The Body/Sex/Work Nexus: A Critical Perspective on Body Work and Sex Work

Cohen, Rachel Lara; Hardy, Kate; Sanders, Teela; Wolkowitz, Carol

doi:10.1007/978-1-137-02191-5_1

Cited by 10 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…The body itself is imbued with social meaning and different bodies are differently situated in relation to power and value. As such, interactions with these bodies require workers to negotiate and manage complex emotions, both their own and the emotions of those on whose bodies they are working (Cohen et al, 2013). The proximity of the bodies and the necessity of physical contact in bodywork create anxiety over intimacy and sexuality (Twigg, 2000).…”

Section: Sex and Care Work As Intimate Labour And Bodyworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The proximity of the bodies and the necessity of physical contact in bodywork create anxiety over intimacy and sexuality (Twigg, 2000). Thus, even when bodywork does not directly involve sexual or erotic acts, there is constant negotiation and renegotiation of sexualization/de-sexualization that both the workers and the clients are involved in (Cohen et al, 2013). As Twigg (2000) argues, caregivers may use gloves or other forms of physical barriers in their work to counteract the intimacy of touch, but it can be experienced as dehumanizing by those receiving care.…”

Section: Sex and Care Work As Intimate Labour And Bodyworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the same time, there may be an incentive to foster intimacy in bodywork. In the service industry, workers are frequently dependent on repeat customers for their livelihood, and this acts as an inducement for building closer, more intimate relationships with clients (Cohen et al, 2013).…”

Section: Sex and Care Work As Intimate Labour And Bodyworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Ageing/body/sex/work – Migrant women’s narratives of intimacy and ageing in commercial sex and elder care work

Näre

Diatlova²

2020

Sexualities

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This article analyses how sex and elder-care workers negotiate intimacy and ageing in their work. We find surprising similarities between sex and care work that derive from the ways in which Eastern European migrant women are sexualised in the sites of our studies: Italy and Finland. The bodywork and intimate labour conducted by the women is defined in part by the social status of their work in society, in part by the ageing bodies upon whom the work is done, and in part by the ways in which the bodies of the workers are gendered, sexualised and racialised. The article draws on interview and participant observation data collected during two ethnographic research projects with female migrants from post-socialist countries working as eldercare workers in Italy and in sex workers in Finland.

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Section: Sex and Care Work As Intimate Labour And Bodyworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sex and Care Work As Intimate Labour And Bodyworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Ageing/body/sex/work – Migrant women’s narratives of intimacy and ageing in commercial sex and elder care work

Näre

Diatlova²

2020

Sexualities

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Second, skills may be tacit because their use or naming lacks social authorisation, for example, in sex, medical and other body work (Lawler, ; Twigg et al, ; Cohen et al, ). Or their use may lack managerial authorisation: Kusterer (1977) identifies the covert ‘working knowledge’ required to keep a manufacturing process going, through deft manipulation of tolerance limits in machines, quality standards and working relationships.…”

Section: Bringing Tacit Skills To Light: the Social (Re)construction mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Examples include accounts of care work and school assistants' work (Bolton, ; Junor et al, 2009; Warhurst, 2009), an extensive literature on call‐centre work (Belt et al, ; Hampson et al, ; Russell, ), analyses of skill in creative work (e.g. Grugulis and Stoynova, 2009) and studies of various types of body work in the health, beauty, fitness and sex industries (Cohen et al, ; Twigg et al, ; Wolkowitz, ).…”

Section: Degrading or Reclaiming Skill? – Lpt And Feminist Theoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stages of the Social Construction of Skill: Revisiting Debates over Service Skill Recognition

Hampson

Junor

2015

Sociology Compass

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This article reprises debates over ‘the social construction of skill’ (SCS), in the context of the rise of a service economy, and a diminished capacity for collective worker protection of job quality. After exploring the changed conceptual terrain in which the concept of SCS is deployed, it puts the case for recognising under‐documented skills in service jobs. It argues that real (because based on learning) but hitherto uncodified skills are beginning to be mapped in a corpus of interpretative research. A fieldwork‐based conceptual framework is offered for more fully codifying these skills. Such codification may give employers a handle for increased behavioural control, but may also help workers gain recognition and reward for real skills. We identify ‘stages of social construction’: first, skills' ‘detection’ and naming in job‐analysis interviews and second, skills recognition in qualifications and job/person descriptions. Increased remuneration and/or work reorganisation through political–institutional processes, driven by the agency of unions and professional organisations, HR departments or even management itself, may follow. The politics of the concepts' development (or not) in academic and policy communities – another facet of the SCS – we eschew here.

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Sexuality and organizational analysis—30 years on: Editorial introduction

2014

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Sexuality is nothing if not complicated-but that is no excuse for ignoring it. (Burrell, 1984: 113) Gibson Burrell's 'Sex and organizational analysis', published in Organization Studies in 1984, represented an extremely important contribution to the development of critical management and organization studies. It was based on the application of insights from various disciplinary fields such as sociology, philosophy and social history to the study of sexuality in work organizations. Thirty years on, while sexuality remains a relatively marginal topic in mainstream organization studies, a substantial body of ideas has emerged in more critical quarters representing a flourishing dialogue that, in the spirit of Burrell's earlier contribution, has stretched across disciplinary boundaries. In recent years, this sub-field has been inspired and influenced particularly by the impact of feminist theory and post-structuralism, as well as insights from queer theory and post-colonialism.Alongside these important theoretical developments, lived experiences of sexuality within organizations have changed considerably during the last three decades. As consumers and workers our lives are shaped by the ubiquity of organizations and by the centrality of sexuality to our lives; 'we live, in short, in a sexualized world ' (Hawkes, 2002: 1). With the economies of most contemporary market societies being supported by thriving sex industries and sexualized modes of commercial exchange, sexuality has arguably never been so controlled, commodified and commercialized. An ever-expanding range of goods and services are provided and consumed

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The Body/Sex/Work Nexus: A Critical Perspective on Body Work and Sex Work

Cited by 10 publications

References 63 publications

Ageing/body/sex/work – Migrant women’s narratives of intimacy and ageing in commercial sex and elder care work

Ageing/body/sex/work – Migrant women’s narratives of intimacy and ageing in commercial sex and elder care work

Stages of the Social Construction of Skill: Revisiting Debates over Service Skill Recognition

Sexuality and organizational analysis—30 years on: Editorial introduction

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