2024–2025 – The Therapeutic Theatre of Sex Work
An applied study linking counselling, intimacy work, and sexual labour.
This project examined how practices from therapy — boundaries, mirroring, attunement — appear in the work of escorts and professional dominatrices. It also drew parallels between couples therapy and transactional intimacy.
2023–2024 – Bodies for Hire: Power, Vulnerability & Status
Comparative study of escorts and high-end companions in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Berlin.
This project examined: class and status in the sex market, the cultural scripting of “the girlfriend experience,” race and desirability, and the blurred boundary between autonomy and exploitation.
A collaboration with Dutch and German colleagues that resulted in a well-cited paper on “emotional auditions” in the escort sector.
2022–2023 – Intimacy, Performance & Commercial Desire
Study of women who sell sex across different models: independent escorts, sugar dating, online content creators, and massage parlours.
Funded by the Nordic Council’s programme on “Emerging Sexual Economies,” this project explored how women distinguish between emotional labour, sexual labour, and identity.
Findings challenged dominant Swedish policy narratives and annoyed several government agencies.
2021–2022 – Sexual Agency & Lifestyle Communities
Qualitative fieldwork within Nordic and continental European swinger clubs.
This project examined how women negotiate desire, boundaries, and self-presentation in consensual non-monogamous settings. Participant observation and in-depth interviews with couples and single women active in the Lifestyle scene, analysing themes of transgression, empowerment, trauma recovery, and emotional management.
2018–2020 – Feminist Porn Activism
Comparative fieldwork with feminist porn producers across Europe
A multi-site qualitative research with feminist porn directors, performers, and activists, examining how alternative pornographies negotiate ethics, desire, and representation. The project highlighted tensions between feminist ideals and commercial realities.
2016–2017 – Women and Pornography
Grant-funded study of female porn consumption and feminist identity
This project explored how women interpret and use pornography, and how they reconcile their viewing habits with feminist self-understandings. An analysis of the contradictions between political discourse, private desire, and everyday sexual practice.
2014–2015 – Counselling Business
Academic leave for applied work in relationship therapy
Co-ran a counselling practice, gaining first-hand experience with conflict resolution, intimacy work, and the emotional dynamics couples rarely reveal in research interviews.
2012–2014 – Infidelity in the Digital Age
Qualitative study of online affairs, secrecy, and identity management
Interviewed users of discreet dating platforms to understand motives for seeking affairs and how participants negotiated guilt, desire, deception, and self-perception in an era of digital traceability.
2010–2012 – Digital Love
Early study of internet dating cultures in Scandinavia
This project examined how online platforms reshaped courtship, sexual self-presentation, and expectations around compatibility, documenting the emergence of algorithmic romance and curated intimacy.
2008–2010 – Parenting & Masculinity
Cross-national study of fatherhood, discipline, and emotional labour
In collaboration with British colleagues, a study on how fathers from different social classes perceived involvement, authority, and affection was carried out, revealing class-based differences in emotional norms and parenting ideals.
2006–2008 – Young Adults & Sexual Scripts
Comparative nightlife study of gender, alcohol, and sexual negotiation
Through interviews and surveys with twenty-somethings, an analysis was conducted on how young adults construct desire, manage risk, and perform gender in club settings, revealing shifting norms around consent and sexual agency.
2002–2006 – Postdoc: Couples and Equality
Household labour, intimacy, and emotional work in dual-income families
Funded by a Swedish Research Council junior grant, this research mapped how couples negotiate chores, fairness, and emotional expectations, highlighting persistent inequalities behind egalitarian rhetoric.
1997–2002 – PhD Thesis: Negotiating Intimacy
Gender, class, and ideals of “the good relationship” in Sweden
The doctoral thesis compared working-class and middle-class couples, analysing how they articulated fidelity, respectability, and sexual expectations, and how class shaped their visions of stability and partnership.
1991–1996 – Master’s Degree in Sociology
Respectability, class mobility, and single-mother students in higher education
An investigation into how single-mother students managed academic ambition, childcare, and sexual reputation, revealing the subtle moral judgements and social obstacles embedded in university life.
Including maternity leave and backpacking in Australia with her oldest daughter.