Attraction in the Field

Abstract

Physical or sexual attraction plays an important role in shaping a wide range of relationships and in myriad ways. Our primary interest here is in how attraction shapes the qualitative research experience. Close examination of popular sociological ethnographies found that attractiveness is used as a descriptor, and almost always in a distancing fashion, but never considered in a reflexive manner. We explore implications of this silence surrounding attraction and urge greater candidness among sociologists conducting field research and teachers of qualitative methods.Liz Grauerholz is a professor of sociology at the University of Central Florida (UCF). Her main areas are gender, consumption, and scholarship of teaching and learning. She regularly teaches courses on qualitative methods, gender, and teaching sociology.

“What’s She Doing Here?!”: Negotiating Gender Identity and Harassment in Gendered, Sexualized, and “Taboo” Research Spaces

“…These reflective confessionals focus on a wide variety of gender-based topics, including, but not limited to, the increased emotional labor and navigation of gender dynamics involved when interviewing men (Arendell, 1997; Campbell, 2003; Gailey & Prohaska, 2011; Pini, 2005; Presser, 2005; Yassour-Borochowitz, 2012), sexism (Horn, 1997; Smart, 1984), unwanted attention and flirting (Grauerholz et al, 2013; Gurney, 1985; Pini, 2005), harassment (Green et al, 1993; Hanson & Richards, 2017; Huff, 1997; Kloß, 2017; Mugge, 2013), threats of harm both implicit and explicit, and acts of physical and sexual violence (Berry et al, 2017; Elliott, 2021; Sharp & Kremer, 2006). For example, in Pini’s (2005) interviews of men in elected positions within an agricultural organization in Australia, she reported being sexually objectified as she shared the same last name as an Australian playboy model.…”

Violences sexuelles sur un terrain d’enquête

“…La sociologue féministe Isabelle Clair aborde cette question, mais de manière très marginale, dans un article récent (2016) où elle tente de faire de la « sexualité dans la relation d'enquête » un objet qui concerne l'ensemble de la discipline. Il existe pourtant, depuis longtemps, une littérature en anglais sur ce thème, qui implique des ethnographes féministes mais aussi des chercheur•e•s travaillant sur des objets qui n'ont pas nécessairement trait -initialement du moinsau genre ou à la sexualité (Golde, 1970 ;Reinharz, 1992 ;Bell, Caplan et Karim, 1993 ;Green et al, 1993 ;Moreno, 1995 ;Sharp et Kremer, 2006 ;Gailey et Prohaska, 2011 ;Grauerholz et al, 2012 ;Clark et Grant, 2015 ;Hanson et Richards, 2017 ;Kloß, 2017).…”