Involving young people and adults with life-limiting conditions in research on sex: the intersections of taboo and vulnerability

Earle, Sarah and Blackburn, Maddie (2021). Involving young people and adults with life-limiting conditions in research on sex: the intersections of taboo and vulnerability. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 24(5) pp. 545–551.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2020.1857968

Abstract

There is an increasing body of literature that seeks to explore what is ‘sensitive’ about ‘sensitive’ research but there is, arguably, an even larger canon of literature that refers more commonsensically to ‘sensitive’ research without seeking to problematise it.

In order to problematise and interrogate this concept, this paper draws on four related projects exploring sex, intimacy and relationships for people, over 16 years, who have life-limiting or life-threatening conditions (LLTCs). In particular, we focus on how, when and why these projects were regarded as ‘sensitive’ and consider who defined them as such. Drawing on the notion of methodological performativity, whereby methods are seen to ‘bring into being what they also discover’, we examine aspects of the process of doing ‘sensitive’ research, exploring how research methods and techniques are employed because the research has already been defined (by others and by us) as ‘sensitive’ while simultaneously serving to (re)construct and (re)enforce the ‘sensitive’ nature of it.

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