Infertile? The emotional labour of sensitive and feminist research methodologies

Abstract

A researcher’s emotional labour is inextricably linked to the methodological and ethical underpinnings of ‘doing’ sensitive and some feminist research. However, a key component of the emotional labour theory does not fit with the emotional labour enacted by some researchers. This article sets out to extend the theory of emotional labour in order to make it more applicable to sensitive and feminist methodologies, and in doing so, it reveals the importance of incorporating emotion in the refinement of theory. Drawing on 20 interviews with female in vitro fertilisation patients, and extracts from a systematically recorded reflexive diary of the researcher, this article contests a key aspect of Hochschild’s theory of emotional labour in its application to sensitive and feminist qualitative researchers. Instead of estrangement from the emotional self as a result of enacting emotional labour, this article suggests that the emotional and biological selves of the researcher can be foregrounded, sometimes unwillingly. The investment of emotional labour must be acknowledged by institutions, managers and methodologists, and further theorising is required to incorporate the critical presence of emotional labour in social science research.