ABSTRACT
Sex work research is often considered challenging because those involved are deemed hard-to-reach due to the legal confusion surrounding the purchase and sale of sex, the perceived dangerousness of participants, as well as societal stigma, marginalisation and exploitation associated with the industry. Researching women who pay for sex has further methodological barriers due to their potential stigmatisation and women’s desire for anonymity. Research on women sex tourists has focused on those who travel to locations such as Cuba, the Caribbean, Egypt, and Thailand to engage in sexual relations with local men, and women who engage in voyeurism in red light zones, strip shows and public sex displays. Despite the barriers associated with sex work research, researchers have gained access to men clients using a range of methods for access, recruitment and data collection. Sex worker interviews followed a similar structure for the interview, however the questions were framed differently to reflect their different position in the encounter.
