ABSTRACT
This chapter examines female prostitution; the primary objective being to facilitate an understanding of the particular situation of women involved in the profession. For the interviews with the prostitutes, because the subject was highly complex and sensitive, it was felt that the greater flexibility of the unstructured interview would be better suited for getting to the heart of the matter. For the interviews with the police, a semi-structured interview schedule was devised. The police world is undoubtedly one of 'old fashioned machismo'. The masculinity of the police culture – the 'beer, sport and women' mentality – can come as a considerable culture shock for female researchers. Contacting prostitutes was extremely problematic. Developing rapport with strangers is always problematic but when the group involved is classed as 'deviant' they not surprisingly may be unusually distrustful. It could be argued that the question of neutrality and the issue of safety are connected – the one impinges on the other.
