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”Det är inte kul att gå runt och vara paranoid” : En studie av sexköpares självbeskrivna identitet på internet

Rosqvist, Lisa LU (2020) SOPA63 20192
School of Social Work
Abstract
In Sweden, buying sex is an illegal act that is also often viewed as immoral, which is understood in this thesis as sex buyers being stigmatized. The aim of this study was therefore to understand how Swedish men who buy sex describe themselves and how they discuss the criminal act of buying sex in an escort forum on the Internet. A qualitative method with a netnographic viewpoint was used wherein a forum was visited for several weeks and forum threads were collected. The forum threads were coded and analysed with themes relating to the theoretical framework. The results showed that men who buy sex from women were highly aware of their stigmatized identity and act according to Erving Goffman’s theory of stigma to explain away or to glorify... (More)
In Sweden, buying sex is an illegal act that is also often viewed as immoral, which is understood in this thesis as sex buyers being stigmatized. The aim of this study was therefore to understand how Swedish men who buy sex describe themselves and how they discuss the criminal act of buying sex in an escort forum on the Internet. A qualitative method with a netnographic viewpoint was used wherein a forum was visited for several weeks and forum threads were collected. The forum threads were coded and analysed with themes relating to the theoretical framework. The results showed that men who buy sex from women were highly aware of their stigmatized identity and act according to Erving Goffman’s theory of stigma to explain away or to glorify this identity. The results also showed that men who buy sex acted according to ideals and norms compliant with the masculine gender role, in order to achieve what Raewyn Connell dubbed hegemonic masculinity. A way that this was shown was through conversations where the men could brag about their sexual prowess or genitals. The sex buying men also designed their own masculine ideal called ‘the gentleman’. Most significantly this study showed that sex buyers need to perceive the sex seller’s pleasure as non-forced in order to achieve pleasure of their own. This also played into the identity of the sex buyer, as they did not want to associate themselves with the men on the lowest end of the hierarchy of masculinity and the most stigmatized sex buyer – the one who raped or bought sex from women exploited in the human trafficking industry. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Rosqvist, Lisa LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOPA63 20192
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
sex buyers, stigma, masculinity, identity, netnography
language
Swedish
id
9006580
date added to LUP
2020-03-17 08:48:02
date last changed
2020-05-20 15:50:34
@misc{9006580,
  abstract     = {{In Sweden, buying sex is an illegal act that is also often viewed as immoral, which is understood in this thesis as sex buyers being stigmatized. The aim of this study was therefore to understand how Swedish men who buy sex describe themselves and how they discuss the criminal act of buying sex in an escort forum on the Internet. A qualitative method with a netnographic viewpoint was used wherein a forum was visited for several weeks and forum threads were collected. The forum threads were coded and analysed with themes relating to the theoretical framework. The results showed that men who buy sex from women were highly aware of their stigmatized identity and act according to Erving Goffman’s theory of stigma to explain away or to glorify this identity. The results also showed that men who buy sex acted according to ideals and norms compliant with the masculine gender role, in order to achieve what Raewyn Connell dubbed hegemonic masculinity. A way that this was shown was through conversations where the men could brag about their sexual prowess or genitals. The sex buying men also designed their own masculine ideal called ‘the gentleman’. Most significantly this study showed that sex buyers need to perceive the sex seller’s pleasure as non-forced in order to achieve pleasure of their own. This also played into the identity of the sex buyer, as they did not want to associate themselves with the men on the lowest end of the hierarchy of masculinity and the most stigmatized sex buyer – the one who raped or bought sex from women exploited in the human trafficking industry.}},
  author       = {{Rosqvist, Lisa}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{”Det är inte kul att gå runt och vara paranoid” : En studie av sexköpares självbeskrivna identitet på internet}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}