Sex and sexuality research can be understood as a form of ‘dirty work’, as despite its public need, it continues to be marginalised and demeaned within the academy and beyond. Through association, sex and sexuality researchers come to be labelled ‘dirty workers’ and are vulnerable to experiencing a range of stigmatised responses and negative repercussions. This article contributes to knowledge about the challenges involved in doing dirty work, through reflexively examining my experiences as a doctoral researcher investigating pornography’s gendered influence. It explores the various institutional, professional and personal hurdles that I encountered during my dirty work journey and illustrates how these experiences may have been affected by my identity as a young, female researcher.

性和性研究可以理解为“肮脏工作”的一种形式，尽管它有公共需求，但在学院内外仍然被边缘化和贬低。通过联系，性研究人员和性研究人员被称为“肮脏的工人”，并且容易遭受一系列污名化的回应和负面影响。通过反思地考察我作为博士研究员调查色情内容的性别影响的经验，本文有助于人们了解从事肮脏工作所面临的挑战。它探讨了我在肮脏的工作旅途中遇到的各种机构，专业和个人障碍，并说明了这些经历可能会由于我作为年轻的女性研究员的身份而受到影响。