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

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: 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)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Smuts, Letitia

Further information

• DOI: 10.17169/fqs-25.2.4163
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2406041422464.354029677736
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 14.08.2025, 10:57 AM CEST