“Why Won’t You Let Me Hit On You?”: Sexual Harassment in Fieldwork as Data

Abstract

The aim of the article is to introduce and demonstrate a research strategy which incorporates experiences of sexual harassment in the field into analysis. Violence in the field, while discussed more frequently after #MeToo, is still often referred to in separate descriptions, usually articles with the function of breaking the taboo, cautioning and giving advice. In the article a different approach is proposed, namely, regarding difficult encounters in the field as data, providing important information about the field of research. Three situations of sexual harassment by male research participants are analyzed. First, as their strategies to gain control and power in interview situations. It is possible because gender hierarchies prevail in the research set up. Second, as indicators in a broader context: the organizational culture of an institution, of the interviewee’s life situation and strategies, and of the power dynamics of a couple.