Taxpayer-funded Job of the Week: Bedwetting and incontinence (in 1870-1970) researcher
£38,205 to £42,978 per annum - on a £243,360 research project
As readers of Woke Waste know, every now and then I try to “give back” to the community - by way of advertising fabulous opportunities.
Earlier this month I highlighted this job at the V&A:
And in April I flagged 2 x gay porn researcher roles:
Very kind of me, I know.
Today I am delighted to reveal an opportunity for a researcher on the project: Buzzers for Bedwetters: Incontinence and the Urinary Body in Britain, 1870-1970, a project that has been awarded £243,360 by the taxpayer-funded Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC):
Its abstract explains:
By tracing incontinence over a century from its initial medicalisation in the 1870s until the emergence of privatised social care in 1970, this project seeks to uncover how the incontinent body acquired its modern stigmatised status in Britain and how that stigmatisation was experienced by those with incontinence.
…
The project will focus on four key incontinent bodies prominent in the period - the child; the reproductive (including the post-partum woman and the male masturbator); the war veteran and the elderly - in order to chronologically trace the impact of medicalisation, commercialisation and stigmatisation across the life cycle and across the social dynamics of class, gender, race and (dis)ability. Its focus on these incontinent bodies will demonstrate the centrality of incontinence to Britain's modern moralising mission, and by extension the significance of the urinary body to everyday life.
Project partners include Bladder and Bowel UK and ERIC, The Children's Bowel & Bladder Charity - “who aim to reduce the stigma surrounding this condition and to create public awareness of the distress and debilitation that stigmatisation causes.”
Clearly Bladder and Bowel UK and ERIC will greatly benefit from research on “the male masturbator” and bedwetting in 1870-1970, as will society at large:
These outputs, including printed and digital resources, a blog and an online exhibition, will be the first steps towards drawing on history to break the social taboos around urine and urination practices, giving those with incontinence and their families a chance to lead easier and less stigmatised lives.
Fancy de-stimatising urination?
Professor Dr Claire Jones, Senior Lecturer in the History of Medicine, recently posted a link to this job advert, with a salary of £38,205 to £42,978 per annum:
Jones was keen to highlight on X that the position could be a good way out of a “dire” job market:
Very true - as anyone following the job cuts at Goldsmiths will know:
So what are you waiting for? Here’s a link if you’d like to apply.
As a bedwetter until nearly 12 years old I never felt stigmatised or shamed by my friends or family. No doctors or buzzers. One night my father said to me, “son if you tell yourself you will not wet the bed 100 times before you go to sleep each night, you will stop. You can do anything if you set your mind to it.” And do you know, after a week I never soaked the sheets ever again. Thanks Dad!