Student profiles
Charlotte Curle
Email: c.curle@lancaster.ac.uk
Instagram: @ccurleresearch
X: @charlottecurle
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/charlotte-curle-790240115 [linkedin.com]
Blog: https://poleptsdandme.wordpress.com/ [poleptsdandme.wordpress.com]
Thesis Title
Institution
Lancaster University
Supervisors
Professor Anne Cronin
Dr Laura Clancy
Research Summary
My research focuses on the lived experiences of pole dancers who use digital media for leisure/work, using a feminist (auto)netnographic framework. My research is situated at the intersection of many broader academic debates within feminist media and cultural studies, including digital labour, gendered sexual economies, and cultural practices.
My project aims to explore how pole dancers’ engagement with digital media challenges definitional boundaries surrounding sex/body work and the significance of this amidst the context of increased regulation of sexual content on digital media platforms. This project is partially inspired by my own experiences attending pole dance studios and using various digital media platforms to create/share/engage with pole-related content online for leisure and work purposes.
Research Interests
Digital media, digital bodies, gender, (sex) work, digital labour, social reproduction, lived experience, netnography, autoethnography, feminist media and cultural studies
Publications
Conference paper: ‘Working the pole? An exploration of pole dancers’ content creation practices on social media’ (October 2023), Sex in Contemporary Media conference, University of Warwick
Conference paper: ‘Whose lived experience and at what cost?: The problem of over-reliance on unpaid labour within lived experience research, policy and practice’ (March 2023), Listening to all voices? The politics of “lived experience”: concerns, contradictions, and challenges, Durham University
Blog post: ‘”Promising Young Woman”: Exposing the insidious nature of gender-based violence’ (October 2022), Cinema and Social Justice Project, York St. John University