Posted by TJResearcher on December 12, 2000 at 21:40:09:
In Reply to: Research Project: Tijuana Sex Trade posted by TJResearcher on December 12, 2000 at 06:45:19:
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I've copied the onepage summary of my project as I defined it 9 months ago. I didn't even plan on focusing on the sex trade per se, until I spent some time in Tijuana and decided that it was a fantastically dangerous yet informative scheme on my part. Keep in mind this is an overly simplified version of a 30+page proposal. Also, bear in mind that I have added an important section to my analysis - just based on thoughts/reflections from reading this board (and RedSnake). At the moment, I'm concentrating on the avoidance or minimization of occupational and safety hazards in the sex trade. That is, what strategies do women (and other people in the zona) use to limit their exposure to STDs/HIV, sexual violence, assault, mugging, police brutality/unfair or selective law enforcement, etc. The longer version of my proposial includes these things as risks which I've been reading a lot of books written by sexworkers since I started reading this board a few months ago. I'm still going to be looking at barriers to risk reduction, but I want to emphasize "active" risk reduction (agents instead of victims). With respect to this being a dead issue about "AIDS" - I respectfully disagree. Perception and management of risk applies to all public health issues, and many social issues as well. Lastly, this is just as much about empowerment and social justice as it is about studying the human condition.... Here is the (now incomplete) summary: 1-a. the political economy of risk for HIV/AIDS as contextualized within a broad 1-c. the sexual and moral geography of the city and the appropriation and regulation of the urban environment as is relevant to women’s health; 1-d. special considerations for women at risk for HIV; 1-e. gender, sexuality, and socio-economic change; and Using a political economy of risk, I am able to contextualize sexual behavior with accordance to structural constraints; by attending to the gender, sexuality, violence, and institutional discrimination, I go beyond the assumption of individual sexual agency and control; and through a geo-spatial and community oriented approach, I am able to test an alternative model in examining population risk. I will employ the following methods to achieve my research objectives: 3 months of historical and archival data collection; 9 months of participant observation; 60 ethnographic interviews with a cross section of women in the downtown service industries (balanced for marital status, occupation, age range, and level of perceived moral status); 10 life history narratives (over-sampled from the previous group of women); mapping exercises; and a web-based field journal and photo essays to promote rabid collaborative feedback. TreePad (an organizational notepad software program), state of the art voice recognition software, and the NUD*IST software program will be used to compile and organize field notes, and perform data analysis. The utility of the above methodological techniques to address these issues will also be examined. My project contributes to the literature on the political economy of risk for HIV/AIDS, the use of qualitative methods to address public health issues, and the social construction and organization of space in an urban environment. My project will also generate possible structural interventions that would expand opportunities for risk-reduction, not only for HIV/AIDS, but also for a variety of pressing health concerns among women in Tijuana." |
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