“Living in the brothel”: Participant observation in hidden contexts

ABSTRACT

This article describes the difficulties of the research and application of participant observation in hidden contexts and in behaviours that are considered taboo or intimate in western societies. Ethnographic work in four brothels of female prostitution was carried out in four Spanish cities, in which the author lived with the women and employees of the brothels. Aspects that arise during the ethnographic work are reflected upon: selection of and access to the spaces of interaction, the roles to be carried out by the researcher, the limits of the participation, the legal and ethical codes, acceptance by the informants and the learning of hidden meanings. Managing to pierce hidden contexts and meanings is only possible through participant observation with very close relationships of trust with the subjects under study, which is only attainable through daily coexistence.

KEYWORDS:

• Participant observation
• Trafficking
• Ethnography
• Sex work

Acknowledgments

I want to thank the reviewers of this Journal who read the initial manuscript and gave me suggestions that allowed me to improve the article. I also want to thank my colleagues Nuria Romo y Santiago Urío for their useful indications and suggestions in the work done and in the article. I would like to thank the Program to Prevention VHI/STD of Regional Ministry of Health of the Community of Madrid for providing the female condoms to carry out the workshop with the women of the brothels. By last, Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain for financing the Research Project (Reference: CSO2014-55209-P).

Conflicting interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes

¹ The change occurs every 28 days because it coincides with the menstrual cycle, the women resting when they have their period.

² The first time in a research context that I said I was an anthropologist, to a heroin user, he asked me if I was someone who looked after feet, confusing me with a podiatrist.

³ “Totóloga” refers to an expert in female genitalia, not being a derogatory term.

⁴ As well as the cost of the room, which was generally shared with another woman, and I had the use of a room for myself, was the cost of the sheets and towels, the drinks in the bar with the clientele, and other commissions for shopping or services that were provided in the brothel.

⁵ On three occasions, three women invited me to come into the room when they were with their client, to talk with the two of them, once the sexual services had come to a conclusion.

⁶ The female condoms were obtained through the Community of Madrid Ministry of Health for the workshop that I designed.

⁷ In one of the brothels, one of the requests of a client was to go with a hen to have sex with it, with the help of a prostitute.

⁸ In Spain, prostitution is neither prohibited nor regulated. It is extralegal.

Additional information

Funding

This Project is part of the National RDI Project, “VISIBILITY FOR THE VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING: acting against the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation”, subsidized by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain, Reference: CSO2014-55209-P. This research project was approved by the Ethical Committee of the Comillas University de Madrid on 15th September 2014.