Exploring the Pleasures and Perils of Participant Observation in Researching Heterosexual Identities

Abstract: In this paper, I investigate the benefits and potential risks associated with utilizing participant observation to gain a deeper understanding of sexual identity. Specifically, my focus is on examining how young, heterosexual, middle-class, cisgender individuals in South Africa perceive and understand their heterosexual identities, exploring how privilege and heteronormativity shape their experiences. In my ethnographic study, I employed various qualitative data collection methods, including participant observation, to analyze how normative practices were negotiated and sustained in contemporary South Africa. As a feminist researcher, I reflect on the epistemological and methodological choices I made in the study, with reflexivity and positionality playing crucial roles in data collection and analysis. Drawing on experiences in three distinct social spaces in Johannesburg—high-end nightclubs, Tupperware-style sex-toy parties, and traditional braais [barbecues]—I examine the advanta.... https://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/4163

Angaben zum Objekt

• Standort: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Umfang: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Exploring the Pleasures and Perils of Participant Observation in Researching Heterosexual Identities ; volume:25 ; number:2 ; year:2024 ; Forum qualitative Sozialforschung ; 25, Heft 2 (2024)

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Urheber: Smuts, Letitia

Weitere Informationen

• DOI: 10.17169/fqs-25.2.4163
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2406041422464.354029677736
• Rechteinformation: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 14.08.2025, 10:57 MESZ