JJ's Phd Study: Student Sex Workers
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Are you concerned about the rise in cost for higher education and how students are paying for these ever-rising tuition costs? Do you know college and graduate students struggling to pay off their school debt? Are you interested in supporting cutting-edge, feminist social research that is exploring how some female students are paying for their undergraduate and graduate degrees by working in an industry that is still one of the more lucrative industries for women?
If you have answered yes to these questions, then you may be interested in supporting my dissertation study exploring the experiences of women* who are working in the sex industry while pursuing undergraduate or graduate degrees at four year colleges or universities in the Philadelphia area. The aim of this study is to understand the employment choices that some female students are making, the risks and benefits for students working in the sex industry, and the impact that rising tuition costs and academic debt is having on women who choose to work in the sex industry while in school. This study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Bryn Mawr College (BMC). The BMC IRB has reviewed this study in order to ensure that the researcher treats the participants in an ethical manner.
My name is Jennifer C. Jones, and I am a doctoral candidate at Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research. I am in my last two years of my doctoral program; I anticipate graduating with my Ph.D. in Social Work and Social Research by the end of 2017. I earned my MSW from Smith College School for Social Work in 2000 and since then, I have been working as a psychotherapist who specializes in supporting people healing from traumatic experiences in Philadelphia, PA. I am trained in psychodynamic, feminist and Gestalt Therapy, and integrate a social justice perspective in my work. In addition to being a doctoral student, a psychotherapist, and clinical supervisor, I am also an economic human rights educator and activist, as well as a parent.
I have provided therapy for women who have worked as sex workers while earning undergraduate and graduate degrees, and I know that there is very little in the Clinical Social Work and College Counseling literature about how best to support women while they are working in the sex industry. In addition to this being an under-studied population in the social research and clinical literature, this study is important because female students who engage in sex work are at increased risk of becoming victims of violence, contracting sexually transmitted diseases and infections, having to deal with criminalization by the legal system, and experiencing the stigmatization associated with being a sex worker in the United States. It is my belief, that having an understanding of the experiences of female students who engage in sex work will not only draw attention to the social and emotional needs of this population, but also to the larger economic issues regarding the rising costs of higher education and the increased amount of educational debt that is burdening students in the United States today.
I am trying to raise $10,000.00 to cover the expenses of this very important research study (I have provided a complete list of research expenses associated with my study below). Your financial support will enable me to conduct qualitative interviews with 15 to 20 female students ranging in age from 18 to 28 who while attending a four-year college or university in the Philadelphia area are working as either a stripper, escort, dominatrix, or webcam performer in order to pay for their education. In addition, I will interview five key informants who work either as sex worker advocates or managers within the sex industry. Moreover, your financial support will allow me to provide study participants with a small amount of financial compensation for their time as well as reimbursement of any transportation costs they might incur while traveling to and from the 2-3 hour interview. In addition, your donation will help pay to have the anticipated 65 hours of digitally recorded interviews transcribed by a professional transcription service. These transcripts are vital to the data analysis process and completion of the dissertation.
Any financial donation you can make towards the funding of my dissertation study will be greatly appreciated. Whether you are able to make a contribution yourself or not, please distribute this request for financial support widely. By making a donation or passing this philanthropic opportunity onto others, you are helping to make this research study possible.
Thank you for your interest in my study and for your potential financial support. Your financial contribution today, will help to make my dream of completing this study, earning my Ph.D. and obtaining a tenure-track teaching position a reality tomorrow.
*In order to keep the sample somewhat homogenous, the sample for this proposed study will only include cisgender females (individuals who experience their gender as being congruent with the sex (female) that they were assigned at birth). I am aware that the experiences of student sex workers who identify as transgender and cisgender male are rarely documented in the literature, and need to be explored in future research. However, to include students other than cisgender females in the sample is beyond the scope of this study.
Fund the Following Research Expenses Totaling $10,000.00:
*Participant Compensation ($50 for student sex workers and $10 gift card for key informants, plus estimated $5 per respondent for transportation reimbursement): $1,100.00
*Professional Online Transcription Services (65 hours of digital recording @ $1/min.: $4,000.00
*Digital Recorder plus noise cancelling microphone: $104.00
*N-Vivo 11 Plus Qualitative Data Analysis Program for Windows (including online training and 24 months of technical support and program updates): $1,405.00
*Encrypted External Hard Drive: $200.00
*Encrypted Cloud Storage for 3 years (CertainSafe - $12.95/month for 5GB of data storage):
$466.20
*Office Supplies & Copying (pens, paper, printer ink, 2 clip boards): $450.00
*Researcher Travel Expense to Interviews (500 miles @ .55/mile): $275.00
*Miscellaneous and Unexpected Expenses: (i.e. travel to conferences, replacement of computer or printer): $2,000.00
TOTAL: $10,000.20
If you have answered yes to these questions, then you may be interested in supporting my dissertation study exploring the experiences of women* who are working in the sex industry while pursuing undergraduate or graduate degrees at four year colleges or universities in the Philadelphia area. The aim of this study is to understand the employment choices that some female students are making, the risks and benefits for students working in the sex industry, and the impact that rising tuition costs and academic debt is having on women who choose to work in the sex industry while in school. This study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Bryn Mawr College (BMC). The BMC IRB has reviewed this study in order to ensure that the researcher treats the participants in an ethical manner.
My name is Jennifer C. Jones, and I am a doctoral candidate at Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research. I am in my last two years of my doctoral program; I anticipate graduating with my Ph.D. in Social Work and Social Research by the end of 2017. I earned my MSW from Smith College School for Social Work in 2000 and since then, I have been working as a psychotherapist who specializes in supporting people healing from traumatic experiences in Philadelphia, PA. I am trained in psychodynamic, feminist and Gestalt Therapy, and integrate a social justice perspective in my work. In addition to being a doctoral student, a psychotherapist, and clinical supervisor, I am also an economic human rights educator and activist, as well as a parent.
I have provided therapy for women who have worked as sex workers while earning undergraduate and graduate degrees, and I know that there is very little in the Clinical Social Work and College Counseling literature about how best to support women while they are working in the sex industry. In addition to this being an under-studied population in the social research and clinical literature, this study is important because female students who engage in sex work are at increased risk of becoming victims of violence, contracting sexually transmitted diseases and infections, having to deal with criminalization by the legal system, and experiencing the stigmatization associated with being a sex worker in the United States. It is my belief, that having an understanding of the experiences of female students who engage in sex work will not only draw attention to the social and emotional needs of this population, but also to the larger economic issues regarding the rising costs of higher education and the increased amount of educational debt that is burdening students in the United States today.
I am trying to raise $10,000.00 to cover the expenses of this very important research study (I have provided a complete list of research expenses associated with my study below). Your financial support will enable me to conduct qualitative interviews with 15 to 20 female students ranging in age from 18 to 28 who while attending a four-year college or university in the Philadelphia area are working as either a stripper, escort, dominatrix, or webcam performer in order to pay for their education. In addition, I will interview five key informants who work either as sex worker advocates or managers within the sex industry. Moreover, your financial support will allow me to provide study participants with a small amount of financial compensation for their time as well as reimbursement of any transportation costs they might incur while traveling to and from the 2-3 hour interview. In addition, your donation will help pay to have the anticipated 65 hours of digitally recorded interviews transcribed by a professional transcription service. These transcripts are vital to the data analysis process and completion of the dissertation.
Any financial donation you can make towards the funding of my dissertation study will be greatly appreciated. Whether you are able to make a contribution yourself or not, please distribute this request for financial support widely. By making a donation or passing this philanthropic opportunity onto others, you are helping to make this research study possible.
Thank you for your interest in my study and for your potential financial support. Your financial contribution today, will help to make my dream of completing this study, earning my Ph.D. and obtaining a tenure-track teaching position a reality tomorrow.
*In order to keep the sample somewhat homogenous, the sample for this proposed study will only include cisgender females (individuals who experience their gender as being congruent with the sex (female) that they were assigned at birth). I am aware that the experiences of student sex workers who identify as transgender and cisgender male are rarely documented in the literature, and need to be explored in future research. However, to include students other than cisgender females in the sample is beyond the scope of this study.
Fund the Following Research Expenses Totaling $10,000.00:
*Participant Compensation ($50 for student sex workers and $10 gift card for key informants, plus estimated $5 per respondent for transportation reimbursement): $1,100.00
*Professional Online Transcription Services (65 hours of digital recording @ $1/min.: $4,000.00
*Digital Recorder plus noise cancelling microphone: $104.00
*N-Vivo 11 Plus Qualitative Data Analysis Program for Windows (including online training and 24 months of technical support and program updates): $1,405.00
*Encrypted External Hard Drive: $200.00
*Encrypted Cloud Storage for 3 years (CertainSafe - $12.95/month for 5GB of data storage):
$466.20
*Office Supplies & Copying (pens, paper, printer ink, 2 clip boards): $450.00
*Researcher Travel Expense to Interviews (500 miles @ .55/mile): $275.00
*Miscellaneous and Unexpected Expenses: (i.e. travel to conferences, replacement of computer or printer): $2,000.00
TOTAL: $10,000.20
Organizer
Jennifer C Jones
Organizer
Philadelphia, PA