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Becoming Male Sex Worker, Doing Masculinities. Socio-Sexual Interactions and Gender Production in Men Selling Sex to Men in Italy and Sweden

Bacio, Marco LU and Rinaldi, Cirus (2022) In Italian Journal of Sociology of Education 14(2). p.7-30
Abstract
Although masculinity is a powerful concept in both sociology and gender studies, previous research forgot to analyse sex work under this perspective. Even though the actors involved are men, and previous studies have highlighted the importance of masculinity not only in the relation manto- woman but also in the “gay world”, there is a lack of attention in male sex working. Then, the aim of this paper is to analyse sex work under the perspective of masculinity in order to understand what type of relationships are created between sex workers and their clients and which role it is played by masculinity, how the relation is shaped by it. Moreover, we explain how doing sex work is also a way to do masculinity, a mean through which sex workers... (More)
Although masculinity is a powerful concept in both sociology and gender studies, previous research forgot to analyse sex work under this perspective. Even though the actors involved are men, and previous studies have highlighted the importance of masculinity not only in the relation manto- woman but also in the “gay world”, there is a lack of attention in male sex working. Then, the aim of this paper is to analyse sex work under the perspective of masculinity in order to understand what type of relationships are created between sex workers and their clients and which role it is played by masculinity, how the relation is shaped by it. Moreover, we explain how doing sex work is also a way to do masculinity, a mean through which sex workers can elevate themselves under different perspectives: socially, economically, and culturally. Thanks to a sample of 45 male sex workers interviewed between Italy and Sweden and that use the internet as a mean to find clients, we show how the job of selling sex to other men cannot avoid the categories of masculinities. This is true for both “heterosexual” and gay escorts. At the same time, we also find “space for resistance”, where some gay sex workers are able to establish relations that go beyond the standard concept of masculinity. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Male sex workers, Masculinity, Prostitution, Italy, Sweden
in
Italian Journal of Sociology of Education
volume
14
issue
2
pages
24 pages
publisher
Padova University Press
ISSN
2035-4983
DOI
10.14658/PUPJ-IJSE-2022-2-2
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3601f418-ff8e-43d4-972f-a5b2601bba9c
date added to LUP
2023-04-04 17:43:55
date last changed
2023-04-05 08:50:12
@article{3601f418-ff8e-43d4-972f-a5b2601bba9c,
  abstract     = {{Although masculinity is a powerful concept in both sociology and gender studies, previous research forgot to analyse sex work under this perspective. Even though the actors involved are men, and previous studies have highlighted the importance of masculinity not only in the relation manto- woman but also in the “gay world”, there is a lack of attention in male sex working. Then, the aim of this paper is to analyse sex work under the perspective of masculinity in order to understand what type of relationships are created between sex workers and their clients and which role it is played by masculinity, how the relation is shaped by it. Moreover, we explain how doing sex work is also a way to do masculinity, a mean through which sex workers can elevate themselves under different perspectives: socially, economically, and culturally. Thanks to a sample of 45 male sex workers interviewed between Italy and Sweden and that use the internet as a mean to find clients, we show how the job of selling sex to other men cannot avoid the categories of masculinities. This is true for both “heterosexual” and gay escorts. At the same time, we also find “space for resistance”, where some gay sex workers are able to establish relations that go beyond the standard concept of masculinity.}},
  author       = {{Bacio, Marco and Rinaldi, Cirus}},
  issn         = {{2035-4983}},
  keywords     = {{Male sex workers; Masculinity; Prostitution; Italy; Sweden}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{7--30}},
  publisher    = {{Padova University Press}},
  series       = {{Italian Journal of Sociology of Education}},
  title        = {{Becoming Male Sex Worker, Doing Masculinities. Socio-Sexual Interactions and Gender Production in Men Selling Sex to Men in Italy and Sweden}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.14658/PUPJ-IJSE-2022-2-2}},
  doi          = {{10.14658/PUPJ-IJSE-2022-2-2}},
  volume       = {{14}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}