‘I’m Gonna Speak for Me’ I-Poems and the Situated Knowledges of Sex Workers
Date
2022-03-13
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Ethics and Social Welfare
Abstract
In academic and political spaces, as well as in the dominant culture in the United States, sex workers are granted little authority, and their lived experiences are not privileged as a form of valuable knowledge. As feminist scholars, we seek to counter this pattern by highlighting the situated knowledges and agency of sex workers in the United States. To do so, we share the words of sex workers through I-poems. I-poems are a form of poetic inquiry and a method for qualitative research analysis. As a form of found poetry, these poems are constructed using only the words of the participants. Unlike prior scholars, we use focus groups that capture conversation about people involved in street-based sex work rather than individual interviews. By centering the participants’ own words, we hope to moderate our influence as researchers on the presentation of data.
Description
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Ethics and Social Welfare on 03/13/2022, available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/17496535.2022.2042039. This article will be embargoed until 03/13/2023.
Keywords
sex work, qualitative research, found poetry, feminist scholarship, abuse
Citation
Maggie Buckridge, Jules Lowman & Chrysanthi S. Leon (2022) ‘I’m Gonna Speak for Me’ I-Poems and the Situated Knowledges of Sex Workers, Ethics and Social Welfare, DOI: 10.1080/17496535.2022.2042039