Ethical Research with Sex Workers

Dewey, Susan; Zheng, Tiantian

doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-6492-1

Cited by 55 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…Sex work communities and advocacy organizations have noted that, historically, researchers using quantitative and qualitative methods have "used" advisors as conduits for entry into the field with little acknowledgment of the contributions of advisors in the overall research endeavor (Bowen & O'Doherty, 2014). Our findings support assertions that sex worker advisors are knowledge experts about many facets of the sex industry and make valuable and important contributions to the overall study design and implementation (Bowen & O'Doherty, 2014;Bruckert, 2012;Dewey & Zheng, 2013;O'Neill, 2010;van der Meulen et al, 2013). The advisors influenced how we made decisions about purposeful sampling by sharing their knowledge and expertise about the industry, its organizational features, and the diverse settings, where sex work businesses operate amid being instrumental in reaching potential study participants who might have been otherwise overlooked.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…Addressing imbalances in research inclusion (Meltzer & Childress, 2011) is also a social justice matter. 1 Research that privileges or silences specific groups of sex workers might perpetuate power imbalances and inequalities by impeding actions to improve the situation of all members of society (Ashford, 2009;Dewey & Zheng, 2013;Maher, Pickering & Gerard, 2013). This in turn can exacerbate marginalization and widen inequalities (Rugkasa & Canvin, 2011).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Addressing Underrepresentation in Sex Work Research

2015

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Men, transgender people, and those working in off-street locales have historically been underrepresented in sex work health research. Failure to include all sections of sex worker populations precludes comprehensive understandings about a range of population health issues, including potential variations in the manifestation of such issues within and between population subgroups, which in turn can impede the development of effective services and interventions. In this article, we describe our attempts to define, determine, and recruit a purposeful sample for a qualitative study examining the interrelationships between sex workers' health and the working conditions in the Vancouver off-street sex industry. Detailed is our application of ethnographic mapping approaches to generate information about population diversity and work settings within distinct geographical boundaries. Bearing in mind the challenges and the overwhelming discrimination sex workers experience, we scope recommendations for safe and effective purposeful sampling inclusive of sex workers' heterogeneity.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Addressing Underrepresentation in Sex Work Research

2015

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“…and ''What about your family, what was that like?'' The women appreciated the opportunity to talk about things they wanted to share, and in their own way (i.e., lengthy narratives, dirty jokes, tears and sad stories), which supports this kind of approach to doing qualitative research on sensitive issues with these groups of women (Caputo, 2008;Coy, 2008;Dewey & Zheng, 2013;Marcus et al, 2012;Melrose, 2002).…”

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Expanding the scope of inquiry: exploring accounts of childhood and family life among sex workers in London, Ontario

Orchard

Farr²,

Macphail

et al. 2014

The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality

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This article presents findings from a qualitative research project that sought to explore the organization of sex work and women's experiences in the trade in a medium-size Canadian city. Drawing upon 14 semistructured life-history interviews with women between 24 and 60 years of age who have taken part in sex work, primarily street-based, this discussion examines the women's accounts of childhood and early family experiences. Findings related to childhood highlight the role of the women's mothers, fathers, and a range of non-normative conditions in shaping their social experience of childhood. Our participants' accounts of family dynamics feature discussions of loving familial relations, inter-generational involvement in the sex trade, and feelings of exclusion. These findings support existing studies on childhood and family experiences among street-based sex workers and contribute new data to this relatively under-developed area of study within the sex work literature. One of the most unique insights is that although the women's accounts reveal difficult experiences across the spheres of socialization related to childhood and family, they did not identify them as the root cause of their sex trade participation. We discuss the practical significance of this finding for health care and social service professionals (i.e., case worker, support staff, community clinic workers), who work with women in the sex trade but may be uncertain how to broach and/or navigate the sensitive issues of childhood and family in their work with these marginalized groups of women.KEY WORDS: childhood, family dynamics, sex work, qualitative methods, marginalized women Acknowledgements: We thank the women of My Sister's Place, including our participants, who generously and with strong spirit shared their meaningful experiences with us. We also thank UWO's Academic Development Fund for the funds to conduct this research.

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“…Conducting ethnographic research with a marginalised group of sex worker requires a sensitive approach for the design of ethnical and non-exploitative research. We follow the ethical guide of established sex work researchers (Dewey and Zheng 2013;Mai 2018;Sinha 2017) and carefully ensured the privacy and confidentiality of the participants, and their informed consent throughout the research. Remuneration of participants for the time allotted in the research project has been a controversial issue in ethnographic research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crossing borders: the intersectional marginalisation of Bulgarian Muslim trans*immigrant sex workers in Berlin

Altay

Yurdakul

Korteweg

2020

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

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Bordering situates immigrant sex workers at the margins of an already marginalised industry and naturalises the legal conditions of their dispossession and precarity. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Berlin, we offer a situated intersectional analysis of the everyday bordering experiences of Muslim trans*immigrant sex workers from Bulgaria (hereafter TISWs). Focusing on three interactional contextsminority belonging within EU and German politics, encounters with medicolegal institutions, and the new sex work regulation in Germanyour study demonstrates both that everyday bordering experiences derive not solely from national border enforcement and citizenship regulation but also from intersectional sociocultural barriers imposed by non-state actors, while the internal bordering practices of the German state exacerbate the exclusion and marginalisation of sex/gender transgressive people and sex work. We conclude that despite their physical existence as EU citizens in Berlin, TISWs' everyday bordering experiences require a more nuanced understanding of intersectional systems of oppression which postpones TISWs' arrival in Berlin indefinitely.

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Ethical Research with Sex Workers

Cited by 55 publications

References 0 publications

Addressing Underrepresentation in Sex Work Research

Addressing Underrepresentation in Sex Work Research

Expanding the scope of inquiry: exploring accounts of childhood and family life among sex workers in London, Ontario

Crossing borders: the intersectional marginalisation of Bulgarian Muslim trans*immigrant sex workers in Berlin

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