Embodied Oscillative Ethics: A Framework for Participatory Ethics in Body Mapping Research

Abstract

This article presents an innovative participatory approach to the ethical aspects of conducting body mapping research. Drawing from experiences from an earlier project with digital sex workers, we examine how body mapping, when integrated with what we term “embodied oscillative ethics,” creates opportunities for meaningful collaboration and knowledge co-creation while addressing complex ethical challenges. We demonstrate how this creative methodology enables participants to become active knowledge producers rather than passive research subjects. The approach recognizes participants as experts of their own experiences while acknowledging the situated vulnerabilities they navigate. Embodied oscillative ethics highlights how ethical considerations should transcend the research design and bridge into the data collection process in a participatory way. Our findings reveal how body mapping’s creative and embodied dimensions, and the approach we suggest to complement it, facilitate participant empowerment and transformative dialogue. While body mapping helps explore embodied dimensions of digital interaction, the embodied oscillative ethics framework additionally ensures ethical practice through continuous attention to participant agency and consent. We also reflect critically on the researchers’ own vulnerabilities and positionalities when conducting sensitive research. This methodological innovation offers valuable insights for researchers studying topics that are difficult to approach, demonstrating how creative approaches can unveil alternative knowledge.

Introduction

Contemporary academic debates on research ethics increasingly focus on the lack of creative space for social science methodologies within rigid structures of ethics review board applications. Founded in biomedical procedures and positivist ideology, ethical review protocols do not allow for the flexibility and responsiveness that social science research inherently entails (Atkinson et al., 2024; Gabb, 2010) As a result, ethical procedures often become a checklist to be navigated, an obstacle to overcome, rather than a reflective and evolving practice of craftsmanship.

During a research project with digital sex workers about their strategies for creating intimacy, we encountered several ethical challenges. We questioned: How do we ethically engage with participants academically labeled as vulnerable? How can we avoid stepping into overly sensitive subjects, and how should we handle it if we do? How do we avoid saying the wrong thing, and more importantly, how do we even determine what is “wrong”? What happens if we do say something inappropriate? As our initial reflections deepened, it seemed like the potential ethical pitfalls were never-ending.

We quickly learnt that one of the most effective ways to navigate these risks was simply to ask the participants for help. Throughout the course of the project, and more rigorously in its aftermath, we distilled these findings into an ethical framework. Our approach is inspired and guided by multiple scholars’ work detangling ethics as a craft, departing from longstanding ideas such as consent as an ongoing process (e.g. Wax, 1980) and feminist ethics of care (e.g. Gilligan, 1993). We also build on more recent contributions such as Atkinson, Cataldi & Wästerfors’ (2024) notion of an “ethics of generosity,” and participatory action research (PAR) methodologies (e.g. Liebenberg et al., 2018; Mooney-Somers & Olsen, 2018).

The result is a three-part ethical approach situated in both verbal and non-verbal dimensions. First, an internal dialogue within oneself as a researcher, guided by reflective practices, intuition and emotional awareness. Second, an external dialogue with the participants that deeply dissects ethical dilemmas to develop collaborative solutions. Third, a rejection of one-time consent in favor of ongoing, negotiated consent viewed as a spectrum. The core of this framework utilizes embodied experiences, making it part of embodied research. To honor that relationship and highlight the embodied engagement, we propose an approach that we call “Embodied Oscillative Ethics.”

We modularize our concept: “Ethics” relates to conducting research in ways that are fair, consensual and safe. “Oscillative” refers to how ensuring fairness, consent and safety should involve ongoing reciprocation between the researcher and the participant regarding ethics, as well as active reciprocation between the researcher and the research design. The term highlights the repetitive nature of such inquiry throughout the entire interview situation. Lastly, “embodiment” indicates that the process of repetitive reciprocal ethical discussion should not be limited to verbal accounts but additionally utilize our embodied knowledge and experience. This approach aims to trigger transformative dialogues regarding how participants want to be researched, giving them greater agency in the research process. It contributes to framing ethics not as a hurdle to overcome, but as a living, responsive and co-created practice. Because this ethical approach grew from a project using the creative interview technique of body mapping with digital sex workers, it is also applied to such inquiry in this article for explanatory purposes.

Defined as a process of creating life-size self-representations through creative techniques (Gastaldo et al., 2012), body mapping offers a nuanced epistemological framework that challenges logocentric research paradigms. A body mapping interview is initiated by drawing an outline of the participant’s body and then guiding their decoration process with different prepared topics and themes (Collings et al., 2022; Gubrium et al., 2016; Solomon, 2002). Body mapping represents an innovative, integrative methodological technique that develops traditional interview approaches by more strongly incorporating embodied perspectives. Additionally, it provides an avenue to counter the inherent power imbalances that shape interview situations, and thus creating a more ethical interview situation for the participants as it creates space for extensive creative agency and control over their own representation.

In this article we discuss our methodological, ethical and emotional experiences from a previous project which included six participants, all of whom were woman, including one transwoman. They were recruited through the use of purposive sampling (Morse, 2007), where the common attribute was the experience of practicing digital sex work after responding to different announcements on social media platforms. The participants had been active in digital sex work for different lengths of time, ranging from 1 to 5 years, and all but one was still active at the time of the interview. Online, the size of their followings ranged from what was described as “small” to one of the top creators in Sweden (where the study was conducted). Having different ethical evaluations of sex work, the participants shared contrasting experiences which aided the depth of the project. All interviews and conversations were conducted in Swedish by the first author and then translated into English.

The landscape of sex work has undergone profound transformations through technological innovation, particularly with the emergence of digital erotic platforms. The virtual sphere has fundamentally reorganized sex works spatial, temporal, and interactive dimensions (Campbell et al., 2019; Constable, 2009; Jones, 2015). Digital sex workers now navigate complex intersections between physical and virtual experiences, creating interaction modalities that transcend conventional spatial and temporal constraints. Their labor encompasses both embodied performances, relationship building, and intricate verbal articulations of corporeal experiences. Drawing from these dynamic configurations, this article proposes body mapping as an innovative methodological approach. This creative interview technique offers a mechanism for capturing the layered, embodied experiences of digital sex workers, resulting in richer, more nuanced scholarly insights into contemporary sexual labor practices. Importantly, it allows for an investigation of the experiences of digital sex workers in ways that are both empowering and insightful.

This article focuses on the methodological and ethical insights gained from the research project. While the findings and conclusions of the initial research project are beyond the scope of this paper, we interrogate two specific research questions: How can body mapping contribute to studying the experience of digital (sex) workers? And how can this method be utilized to develop more ethical research practices when studying complex and sensitive topics such as digital sex work? We advocate for the integration of embodied perspectives in studies of digital interaction. The article unfolds in three key stages: initially establishing a shared contextual foundation in embodied research; continuing with an exploration of body mapping and its methodological possibilities when applied to digital sex work research; and finally, drawing upon our own research experiences to creatively explore the ethical dimensions of this work. Drawing on Csordas (2002), we contend that embodiment should not be confined to theoretical analysis alone but can serve as a productive methodological and ethical tool in qualitative inquiry.

This article contributes, firstly, to addressing how digital interactions contain embodied aspects, specifically through the use of body mapping with digital sex workers. This inquiry explores how bodily presence, emotions and gestures persist in online spaces. Digital interactions are not solely cognitive but are deeply shaped by sensory experiences, physical engagement and social norms. Subsequently, doing research about a group often described as vulnerable, namely digital sex workers, we encountered ethical dilemmas regarding how to make our research comply with their expectations and preferences, and avoid its execution in a disempowering manner. Our second significant contribution in this article is the previously mentioned ethical framework, embodied oscillitaive ethics, that stems from our experiences and learnings doing that project.

Embodied Research

This research is situated in the field of embodied research. Recognizing the influence of the body in social interactions, Spatz (2017) conceptualizes embodied research through the question: “What can bodies do?” By separating the term into its two components, Spatz offers a nuanced perspective. Research relates to an ongoing search, with the prefix re- emphasizing non-staticity and evolving denotation. When complemented by embodiment it becomes the search for understanding the body’s role in social situations.

The relationship between online and offline spheres has traditionally been conceptualized as dichotomous (Papacharissi, 2005), with a unidirectional dependency where online social interactions are viewed as subordinate to and dependent upon offline interactions (Antheunis et al., 2012; Eklund, 2015). This hierarchical framework problematically diminishes the significance of online experiences. Jones (2016) argues that failing to recognize the online sphere as a legitimate reality effectively invalidates the lived experiences of individuals who operate in digital spaces. While her argument is specifically concerning sex work, we suggest that this can be applied to a much wider scale. This article is written as a response regarding overcoming this dichotomous trajectory and exploring the virtual lived experiences as embodied, sensorial and emotional happenings.

As learnt from our research with digital sex workers, a fundamental premise emerges: online social interactions constitute genuine lived experiences, regardless of their internet-mediated nature. These experiences are inherently embodied, as all lived experiences occur with and through the body (Ignatow, 2007; Natvik et al., 2021; Strathern & Stewart, 2011; Turner, 2008). Rather than positioning the body as merely a vessel for cognition, we recognize the intricate interplay between mind and body in shaping human experience. Following Boelstorff’s (2008) argument, we contend that bodily experiences cannot be dismissed even when studying virtual interactions. Sex workers provide particularly valuable insights into this dynamic. As their work inherently encompasses strong embodied elements in digital communications, they consistently convey and negotiate bodily sensations virtually. Therefore, maintaining a rigid separation between online and offline realms risks overlooking important intersections. Body mapping provides a nuanced framework for exploring these complex, embodied experiences, recognizing the diverse phenomenological realities underlying digital and virtual social happenings.

Challenging conventional social research methodologies, body mapping provocatively interrogates the presumption that linguistic articulation represents the sole or most privileged mode of knowledge production (Gauntlett & Holzwarth, 2006). In doing so, it also acts as a rejection of psycho-physical polarity. This dualism as argued by Strathern and Stewart (2011) stems from Descartes and religious thought that viewed the body as irrational. Our rejection of such notice takes inspiration from French philosophers (Marcel, 1951; Sartre, 1957; Spiegelberg, 1960) who argued that the mind and body intertwine through experience. Various sociological traditions have since analyzed how the social shapes the body and vice versa (Adelman & Ruggi, 2015; Turner, 2008; Vannini, 2006). Inspired by body mapping we also apply this embodied perspective to ethics, viewing body and mind as interconnected, because as Thanem and Knights (2019, p.7) note “we cannot exist and act without our bodies, and we cannot imagine how we might do research without them.”

By embracing multimodal epistemologies, this approach recognizes the body as a knowledge repository, a perspective particularly salient when exploring digitally mediated experiences. In the context of digital sex work research, body mapping becomes a sophisticated methodological intervention. As such, this article has two main contributions: First, an in-depth description of how body mapping can be used for digital research inquiries; second, an exploration of how to bridge ethics not solely from the writing desk to the field, but also from the field to the participants, fostering direct ethical engagement between researcher and participants.

Participatory research is not rigid; rather, the methods of such inquiry exist on a spectrum. Our suggested approach is a participatory way of research ethics. The framework, Embodied Oscillative Ethics, involves open conversations, back-and-forth communication and the researchers’ flexibility to adapt approaches according to how the participants wish to be researched. The significance of this approach lies in its capacity to detect, or even intuitively sense, ethical dilemmas that emerge in the liminal, ambiguous spaces of research, allowing for a more responsive practice that respects the boundaries of all involved.

Body Mapping With Digital Sex Workers

The term “sex work” encompasses a complex, multifaceted landscape of erotic labor that rejects reductionist definitions. Harcourt and Donovan (2005) argue that a critical distinction emerges between direct sex work, involving genital contact, and indirect sex work, which relates to sexual activity without direct physical interaction. Intersectionality fundamentally shapes sex workers’ experiences, with structural privileges related to race, body type, gender presentation, and aesthetic normativity profoundly impacting workers’ vulnerability, stigmatization, and occupational risks (Fuentes, 2023; Oliveira, 2018; Steward, 2022). Our previous research was specifically focused on digital sex workers within the indirect sex industry, individuals providing sexual content exclusively through online platforms. This demarcation is crucial: while sex work functions as an umbrella term, we unequivocally acknowledge the significant variations in harm, stigma, and socioeconomic implications across different modalities of sexual labor.

Given sex work’s inherently embodied nature, appropriate research methods must engage with this bodily dimension. Body mapping addresses this necessity, enabling researchers and participants to explore the body’s presence and significance, yielding nuanced insights into digital sex work (Erickson, 2014). Body mapping offers dual advantages for digital sex work research. On the one hand, it creates space for examining embodied experiences, of both sexual and non-sexual nature. On the other hand, its participatory orientation makes it particularly appropriate for vulnerable populations by enhancing agency and control over representation.

Body mapping is a qualitative research technique facilitating participant-driven narrative construction through visual representation. Participants create contextualized self-portraits by drawing life-size bodily outlines, which they subsequently decorate using various materials including colors, symbols, craft-material and text (Collings et al., 2022; Gubrium et al., 2016; Solomon, 2002). This participant-centered methodology thus requires researchers to provide comprehensive materials to facilitate creative expression. While traditionally implemented in group settings across multiple sessions (De Jager, Tewson & Ludlow, 2016), contemporary adaptations demonstrate methodological flexibility, including condensed formats and virtual implementations (Fields et al., 2021; Yingwana, 2022).

Body mapping’s genealogy spans multiple disciplines, with its clinical usage dating back sixty years (Gastaldo et al., 2012). In 1980s medical anthropology, early approaches explored women’s reproductive knowledge (Cornwall, 1992; MacCormack, 1985; Zaman & Mustaque, 1998). The contemporary version of body mapping, with expanded creative expression and stronger focus on enhancing the therapeutic group dynamics, emerged in South Africa during the 2000s through HIV/AIDS research (Devine, 2008; Gastaldo et al., 2012; MacGregor, 2009; Solomon, 2002; Weinand, 2006). As a therapeutic and activist tool, body mapping became a means for political mobilization and destigmatization (De Jager, Tewson & Ludlow, 2016). Fundamentally, body mapping represents a radical intervention for marginalized populations enabling participants to reconstruct bodily narratives that challenge dominant stigmatizing discourses.

While body mapping sessions are typically guided by researchers who ask questions to facilitate participants’ creativity, we also strongly encourage a more conversational approach to this guidance. In our experiences, the body mapping interviews often began with the researcher asking previously prepared questions but then organically turned into a more on-going conversation. This created a more trustful and easy-going atmosphere between the researcher and the participant, allowing the topics to span over unforeseen themes, and gave fruitful results regarding the participant’s creative imagination. While sex work involves sexual activity, it also encompasses much broader dimensions including negotiation, boundary-setting, and space creation. The participatory nature of body mapping creates opportunities for uncovering unexpected experiences, emotions, and reflections.

During our body mapping sessions with digital sex workers, we discovered that sensory-focused prompts facilitated rich discussions about their embodied experiences in virtual spaces. By encouraging participants to engage with their senses while sharing their narratives, we were able to better understand how they physically and mentally situated themselves in their experiences. One illustrative case involved a woman whom we call Sarah. When asked “What do you see in the room when you’re preparing for a session?”, her response revealed multifaceted aspects of her pre-work routine. Sarah initially questioned the importance of drawing from the prompt but then went on to describe studying her reflection while applying makeup, examining her space for potential aesthetic improvements, and testing how different colored lighting appeared through her phone camera. However, the post-session discussion revealed an additional layer of meaning behind these preparations. Beyond the practical aspects of setting up her workspace, Sarah’s routine served as a psychological ritual that helped her achieve the mental and physical comfort necessary before creating sexual content. This insight demonstrates how seemingly mundane physical preparations can reveal deeper aspects of digital sex work that might be overlooked using conventional interview methods.

To validate and refine the interpretative accuracy of body maps, the body mapping sessions should be followed up with a post-session discussion. These conversations should focus on meanings and symbolic representations embedded within the body maps, highlighting the participants own articulations, intentions and understandings. This does not only deepen the researchers understanding of the participants lived experiences but also creates opportunities to address any misinterpretations allowing for moments of transformative dialogue.

The post-session discussions from our study revealed crucial insights into participants’ experiences. Operating within the indirect digital sex industry, the women could not just create explicit content but were rather required to cultivate a dedicated follower base with specific interest in individual performer given the prevalence of free pornographic material online. The post-session conversations consistently unveiled layers of meaning that were not immediately apparent in the visual maps alone. Various erotic tools appeared frequently in the body maps, including lighting equipment, lubricants, and simulated bodily fluids. During the post-session discussions, the participants explained how these tools served to enhance intimacy. The props were used to cultivate a trustworthy act of ‘genuine arousal’ and ‘orgasmic experiences’ in their sessions. This was not solely for erotic purposes, as we first thought, but to foster a sense of exclusivity for the customer by planned performances of “authenticity”. The women then described how intimacy was created when the costumers felt like they received authentic content. The symbolic representations on the body maps often serve as fruitful segways into deeper discussions of lived experiences.

A main benefit from the entirety of the body mapping process is that its participatory nature serves a crucial methodological function by rebalancing research power dynamics and enhancing participant agency (Aroussi et al., 2023; De Jager et al., 2016; Huss et al., 2015; Parsons & Boydell, 2012; Skop, 2016). The participant empowerment connected to body mapping became evident during our previous research. One participant, Nadia, specifically noted how empowering it felt to have control over her narrative through artistic expression. As she worked on her body map, she engaged enthusiastically in conversation about her artwork. Notably, there were several instances where she would share a story verbally, then deliberately choose not to include it in her painting, creating a clear boundary between her present self and past experiences. This behavior illuminates two significant aspects of body mapping methodology. First, the deliberate omissions from body maps constitute meaningful data in themselves. Second, the physical process of creating artwork enabled the participant to establish clear boundaries about her preferred representation while still contributing rich data to the research, resulting in a transformative way for the participant to communicate boundaries regarding representation in the final product.

Body mapping is a holistic framework for integrating cognitive, physical, and contextual dimensions. As Collings et al. (2022, p. 880) describe, the body serves as a crucial “tool for meaning-making.” This was exemplified when one participant, Alice, mapped her varying client relationships. Alice chose to represent her customers with a specific symbol, which she drew twice, once near her body and once at a distance. She explained how the distance reflected different levels of intimacy with clients, which in turn influenced the types of content they could request. In contrast to relying solely on verbal communication, we as the researchers could understand her embodied experience of this separation as an actual physical sensation of closeness that acts to enable or restrict her from producing different types of content.

Throughout our research, body mapping proved to be more than just a methodological tool; it became a means for digital sex workers to claim agency over their narratives about their embodied experiences in virtual spaces. The technique’s adaptability enabled participants to articulate complex relationships between physical embodiment and digital performance, revealing how virtual sex work, despite its online nature, remains deeply rooted in bodily experience.

Addressing Methodological Challenges

Gievn body mapping’s creative dimensions, participants may experience anxiety or hesitation about drawing (Aroussi et al., 2023; De Jager, Tewson & Ludlow, 2016; Fields, 2021; McCorquodale & DeLuca, 2020). After observing participant anxiety in our initial session, we refined our approach by sharing diverse examples from other research projects, ranging from simple figures to abstract shapes (these examples came from De jager et al., 2016; Luckett & Bagelman, 2023; Sweet & Ortiz Escalante, 2015). This proved effective. In one example, it helped Sofia feel comfortable representing her experiences through different types of leaves as emotional metaphors. For Sofia, the visual effect of the symbolic representation was secondary to establishing mutual understanding about how her experiences related to her body. By clarifying the technique’s creative variety and flexibility, researchers can cultivate a supportive research environment. We recommend discussing this with the participants, emphasizing that body mapping prioritizes creative expression and personal meaning-making over artistic proficiency or technical skill. The reluctance towards creative activity presents potential selection bias toward those comfortable with artistic expression (De Jager, Tewson & Ludlow, 2016). Our research offered flexibility by allowing participants to choose between traditional interviews and body mapping, effectively reducing participation barriers.

When potential reluctance towards artistic creation is overcome, another ethical implication becomes evident, namely anonymity. Participants may incorporate identifying elements into their artwork, raising important questions about confidentiality in the final research output. Researchers must navigate the balancing act between maintaining participant anonymity and preserving the participants creative agency through, again, detailed pre-session discussions about how the artwork will be used. Comprehensive participant preparation is therefore crucial and ethically imperative. This thorough preparation serves multiple critical functions. It facilitates informed consent, establishes clear participant expectations, mitigates potential participant anxiety and emphasizes the method’s inherent creative flexibility. By prioritizing transparent, supportive participant introduction, researchers create a collaborative space that respects the participants agency, ultimately enhancing the depth and quality of the data collection.

Perhaps the challenge of most difficulty to overcome in body mapping research lies in the interpretation of the artistic output. Similar experiences can be manifested through vastly different visual representations. For instance, Monica, represented resilience through simple lines across her nose, describing it as being “thick-skinned” when discussing experiences of harassment and stalking. Nora, represented similar challenges through elaborate background artifacts representing uncomfortable roles she felt compelled to perform. Both Monica and Nora expressed similar emotional distress from their experiences but chose to manifest that distress differently in their body maps. Without thorough engagement and discussion both during and following the session, these nuanced interpretations could have been lost. To ensure accurate interpretation, researchers should employ multiple strategies, such as active engagement during the creative process through observation and dialogue, post-session discussions about the artwork’s meaning and significance and detailed memo-writing that captures participants’ own explanations and interpretations of their work (Collings et al., 2022).

Embodied Oscillative Ethics

The Embodied Oscillative Ethics framework builds upon and extends several existing theoretical approaches to research ethics. It incorporates elements of feminist ethics of care (Noddings, 2013), which emphasizes responsiveness and relationship, while also drawing on Guillemin and Gillam’s (2004) concept of ‘ethically important moments’ that require researcher reflexivity. However, our framework is distinguished by its explicit integration of embodied knowledge as an ethical compass and its emphasis on continuous ethical dialogue that transcends conventional procedural approaches. By centering the body as both subject and instrument of ethical practice, Embodied Oscillative Ethics offers a distinctive contribution to the evolving landscape of qualitative research ethics.

Our suggested framework integrates key themes already discussed throughout the analysis of body mapping with digital sex workers. It is grounded in an epistemological perspective that validates multiple forms of knowing, recognizing that knowledge creation extends beyond verbal communication. Drawing on embodied research, it acknowledges the body as an important instrument in social interaction and lived experiences. This framework recognizes that all communication, interaction, and experience occur with, through, and because of our bodies, not merely through verbal expression.

Embodied Oscillative Ethics transcends traditional prescriptive ethical guidelines, offering a dynamic and responsive approach to research ethics. Researchers employing this framework maintain consciousness and curiosity throughout the research process. The consciousness should focus on the participants’ boundaries and experiences while the curiosity enables researchers to monitor how these boundaries and experiences might shift throughout the research process. Together, these guiding principles facilitate ongoing situational assessment, reducing the risk of negligence that could harm participants.

The concept of ethical craftsmanship is central to Embodied Oscillative Ethics, extending beyond verbal communication to encompass the embodied experience of both researcher and participant. The approach prioritizes continuous situated adjustment, considering the needs of participants, researchers, and the final research product. This exploration is performed partly by one’s embodied awareness, allowing one’s intuition and presence to navigate the emotional realms in the situation. This multi-layered awareness was particularly valuable in body mapping sessions with digital sex workers, where participants explored personal experiences through artistic creation. The approach requires continuous practice and commitment to ethical improvement, rejecting the notion that ethical considerations is something to work on during the research design. Instead, ethics are integrated throughout the entire research journey, from conception through final presentation of findings.

Consent takes on expanded significance within Embodied Oscillative Ethics, transcending traditional binary conceptualizations. Rather than viewing consent as a one-time agreement to participate, it is understood as existing on a spectrum, requiring ongoing negotiation and assessment. The goal simply being to achieve as high a level of consent as possible. This view does not only situate consent as evolving, but also enables us to use consent to create a space for the participants to voice how they prefer to be researched. During the session, researchers must remain attentive to both verbal and non-verbal cues indicating discomfort, desire for adjustment, or withdrawal of consent (Sixtensson, 2021). The Embodied Oscillative Ethics approach became particularly valuable when conducting body mapping sessions with digital sex workers, as it created space for multiple forms of expression and consent. Participants may communicate their boundaries and needs through various channels verbal, artistic, and embodied. A multilayered attention helps prevent boundary violations that might occur through negligence or insufficient awareness. While verbal consent remains foundational to ethical research practice, Embodied Oscillative Ethics offers a way of practicing consent to detect and respond to subtle indicators of participant discomfort or boundary violations.

Through experience, our interviewing approach evolved to better facilitate participants’ shifting needs. The most notable example was when Hana, a participant critical towards digital sex work, initially showed enthusiasm, however, as the body mapping session went on, the researcher observed shifts in her posture, body language, facial expression, tone of voice and overall emotional state. This created a sense that something was amiss. Despite verbal assurances when directly asked, the persistence of Hana’s embodied distress led the researcher to suggest a break. During the pause, Hana acknowledged finding the topic difficult and during a discussion about possible adjustments requested a more conversational style rather than the prepared prompt-format. This experience illuminates how participants’ consent and preferences can shift during the research process, necessitating researchers’ ongoing attentiveness and flexibility. While achieving absolute ethical perfection in research remains an aspirational goal, Embodied Oscillative Ethics provide a robust foundation for ethical practice, particularly when conducting body mapping research.

Inner Dialogue and Embodied Ethics

The practice of Embodied Oscillative Ethics fundamentally relies on developing and utilizing embodied intuition, a form of ethical craftsmanship that evolves through experience. Researchers must maintain an ongoing internal dialogue, consistently explore questions such as “Does this interaction feel ethically sound?”, “How am I experiencing this process” and “How is this participant experiencing this process?” This self-reflection continues to the analysis and writing phases as well, where researchers must consider “Does this representation honor the participant’s experience?”

While “feeling ethically sound” may appear imprecise in academic contexts, this intentionally accessible terminology captures a fundamental aspect of ethical research practice. It describes a state characterized by the absence of shame and moral discomfort. Feeling ethically sound is when interactions feel transparent, respectful, and consensual. In formal terms, this relates to exploring and optimizing levels of consent from both researcher and participant, however, the emphasis on “feeling” deliberately highlights the embodied nature of ethical awareness.

This approach stems directly from our epistemological foundation, that all interactions are inherently embodied. Our bodies both influence and are influenced by every interaction we experience (Natvik et al., 2021). Therefore, the common neglect of embodied perspectives in social sciences is not merely a theoretical oversight but a methodological insufficiency. If our bodies are constantly present and actively engaged in the research processes, we should intentionally utilize this embodied awareness to enrich our ethical practice. As researchers, we cannot, and should not, attempt to separate our bodily presence from our research activities. As the example of the interaction with Hana described above demonstrates, using our embodied experience to sense ethical dynamics enables more nuanced and empathetic boundary awareness (Kennelly et al., 2024).

Dialogic Approach to Ethics

As now evident, a cornerstone of Embodied Oscillative Ethics is establishing early dialogues about ethics that go beyond standard institutional requirements. These preparatory conversations should be held individually with each participant to strengthen their agency and participation regarding ethics in practice. Beyond discussing traditional concerns such as anonymity and confidentiality, these conversations should address emotionally-centered risks and boundaries. The researcher and research participant should collaboratively develop protocols for managing participant discomfort during body mapping sessions while also creating clear procedures for addressing researcher actions that might cause unease. These preliminary discussions can also benefit from including methods for solving disagreements. Additionally, thoughtful planning for managing emotional distress that might arise serves to protect all involved parties.

An expanded ethical dialogue empowers participants by making the research process more collaborative and responsive to their needs. By applying and embodying this feedback, researchers can conduct more ethical studies that truly honor participants’ preferences and boundaries. Embodied Oscillative Ethics focuses on a participatory way of research ethics, where the participants are welcomed to take part and influence the ethical considerations. How these conversations take place in practice, however, must be adjusted to fit the research participants as well as be balanced against the researcher’s professional ethical responsibility. The aim of this approach is not to place the ethical responsibility upon the participant, but rather to invite them to take part in the ethical considerations if they desire to do so.

The case for participatory ethical practice has been substantiated by numerous studies across diverse research contexts (e.g Benson & O’Reilly, 2022; Ishkanian & Saavedra, 2019; von Unger, 2021). Kennelly et al. (2024, p. 500) offer a particularly illuminating example from their research on homelessness, where a participant directly challenged the researchers with the question: “How the fuck could something like this be useful to someone like me?” Rather than avoiding the discomfort from this confrontation, the researchers embraced the experience and transformed it into a catalyst for meaningful dialogue. This interaction positioned the participant in a space to articulate what would make the research valuable from their perspective, thereby enhancing their agency in the process. This example demonstrates how discomfort, when acknowledged and addressed rather than evaded, can facilitate profound ethical engagement and lead to productive conversations about heightening the level of consent from the participant.

In the specific context of body mapping research with digital sex workers, a topic that can be of great sensitivity, Embodied Oscillative Ethics requires heightened researcher awareness, presence, and intuition to ensure as positive experiences for all involved as possible. Building upon Suen’s (2015) recommendation to not strictly avoid sensitivity, this approach provides tools for respectfully and collaboratively exploring complex experiences while remaining attentive to participants’ boundaries, whether expressed verbally or non-verbally. The act of outlining and illustrating one’s body while reflecting on personal experiences can be emotionally intensive. While some degree of discomfort may facilitate valuable reflection and narrative sharing, researchers must remain vigilant about not crossing into harmful territory. While Embodied Oscillative Ethics does not guarantee perfect boundary maintenance, it provides tools for minimizing boundary violations through negligence.

The Concept of Vulnerability

A body mapping research project involving digital sex workers presents multiple ethical challenges, encompassing both the methodology itself and its application to this specific population. While academic and social contexts often categorize sex workers as marginalized or oppressed (Barwulor et al., 2021; Comte, 2014; Hammond & Kingston, 2014), this categorization has historically contributed to problematic research practices where sex workers’ narratives and perspectives have been dismissed or misinterpreted in academic discourse (Dewey & Zheng, 2013).

Harm reduction remains fundamental to research ethics, and vulnerable populations require particular attention to protect against exploitation. This protective stance, however, must be carefully balanced. Lange et al. (2013) emphasize how researchers’ primary ethical obligation is not to overemphasize participant vulnerability, as doing so can create its own form of harm. Vulnerability as a term is rather arbitrary, because, as van den Hoonard (2018) describes, not all individuals in a group that is labeled vulnerable, see themselves as such. Building on this perspective, Suen (2015, p. 731) presents a more pointed critique, arguing that an excessive focus on vulnerability when researching socially marginalized groups is both “ethically and academically unjust” as it undermines participants’ agency in sharing their own narratives and experiences.

This critique results in an important conclusion regarding vulnerability in research, merely acknowledging or labeling a group as ‘vulnerable’ does not constitute effective harm reduction. We discussed this principle with all study participants, typically initiating the conversation by explaining our approach to sex work, one that neither morally judges the practice nor ignores its ramifications, while rejecting narratives of inherent, non-consensual victimization. The significance of this approach was particularly evident when one participant, Jana, responded to our explanation with a frown and a pointed “duh,” clearly communicating her firm boundary against being viewed as a victim. Authentic harm reduction must move beyond implicit victimization to facilitate respectful engagement with and representation of participants’ narratives. While acknowledging vulnerabilities and minimizing exposure to harm remains crucial, both in broader social contexts and within specific research processes, harm reduction strategies prove most effective when they emerge organically. Rather than allowing vulnerability to become the defining characteristic of the research relationship, researchers should strive to create methodological frameworks that empower participants while maintaining appropriate safeguards.

The concept of Embodied Oscillative Ethics offers a promising framework for achieving this balance. It moves beyond traditional protective frameworks to engage with participants as active contributors to knowledge creation, both in regard to data collection and the research process in itself, while still maintaining necessary ethical safeguards. We suggests that ethical research practice must evolve beyond simple protective measures and ‘ethical checklists’ to create space for meaningful participant engagement and empowerment within the research process. The Embodied Oscillative Ethics approach recognizes that ethical research practice involves not just protecting vulnerable populations, but also ensuring their voices and experiences are centered and authentically represented in the research process.

Participant Agency

Embodied Oscillative Ethics prioritizes participant influence within the research process. By embracing spectral consent and allowing for ongoing situated adjustments, this approach further transforms body mapping projects into collaborative endeavors. This collaborative framework provides participants with enhanced agency not only in how their experiences are shared and interpreted but also in how the research itself is conducted. Creating this space addresses ethics as participatory rather than a task for solely the researcher. For digital sex workers, who have historically faced misrepresentation in academic contexts (Dewey & Zheng, 2013), this increased control over both process and representation is particularly valuable. The combination of body mapping methodology with Embodied Oscillative Ethics principles creates space for participants to share their experiences on their own terms while maintaining appropriate boundaries and ethical safeguards. The emphasis on embodied awareness, ongoing dialogue, and collaborative process helps ensure that research serves not just academic purposes but also respects and validates participants’ lived experiences.

Our argument centers on expanding harm reduction to encompass embodied presence throughout all research stages with a specific focus on responsiveness. Rather than presumed by the researcher, we suggest that harm reduction strategies are most effective when co-constructed with participants. While demonstrating and utilizing our professional competence is crucial for researchers, seeking participant input and suggestions does not diminish that expertise. Rather, particularly when working with marginalized groups such as sex workers (Barwulor et al., 2021), this collaborative approach creates a space where participants can exercise meaningful agency within the research process. Embodied Oscillative Ethics align with and extend the participatory and activist legacy of body mapping methodology. The approach emphasizes participants’ agency not only in shaping research outcomes but also in determining how the research itself unfolds.

Researchers seeking to implement Embodied Oscillative Ethics should consider the following practical principles: (1) Establish pre-research dialogues about ethical boundaries that extend beyond institutional requirements; (2) Create regular ethical check-ins throughout the research process that invite participant feedback on methodology; (3) Understand consent as a spectra rather that two-parted; (4) Develop embodied awareness through reflective practices that attune researchers to non-verbal indicators of participant comfort/discomfort; (5) Document ethical decision points and bodily sensations experienced during research interactions. These principles are adaptable across methodological approaches but are particularly valuable in research involving creative or embodied methodologies with participants navigating complex social positions.

Conclusion

This article is the culmination of our ethical and methodological considerations from a previous project, resulting in the ethical framework “Embodied Oscilliative Ethics” and an examination of the intersection of body mapping methodology and digital sex work research through multiple lenses. Beginning with a theoretical framework that recognizes the embodied nature of digital experiences, and then continuing with an exploration of how body mapping can illuminate the complex relationships between physical and virtual spaces in digital sex work. Through detailed methodological discussion, we demonstrate how body mapping sessions, enhanced by sensory prompts and comprehensive post-session discussions, can reveal nuanced aspects of digital sex workers’ experiences that might remain hidden in traditional interviews. The article addresses significant methodological challenges, from participant anxiety about artistic expression to complex questions of anonymity and interpretation, offering practical strategies for overcoming these obstacles. Our experiences highlight the need for continues dialogue in body mapping research, experiences that culminate into a framework called “Embodied Oscillative Ethics” that prioritizes participant agency while maintaining necessary protections. To show the transformative potential of integrating participatory methodologies into research with populations who navigate complex power dynamics and structural challenges, multiple key moments from the previous research are shared. This framework urges researchers to embrace body mappings collaborative, empowering and activist legacy, and further bridge that to our ethical considerations as well.

The development of Embodied Oscillative Ethics emerged as a methodological necessity when conducting body mapping with digital sex workers. Conventional ethical approaches proved insufficient in three critical ways. First, due to an embodied knowledge gap, standard ethical protocols prioritize verbal consent and communication, yet body mapping inherently engages with non-verbal, embodied knowledge, resulting in, what we experienced as, a methodological mismatch. Based on our experiences, we felt that it was a necessity to incorporate embodied sensing as a valid form of ethical navigation. Second, the creative and flexible nature of body mapping created ethical situations that could not be anticipated or addressed through pre-determined ethical guidelines. As the participants engaged both with verbal and embodied narratives, new ethical considerations continuously emerged. To account for this, and cultivate the creative fluidity of the methodology, the ethical approach needed to be similarly grounded in flexibility, presence and collaboration. Third, because of agency limitations, traditional vulnerability-focused ethics risked undermining the very participant empowerment that body mapping methodology aims to facilitate. Thus, we suggest that Embodied Oscillative Ethics should be understood not solely as an optional enhancement to body mapping methodology, but rather, as an essential component that enables the method to fulfill its potential for both rigorous data collection and participant empowerment when researching sensitive topics.

Our findings reveal two key contributions to collaborative qualitative research and participant-centered methodology. First, body mapping emerges as a valuable methodological tool for investigating the embodied aspects of virtual interaction, facilitating knowledge co-creation with participants as experts on their own experiences. Although online sex work is inherently digital, our discussion aims to show how it remains fundamentally anchored in physical experience and bodily awareness. Nuances that were made visible through body mappings distinctive approach. Furthermore, the methodologies participatory approach enables participants to shape their own narratives and representation while generating rich insights that conventional research approaches might fail to capture.

Second, our introduction of “Embodied Oscillative Ethics” as an ethical framework provides a fruitful approach to ethical practice that recognizes participants as active knowledge producers rather than passive research subjects. This framework moves beyond conventional protective measures to create space for participant agency while maintaining necessary safeguards. The approach’s two building blocks are consciousness, regarding the participants’ boundaries, and curiosity, to remain sensitive to the fluid nature of those boundaries. The emphasis on continuous dialogue, both verbal and embodied, transforms research ethics from a static checklist to a dynamic, participatory process that acknowledges both participant and researcher vulnerabilities. The term ‘oscillative’ highlights a repetitive nature, continuous back-and-forth dialogue about ethical boundaries as well as oscillation between verbal articulation and embodied sensing. This multi-dimensional oscillation represents the practical, responsive ethical engagement that our research with digital sex workers demanded.

The success of this approach in facilitating meaningful collaboration with research participants suggests broader applications for research with populations navigating complex social and structural challenges. Rather than avoiding research with marginalized populations, Embodied Oscillative Ethics offers an approach to navigate vulnerability by enhancing participants’ agency in determining how they are studied. This is accomplished through ongoing, in-depth dialogue and the researcher’s use of embodied awareness as an ethical compass. Body mapping, when integrated with Embodied Oscillative Ethics, functions as a catalyst for transformative dialogue and participant empowerment through its recognition of multiple epistemological forms and commitment to an interactive, reciprocal approach to research ethics.

These methodological discussions carry significant implications for future participatory research. Body mapping in combination with Embodied Oscillative Ethics’ emphasis on participant expertise and embodied experience offers valuable insights for researchers committed to developing transformative and emancipatory research practices. Future research might explore adaptations of this methodology for other contexts where participants navigate different structural complexities. Additionally, researchers might investigate how this approach could be modified for group settings or virtual implementation, expanding its accessibility while maintaining its participatory and empowering nature.

While offering valuable methodological innovations, our approach carries inherent limitations. The reliance on researcher embodied awareness introduces potential subjectivity that may vary depending on personality, experience and perception. Additionally, the framework’s implementation requires substantial time investment in relationship-building, potentially limiting its applicability in research contexts where this is not possible or suitable. Furthermore, participants’ varying comfort with articulating embodied experiences may create uneven engagement with the methodology. Future research should explore approaches to systematizing embodied ethical awareness without diminishing its responsive nature, perhaps through collaborative researcher training protocols or structured reflexive documentation practices.

While Embodied Oscillative Ethics draw upon personal qualities, social skills, and intuition, which may appear ambiguous, we suggest that this possible limitation points to opportunities for methodological development. The approach would benefit from systematic investigation regarding effective engagement in emotional conversations, cultivation of embodied presence, and development of ethical craftsmanship. As the history of social science demonstrates, these seemingly intangible skills can be refined through structured knowledge exchange among researchers, fostering a shared understanding of how to develop and apply these skills. Through our critical reflection on Embodied Oscillative Ethics when conducting a body mapping project with digital sex workers, we hope to contribute to this ongoing process of knowledge exchange and methodological refinement.