With the research done in EPP, I am continuing on the same pathway and I have expanded into trying to create a safe space for people who’ve experienced kink-shaming, and this branches into understanding the community, and what their idea of a safe space, but with technology, I aim for a physical-digital hybrid. For this I decided to take a leap of faith and check out any events where I can interact with members, and understand what their safespace is, and since I am also into the lifestyle, maybe not as active as someone would expect me to be, but I’s still identify my sexual behaviour as kinky.
I went to a munch which is meant for people Under25 in North London. Prior to going I put up a post on the group’s page that I am open to talking to people about this and no one really approached me though about it, but they weren’t too surprised either. I was much more comfortable in this compared to the previous one and there was a mix of people from the queer community too, and I had anticipated the intersectionality so I was not surprised, but I did see a representation of South Asian and Asian too, and disabled people which warmed me to see people being open and welcoming, which made me understand that these people felt safe here, and I interacted with people and asked them what they do in their daily lives, and when I mentioned my research they seemed surprised, but one of them also told me that the owner of the restaurant is also in the scene and hence most of the nice/decent/safe munches are held here, since she’s forthcoming and understanding about this stuff, and I thought to myself I should talk to her the next time I go there, since it’s a monthly thing, but they had mentioned that the owner and the staff know what is happening and how to handle the situation and that some of them are in the scene themselves, which makes it a safe space for the people to interact, and this one person I talked to, when I asked for feedback said they didn’t know what it would look like, so he wouldn’t comment on it, but overall I’d say I’m going to look and find similar events and other places like clubs to talk to people, but I feel like I haven’t narrowed my target age group which would be helpful and more targeted.
In terms of intervention, I am thinking of a sort of get together at a place where people can talk about their experiences. I am trying to find a group of participants and collaborate with a group of qualified professionals, until such a time where I have had suitable training to handle such complex and sensitive topics in a professional manner. In terms of receiving training, I have contacted an expert who uses conflict and self-love as a method of communication, and I’m hoping to learn if similar techniques can be applied to people who’ve experienced shame about their sexual preferences and desires.
I am also looking into in-depth methodologies in designing research as well as collection, analysis and evaluation of data to be able to better design my interventions and also have better basis for reflections.
I have weighed the pros and cons about having a set group of participants, because in terms of developing a safe space within marginalised and vulnerable communities, it is important to give space and time for the stakeholders to become more comfortable and trust the researcher themselves, and this trust and comfort can become an important factor in gathering better data, but I may be wrong? Definitely no harm in trying to work with a set group and gathering data.
The psychologist I had interviewed for my EPP project seems interested in collaborating, which should be interesting and something I am looking forward to, and hopefully we can come up with some interesting frameworks!