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The starting point for this book is the question of how we research sex for sale and the implications of the choices we make in terms of epistemology and ethics. Which dilemmas and ethical aspects need to be taken into account when producing qualitative data within a highly politicised and moral-infected realm? These two questions are exactly what Spanger and Skilbrei aim to unpack in this unusual interdisciplinary methodology book, Prostitution Research in Context.
The book offers contributions from a number of scholars who, based on their reflections on their own research practice and the existing knowledge field, discuss ongoing methodological issues and challenges representative of international research on sex for sale. Some chapters deal explicitly with methodological dilemmas in research; others thematise the encounter between prostitution research and general texts on epistemology. Other chapters again actively engage with the ethical dilemmas that research on the topic of sex for sale can entail. The authors represent different disciplines, but share an interest in engaging in reflexive research practices informed by feminism and feminist epistemologies.
An authoritative contribution to the field, this innovative volume will appeal to international scholars and students from across the social sciences and humanities in areas such as sociology, anthropology, criminology, media studies, feminist studies, human geography and history.
List of contents
Acknowledgement
- Exploring sex for sale: Methodological concerns
Marlene Spanger and May-Len Skilbrei
Theme 1 Manoeuvring in a politicised research field
- History and the politics of prostitution – Prostitution and the politics of history
Judith R. Walkowitz
- Speaking the truth about prostitution
May-Len Skilbrei
- Troubling unknowns and certainties in prostitution policy claims-making
Isabel Crowhurst
Theme 2 Researching for, about and with sex workers
- Epistemologically privileging the sex worker: Uncovering the rehearsed and presumed in sex work studies
Lorraine Nencel
- Collaborative research with sex workers
Carol Harrington
- The voice of images: Photovoice, sex workers and affective engagement
Sealing Cheng
Theme 3 Dangerous positions? Establishing the research field of sex for sale
- What do emotions do? Circulations of annoyance, hostility and shame in fieldwork
Marlene Spanger
- Contamination or engagement? Doing class in prostitution research
Jeanett Bjønness
10. Seducing the seducer: Negotiating desire, discomfort and power in fieldwork
Christian Groes
Notes on contributors
Index
About the author
Marlene Spanger is Associate Professor in the Department of Culture and Global Studies at Aalborg University, Denmark
May-Len Skilbrei is Professor in the Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law at the University of Oslo, Norway
Summary
The starting point for this book is the question of how we research sex for sale and the implications of the choices we make in terms of epistemology and ethics.
