Methodological Awareness in Feminist Research: Reclaiming Experiences of Hostility in Workplace Studies

Abstract

This article extends contemporary debates on gender, sexuality, and power by exploring how power relations play out through the researcher-researched relationship in male-dominated workplaces. Drawing on short-term ethnography, this article discusses the utility of analyzing the researcher's embodied field in feminist research and advances our knowledge of body politics through the exploration of workplace performances. Specifically, it draws upon the author's research encounters with 33 men working in an Australian metropolitan fire service. The analysis demonstrates the strengths of using reflexive bodily accounts as forms of data and makes suggestions toward greater methodological awareness around the intersection of masculine authority, heterosexuality, and embodied feminist research.

Doing hot and ‘dirty’ work: Masculinities and occupational identity in firefighting

“…Access to these sites was made possible through prior engagement with this service, where rapport and trust were built during other research projects (see Perrott, ). The four research sites were selected by the Chief and Assistant Chief Officer and were further negotiated by Commanders and Station Officers across the stations.…”

“…The hierarchy of masculinities related to this specific occupation privilege youth and athleticism in ways that could easily marginalize and denigrate age(ing), ‘softening’ and slowing down. However, the image of respectability and fetishization of able‐bodied men embedded in this occupation has made it difficult for researchers to critique these gendered age relations, as insider access to these institutional worlds are rarely granted (Perrott, ). As one of the most male‐dominated workplaces in industrialized countries, metropolitan fire services provide a crucial platform for examining the construction of masculinities and the social processes that preserve the male dominance of these workplaces.…”

“…institutional worlds are rarely granted (Perrott, 2019). As one of the most male-dominated workplaces in industrialized countries, metropolitan fire services provide a crucial platform for examining the construction of masculinities and the social processes that preserve the male dominance of these workplaces.…”