Sex and the Fieldwork: Gender, Sexuality, Nationality, and Social Class in Research on European (Heterosexual) Men

The overall goal of this article is to make a contribution to the developing, but not yet sufficiently explored, issue of methodology in research on men and masculinities performed by female researchers. This article is based on my professional experience gained during a research project on the European fathers' rights movements. This was conducted between 2011 and 2016 with members of fathers' rights groups in Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The central issue here is the process of carrying out interviews with men by a female researcher and the variety of gender dynamics produced through this particular type of interaction. This process is connected to multiple issues arising from gender inequalities and power relations. This article provides an intersectional analysis of the relations between the researcher and the researched since social factors such as gender, sexuality, nationality, and social class have a tremendous impact on the interview process in different sociopolitical contexts in Europe.