ABSTRACT
Sex, Work and Professionalism examines what happens when professional concern is defined in terms of sex. Based on original fieldwork with outreach workers in HIV prevention it addresses issues of professionalism, emotion work and boundaries, integrating empirical insights with sociological theory.
In most professional relationships sex is not defined as part of the relationship, in fact it is explicitly excluded in guidelines and codes of ethics. HIV prevention outreach workers work in sexual environments with a sexually defined target group and are often employed on the basis of their sexuality. They have to learn how to balance their work and professional lives, overcoming conflicts such as:
* professional role V community role
* sexual skills V sexual boundaries
* personal experiences V professional understanding
* professional identity V worldviews.
Many of the questions being raised in this book about the meaning of professionalism, the pain and pleasure in emotion work and the management of boundaries between home, sex and work are being asked more generally by workers in a range of organisations. Sex, Work and Professionalism argues for a new understanding of professionalism more appropriate to the human services.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |53 pages
Orientations
chapter |13 pages
Reflexivity, identity and boundaries
chapter |21 pages
HIV prevention, gay communities and outreach work
part |46 pages
Why boundaries?
chapter |20 pages
Sex, sexuality and work
chapter |24 pages
The impact of work on personal life
part |70 pages
How boundaries are made