Prostitution Research in Context Methodology, Representation and Power

1. Exploring sex for sale: Methodological concerns

Marlene Spanger and May-Len Skilbrei

　

Theme 1 Manoeuvring in a politicised research field

2. History and the politics of prostitution – Prostitution and the politics of history

Judith R. Walkowitz

3. Speaking the truth about prostitution

May-Len Skilbrei

4. Troubling unknowns and certainties in prostitution policy claims-making

Isabel Crowhurst

　

Theme 2 Researching for, about and with sex workers

5. Epistemologically privileging the sex worker: Uncovering the rehearsed and presumed in sex work studies

Lorraine Nencel

6. Collaborative research with sex workers

Carol Harrington

7. The voice of images: Photovoice, sex workers and affective engagement

Sealing Cheng

　

Theme 3 Dangerous positions? Establishing the research field of sex for sale

8. What do emotions do? Circulations of annoyance, hostility and shame in fieldwork

Marlene Spanger

9. Contamination or engagement? Doing class in prostitution research

10. Seducing the seducer: Negotiating desire, discomfort and power in fieldwork

Biography

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

Spanger & Skilbrei reach beyond disciplinary silos in posing novel epistemological questions that push researchers, practitioners, and services providers to reconsider status quo approaches to, and understandings of, transactional sex.　　By explicitly and fearlessly connecting political and theoretical issues, this edited collection offers a novel empirical contribution to an all-too-often polarized field of research.

Susan C. Dewey, Associate Professor, Gender & Women's Studies, University of Wyoming, USA.

For the first time, we have an interdisciplinary collection of work dedicated exclusively to sex work/prostitution research methodologies. In this inspiring, ground-breaking collection written by a number of key international scholars in the field, editors Spanger and Skilbrei urge us to think critically about the politics, power relations, and positionality in research processes and knowledge production about the sale of sex, and about how we can engage in informed and reflexive (feminist) research practices about the subject. A must read for anyone considering embarking upon sex work research.

Kamala Kempadoo, Professor, Department of Social Science, York University, Canada. Co-editor of Global Sex Workers: Rights, Resistance and Redefinition, author of Sexing the Caribbean: Gender, Race and Sexual Labour.

The study of prostitution appears one of the most ethiclly challenging and contentious areas of research in the social sciences. Avoiding stereotyped representations of this complex and diverse area of study, this edited collection provides a balanced and timely assessment of the way that those researching prostitution are obliged to situate their studies in a wider political and social context. A must read for all those who are researching prostitution, and an important contribution to debates in feminist epistemology and methodology'

Phil Hubbard, Professor of Urban Studies & Head of School, School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research King’s College London.