in Ireland
Sex, Slavery and the Trafficked Woman
The Sex Worker and Her Pleasure
Perceived peer engagement in HIV-related sexual risk behaviors and self-reported risk-taking among female sex workers in Guangxi, China
Female sex work and HIV risks in Croatia
‘Treating it as a normal business’
Experiencing stigma as sex work researchers in professional and personal lives
Understanding illegality
Enhancing the study of sex work
‘It’s just more, you know, natural’
Commodifying Intimacy in 'Hard times
Tindering in the Field
Gesamtausgabe / Complete issue
Some Complexities of Seeking Access for Ethnographic Research in Health-Care Institutions
Sex Work Research, Ethics Review Processes, and Institutional Challenges for “Sensitive” Collaborative Research
Structural inequities, HIV vulnerability and women’s agency
Reflections on the use of FPAR as a research methodology for sex worker (and key populations) research
Child Protection and Social Inequality
Who rules the game? An investigation of sex‐work, gender, agency and the body
Sweden’s abolitionist discourse and law
An Ethnographic Analysis of Escort Services in Poland
Social and Structural Constraints on Disclosure and Informed Consent for HIV Survey Research Involving Female Sex Workers and Their Bar Managers in the Philippines
Researching Prostitution and Sex Trafficking Comparatively
Sex is Not Just Fucking; Sex is a Feeling
Sexual health, transition-related risk behavior and need for health care among transgender sex workers
Reflexivity and ethical research practice while interviewing on sexual topics
Sex work research
Charting Sex Work in Malta
Do you really want to hear about my life?’
Decriminalization of Sex Work
Participatory and Action-Oriented Dissertations
The politics of sexual citizenship
They wouldn't get away with it at McDonalds”
Messing up research
Everyday violence and care
Sex trafficking and the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games
Biographical work and the production of credibility in sex work interviews
Caught in the fire
Health insurance for the good European citizen? Migrant sex workers’ quests for health insurance and the moral economy of health care
Stavovi stručnjaka/inja o politici regulacije prostitucije u Hrvatskoj
Action research with sex workers
But the kids are okay
More than a dance
Ethical and Safety Issues in Doing Sex Work Research
Researching men who pay for sex
Conhecimento, prática e ética
Risky Pleasures
Ethnographic Intimacy
The Presence of Stigma Among Users of the MMORPG RMT
Emotion work and the management of stigma in female sex workers' long-term intimate relationships
Institutional Ethics Challenges to Sex Work Researchers
Fitting the bill? (Dis)embodied disclosure of sexual identities in the workplace
Male Sexual Scripts
On Institutionalized Sexual Economies
Sex Work Research
Methods, Sex and Madness
Violence and Sex Work in Britain
Making Sense of Prostitution
Sex Work Now
Dangerous Fieldwork
Whores and Other Feminists
Ethnography
Prostitution, Power and Freedom
Vice in Chicago
Red Light, Blue Light
Labour pains
Violence against Prostitutes
Tackling client violence in female street prostitution
It's Just Acting
The red-light district in the West European city
Researching female sex work
Naked Power
The City as a Sexual Laboratory
Sex-Working Drug Users
Before, during and after
The Geographical Mobility, Preferences and Pleasures of Prolific Punters
The risk of 'going observationalist
Creating Knowledge Collaboratively with Female Sex Workers
The Dialectical Gaze
| Unique citing works | 61 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,21 |
| Citation span | 2007 - 2026 (20) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 60 |