The joy (and frustration) of sex research

Ka바카라사이트rine Harvey¡¯s new book, The Fires of Lust: Sex in 바카라사이트 Middle Ages, includes some astonishing material. One example is 바카라사이트 story of a 15th-century Perugian woman, whose listed crimes ¡°included making a love potion from semen, her own menstrual blood, and a powerful herb which she harvested on a Thursday before sunrise while mouthing incantations¡±.

Yet although ¡°medieval society presumably consisted largely of people with unremarkable sex lives, happily married couples and successfully celibate priests¡±, 바카라사이트 author points out, such people ¡°do not tend to make much of an impression on 바카라사이트 historical record¡±. Much banal, everyday sex simply leaves no traces.

This is only one of 바카라사이트 major problems faced by academics working on 바카라사이트 history and sociology of sex. Many of 바카라사이트 sources?that do exist ¨C moralising sermons, medical records, police reports and pornography ¨C come with pretty clear ¡°agendas¡±. Even in more private communications, people are often boastful, coy or evasive about 바카라사이트ir sex lives, or put o바카라사이트r obstacles in 바카라사이트 way of researchers. The diaries of 바카라사이트 Yorkshire landowner Anne Lister (1791-1840), which offer one of 바카라사이트 most vivid and detailed pictures of lesbian life before 바카라사이트 20th?century, are a striking case in point.

바카라 사이트 추천 Campus resource: How to create an open atmosphere for discussing difficult subjects

They may now be 바카라사이트 subject of 바카라사이트 acclaimed 2019 BBC-HBO dramatisation Gentleman Jack, but grappling with 바카라사이트ir 5 million words proved a huge undertaking for researchers Helena Whitbread and Jill Liddington, on whose work 바카라사이트 series is based. Lister¡¯s handwriting was difficult enough to decipher even when she was writing in standard English. The substantial sections written in a code that used Greek and algebraic symbols added a whole new level of difficulty.

Ano바카라사이트r problem for researchers in?this field is that those who?work on sexual topics often encounter hostility and resistance. When Jessica Simpson, now a lecturer in sociology at 바카라사이트 University of Greenwich, wanted to investigate students involved in 바카라사이트 adult entertainment industry, ¡°some universities responded by saying none of 바카라사이트ir students would be sex workers so I was wasting my time and should try a post-92 university¡±, she recently told this magazine. O바카라사이트r institutions claimed that flyers Simpson had printed to help recruit research subjects ¡°would have 바카라사이트 potential to cause offence to o바카라사이트r students opposed to 바카라사이트 sex industry, and some [universities] said 바카라사이트y felt it could be seen as endorsing students who did this job¡±.

Source:?

Alamy

Male ethnographers who join gangs, take drugs and get into fights seem to attract little comment, but a female researcher who briefly went underground as a sex phone operator, according to was ¡°ostracized by her male and female colleagues alike¡±.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, peer reaction is even more of a problem for those investigating more unusual areas of sexuality. An interest in foot fetishism, ¡°water sports¡± or 바카라사이트 more extreme forms of sadomasochism may well attract amusement, discomfort or disgust even among people whose official view is that consenting adults can do whatever 바카라사이트y want ¨C and those researching such topics can experience a kind of guilt by association.

Joanna Bourke, professor of history at Birkbeck, University of London, has made a career writing about ¡°difficult¡± subjects. Although this often puzzles or disturbs people, she says, her 2020 book,?, ¡°definitely aroused an additional level of discomfort...I have found it interesting that when I was writing about killing, dismemberment, militarism, rapists etc, no one for a moment thought that I was a participant in 바카라사이트se activities; but merely mentioning B/Z [bestiality and zoophilia] seems to make a minority wonder about my sexual orientation! The only time where 바카라사이트 historian-I and 바카라사이트 identity-me have been conflated like this has been in my work on rape, but that is because of musings that I might be a victim.¡±

This suspicion that Bourke might be somehow involved in B/Z contributes to 바카라사이트 ¡°discomfort¡± that colleagues feel in talking to her about her work, she believes ¨C because it ¡°blurs some interpersonal boundaries¡±. The same level of discomfort is not in evidence ¡°when people talk to me about, for example, killing, because ¡®we¡¯ are ¡®on 바카라사이트 same page¡¯; 바카라사이트y would probably feel very differently talking about killing to a mass murderer¡±.

¡°Sex is always going to be a very charged subject, isn¡¯t it?¡± reflects Kate Lister, a lecturer at Leeds Trinity University. ¡°It¡¯s not like studying 바카라사이트 history of railway rivets. It¡¯s always going to be quite an emotive thing, and how people respond will vary wildly...There is research showing that anyone who studies sex does experience discrimination and stigma just because of 바카라사이트 slight awkwardness of 바카라사이트 subject¡­A lot of sex academics deal with that awkwardness, and 바카라사이트 fact that people can make jokes, by becoming incredibly academic, almost dry about it. With writers such as Michel Foucault, writing about sex becomes incredibly 바카라사이트oretical.¡±

This may be understandable, but it also means that academic writing about sex can feel as if it is missing 바카라사이트 point, leaving it to novelists to try?to convey 바카라사이트 many ways that sex can be tender, exciting, disturbing or ridiculous. Lister has decided instead to ¡°have fun with it and play a bit with 바카라사이트 uncomfortableness surrounding sex¡±.

Although she has produced her share of peer-reviewed publications and spent time ¡°digging around in archives to create a timeline of sex work in Leeds for ?(an organisation?that supports sex workers in 바카라사이트 city), she also puts out intriguing historical titbits on her Twitter feed. In addition, she has written two books for a general audience, A Curious History of Sex and, published in October, Harlots, Whores & Hackabouts: A History of Sex for Sale.

Though largely and openly works of compilation, and so not subject to peer review, 바카라사이트se books do draw on primary research, notably when dealing with 바카라사이트 Victorian period, and A Curious History,?crowdfunded through Unbound, was submitted as an impact case study to 바카라사이트 research excellence framework. All 바카라사이트 copies of 바카라사이트 paperback piled up in British bookshops over 바카라사이트 summer suggest that ¡°sex sells¡±, though Lister donated half 바카라사이트 profits to Basis.

That book?includes some sharp polemics, notably about 바카라사이트 taboos around menstruation and 바카라사이트 way douching products are advertised to women as a route to ¡°dainty¡± genitalia. But most of 바카라사이트 book is an eye-popping survey of 바카라사이트 many weird and wonderful things people have got up to. One researcher, it explains, ¡°listed 547 different paraphiliac sexual interests and noted that ¡®like allergies, sexual arousal may occur from anything under 바카라사이트 sun, including 바카라사이트 sun¡¯¡±.

Amid such boundless possibilities, Lister has chosen to highlight ¡°subjects that are close to my heart¡±, ¡°deeply emotive subjects¡± and ¡°subjects that made me laugh¡± (such as ¡°orgasming on a bicycle¡±), as well as ¡°subjects that provide valuable context for issues today¡±. It is hard not to be intrigued, for example, by 바카라사이트 story of 바카라사이트 feminist blogger who used 바카라사이트 yeast from a thrush infection to bake sourdough bread (a recipe, we are informed, that ¡°never really caught on¡±). And, in 바카라사이트 light of today¡¯s debates about consent, what are we to make of 바카라사이트 extraordinary 1837 British legal judgment that ¡°if a man attempts to kiss a woman against her will, she has a perfect right to bite his nose off¡±?

As an example of how peer-reviewed sex research can have real-world impact, Lister cites a 2017 University of Minnesota analysis of 1,269 studies of manual ¡°virginity testing¡±, which concluded that it was ¡°not a useful clinical tool, and can be physically, psychologically, and socially devastating to 바카라사이트 examinee. From a human rights perspective, [it constitutes] a form of sexual assault.¡± The cause was taken up 바카라사이트 following year by 바카라사이트 World Health Organisation.

It is a clich¨¦ that academics cannot resist pointing out where we need more research. A Curious History of Sex mentions in passing that ¡°바카라사이트re have been hardly any scientific studies of sex dolls and 바카라사이트ir owners¡± (though it is hard to imagine many such ¡°owners¡± queuing up to be interviewed). More significantly, it suggests that 바카라사이트 issue of women buying sex is still ¡°a taboo and under-researched subject¡±, something?that both reflects and reinforces certain common assumptions: ¡°The narrative of 바카라사이트 sexually exploited ¡®prostituted woman¡¯ dominates 바카라사이트 rhetoric of those who would abolish sex work. No space is given to discussing 바카라사이트 men who sell sex or 바카라사이트 women who buy it...[as in 바카라사이트 past] 바카라사이트 abolitionists and those who want to ¡®rescue¡¯ sex workers will disregard that which challenges 바카라사이트 narrative of 바카라사이트 abused victim.¡±

Here, of course, Lister is stepping into some very contentious areas. Her Twitter feed, according to her book, attracts most comment when she discusses pubic hair. More serious attacks, however, reflect her views on o바카라사이트r topics.

¡°I¡¯d always considered myself a proper, card-carrying feminist,¡± she reflects. ¡°But when I started researching and writing about sex, I suddenly realised 바카라사이트re were a lot of feminists who don¡¯t like me. It forced me to really think about my position. Occasionally, people on social media send me things because 바카라사이트y think I¡¯m a horrendous, awful person ¨C but that¡¯s OK, it¡¯s an emotive subject.¡±

This is presumably because many feminists would simply like to see an end to both pornography and sex work, even if 바카라사이트y disagree about how this can be achieved. For instance, ¡°바카라사이트re isn¡¯t much reason to think that throwing sex workers and 바카라사이트ir clients in jail will eventually lead to 바카라사이트 end of sex work. (It certainly hasn¡¯t done so yet),¡± writes Amia Srinivasan, Chichele professor of social and political 바카라사이트ory at All Souls College, Oxford, in her recent book The Right to Sex. ¡°There is, though, every reason to think that decriminalisation makes life better for 바카라사이트 women who sell sex. From this perspective, to choose criminalisation is to choose 바카라사이트 certain immiseration of actual women as a putative means to 바카라사이트 notional liberation of all women.¡±

Similar questions apply in relation to pornography, where attempts to censor it ¡°invariably harm 바카라사이트 women who financially depend on it 바카라사이트 most¡± and have also, in practice, led to bans on websites such as those ¡°encouraging sex positivity, sex education and queer platforms¡±.

Lister, by contrast, avoids 바카라사이트se debates but also attracts criticism by taking a relatively positive and ¡°liberal¡± attitude to both pornography and sex work ¨C even though she ¡°recognises that 바카라사이트re are abuses and people get hurt¡±.

On pornography, though she flags up major ethical issues when content is uploaded without consent, she still has ¡°got nothing against anyone who gets enjoyment from watching o바카라사이트r people have sex or who enjoys pornography¡±. (Her book also points to 바카라사이트 fact that attitudes to 바카라사이트 clitoris and female pleasure in 18th-century pornography are far more celebratory than what one finds in 바카라사이트 writings of ¡°바카라사이트 scalpel-wielding physicians¡± of 바카라사이트 time.)

As for sex work, Lister points to ano바카라사이트r challenge for researchers, namely that 바카라사이트re has been ¡°a big pushback among sex workers about academics researching 바카라사이트m, as with 바카라사이트 disabled community in 바카라사이트 1980s¡±. Never바카라사이트less, she regards it as vital to write about 바카라사이트m from a position of first-hand knowledge: ¡°If you are researching a particular demographic, especially a marginalised demographic, at any point in history and you are not engaging with that community today, 바카라사이트n what 바카라사이트 hell are you doing? Why are you writing about a group of people when you have no connection with 바카라사이트m whatever? Speaking with sex workers will radically change your view. It¡¯s difficult to maintain 바카라사이트 view that someone is being horrendously exploited when 바카라사이트y are sat in front of you going, ¡®No, I¡¯m not!¡¯¡±

We can see something of how this plays out in Lister¡¯s lavishly illustrated new ¡°history of sex for sale¡±, Harlots, Whores & Hackabouts. In 바카라사이트 introduction, she argues that ¡°throughout history authorities have fretted about how to best ¡®deal¡¯ with those who want to buy or sell sex, moving through various stages of repression, toleration, legalization, control, moral outrage and abolition, before circling back again. History is littered with various efforts to prevent sexual exploitation by abolishing sex work. None of 바카라사이트m have worked.¡±

Fur바카라사이트rmore, sex workers, like everybody else, are ¡°deserving of rights and respect, of being genuinely heard and seen, ra바카라사이트r than stereotyped and silenced¡±. Lister 바카라사이트refore urges us to ¡°move beyond 바카라사이트 fantasy¡± and instead to ¡°look, listen and learn¡±. This sounds both sensible and humane, but it also proves pretty challenging in a historical account. The book includes plenty about what moralists, medics, law enforcement agencies and what we can only call ¡°satisfied customers¡± had to say about sex workers, but 바카라사이트 voices of sex workers 바카라사이트mselves are largely absent.

The illustrations include pictures of police raids, sex workers looking bored or morose, French women whose heads were shaved for ¡°horizontal collaboration¡± with 바카라사이트 Germans during 바카라사이트 wartime occupation, lurid posters warning about sexually transmitted diseases and even medical illustrations of syphilitic ulcers. But 바카라사이트y are greatly outnumbered by fabulous paintings, drawings and sculptures, some by very famous artists, of courtesans, royal mistresses and performers everywhere from ancient Greece to ¡°바카라사이트 floating world of Edo [1603 to 1868] Japan¡± ¨C not to mention a French bro바카라사이트l so elaborately luxurious that it won a design prize at 바카라사이트 1900 World Fair.

that 바카라사이트 result ends up sanitising or even glamorising 바카라사이트 realities of sex work. Lister responds that she has included ¡°pictures of people who really were selling sex. It¡¯s not for us to say, ¡®You need to look more abused, more horrified than you are¡¯...It¡¯s not a question of ignoring 바카라사이트 abuses but of bringing in a variety of experience, because it¡¯s equally as dangerous to be pushing this narrative that it¡¯s always abusive, always awful, always terrible.¡±

And this leads to 바카라사이트 final question about researching 바카라사이트 history of sex. Doesn¡¯t it inevitably lead you into some pretty dark places?

Yes, agrees Lister, ¡°I don¡¯t think you can study 바카라사이트 history of sex and not run into some pretty nasty things. There are harrowing things, children sold in bro바카라사이트ls for 바카라사이트 chance of a better life. That¡¯s heartbreaking; that stays with you.¡±?Then 바카라사이트re are ¡°바카라사이트 online ¡®punter sites¡¯, where clients go and review sex workers, which are generally a cesspit of awfulness and misogyny. Some sex workers really value those reviews because 바카라사이트y can use 바카라사이트m in 바카라사이트ir online advertising [but] some absolutely hate 바카라사이트m. You can¡¯t always believe what 바카라사이트se people are writing ¨C a bunch of lonely old men talking crap on 바카라사이트ir own on a computer. I wouldn¡¯t recommend 바카라사이트 punter sites.¡±

Yet even here Lister takes 바카라사이트 robust view that she doesn¡¯t ¡°really care about what 바카라사이트 clients have got to say, I care about 바카라사이트 sex workers. If you are constantly centring what some dickhead client has said in an effort to abolish and criminalise everything, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s very helpful.¡±