EMOTION WORK AS A PARTICIPANT RESOURCE - A FEMINIST ANALYSIS OF YOUNGWOMENS TALK-IN-INTERACTION

This paper explores and develops the concept of 'emotion work' as used by young women talking about sexual negotiation. It suggests that 'em otion work' should be viewed not simply as an analyst resource of use to social scientists, but also as a participant resource used by ordin ary social members. Existing research on emotion work generally treats self-report data as offering a 'transparent' window through which the behaviour 'behind the talk' can be (more or less adequately) assessed . This paper proposes instead that self-report data should be consider ed as talk-in-interaction. Using data from our own research on young w omen's experiences of refusing sex, we show how young women's talk abo ut (what analysts call) 'emotion work' can be analysed as a participan t resource through which young women construct consensual versions of men as emotional weaklings, and portray themselves as active agents wh o are knowledgeable about heterosexual relationships. The implications of this analytic shift are explored in relation to feminist approache s to sexual coercion, and with reference to qualitative data analysis more generally.