ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to explore the challenges and constraints that arise when taking an emancipatory approach to conducting ethnographic research. Emancipatory, liberatory or critical approaches to research are not merely concerned with increasing knowledge about specific issues. Rather, at their core is an unequivocal desire to challenge the taken for granted social injustices faced by marginalized groups within society (Kincheloe and McLaren 2008). I will draw on my experiences of conducting my doctoral research, which included participants recruited from a self-help group for men who are in relationships with women, but who are sexually attracted to other men (‘gay married men’). The irony is that an unintended consequence of the improving social and legal climate for gay men, since the decriminalization of ‘homosexuality’ in 1967 in England, will be the increased need for such groups to support those who entered into seemingly heterosexual relationships and are now beginning to question this decision. These are not your ‘typical’ gay men – ‘out and proud’, exuding confidence at the local gym or while walking arm in arm with their lovers through city centre gay spaces. They do not fit the gay stereotype of the middle-class, affluent, hedonistic, young, single male, ‘up’ for a good time and anything he can get. This population quietly goes about their business, trying their best to go unnoticed, invisible in every respect. Many come from a generation exposed to derogatory images and symbolism of what it was to be gay, having been brought up at a time when homosexuality was viewed as morally questionable, deeply perverted and routinely punished. They have never demanded equal rights, joined a ‘Pride’ march or challenged injustice for fear of drawing attention to themselves. It has been easier simply to avoid addressing the issue of sexual orientation in the hope that it might go away. However, the late modern social climate that exists in the UK has meant that, to some degree, being gay is much less of an issue. Gay men are now much more visible and vocal in all walks of life. It is under these improving
social conditions that a generation of older gay man has started to explore their sexuality anew.
