The fourth and final part of the book explores sociocultural variations on male sex work, drawing on research from four continents. In
chapter 12
, Paul Boyce and Gordon Isaacs examine male sex work in Southern and Eastern Africa, where relatively little is known about male sex work. They focus in particular on the experiences of men who not only sell sex to other men but also, for the most part, self-identify as homosexual. MSWs in Africa have regularly been excluded from policymaking and program planning and from research on health and safety, chiefly because of prejudice and denial among social workers, health service workers, and legal authorities. Men who sell sex in Africa may be doubly stigmatized, due to their assumed sexual orientation and to their sex work, and thus are subject to abuse and harassment. The authors collected detailed information on male sex workers’ life stories, social vulnerabilities, and sociosexual practices, consciously avoiding approaches to the study of sex work that classify types of sex workers or quantify the risks of such work. They focus instead on the day-to-day practices, perceptions, and experiences of these men, arguing that their approach can offer important insights into sex workers’ life experiences that will help create significant new pathways to addressing their social vulnerability, rights, risks, and health issues, including HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
In
chapter 13
, Travis Kong provides a rare view of male sex work in China. He starts with a brief history of male homosexuality and prostitution in Ancient China, followed by an account of the emergence of the male sex industry in China since the 1980s. In contrast to the common conception of the male prostitute as a deviant social outcast or disease carrier, Kong presents male prostitution as an informal labor market and understands the male prostitute as a normal person in the context of work, situated in the context of contemporary China’s migration and urbanization. Focusing on “money boys,” the main actors in China’s male sex industry, this chapter examines the various facets of their lives and the male sex industry: reasons for and paths of entry to the industry; types of occupational settings; interactions with clients; work identity, stigma, and occupational risks; and the current regulatory models governing male prostitution (as well as homosexual relations) in China. The chapter concludes that, in the course of their sex work, money boys experience independence, control, and empowerment, as well as displacement, alienation, and dislocation. Their pursuit of freedom, happiness, and wealth in fact reflects the young generation in general under China’s quest for modernization and urbanization.
Linda Niccolai, in
chapter 14
, examines how male sex work has developed in Eastern Europe in light of the unprecedented economic and political changes that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. This has resulted, among other things, in a proliferation of sex work in present-day Russia. This phenomenon has been studied primarily in the context of female sex work as it relates to the expanding HIV epidemic, while the study of male sex work remains much more elusive. Furthermore, recent social changes in Russia reflect increasing homophobia and the marginalization of men who have sex with men, creating a potentially dangerous situation for men involved in sex work. The limited research reveals a range of risky behaviors and social vulnerability among this population, and this chapter provides a critical review and synthesis of what is known, drawing primarily from the public health literature. There clearly is a critical need for additional work to understand the context of male sex work in Russia more fully, and for programs and interventions that reduce the challenges to their well-being faced by MSWs in Russia.
In
chapter 15
, Victor Minichiello and his colleagues highlight how cultural understandings of masculinity can create both opportunities and challenges for men. Their analysis of a profile of male escorts in Argentina, for example, shows that men of diverse sexualities make complex decisions about working as an escort and providing services to both men and women. In this profile, complex cultural influences are at play around the meaning of “being a man,” and they are evolving and being negotiated between escorts and clients. Interestingly, as the escort business becomes globalized, we can anticipate that “hot sex tourism markets” will emerge in Latin America, where the sales pitch is for a product that is more exotic (e.g., hot, well-hung Latino men) and more affordable.
Heide Castañeda, in
chapter 16
, uses ethnographic methodology to point to a variety of cross-cultural constructions of gender, as well as the importance of structural processes to sexual meaning and practices. This chapter moves beyond the myopic association between sex work and HIV to contextualize health risks as a result of macro-level processes, including poverty, discrimination, unemployment, lack of housing, inadequate access to health care, and the loss of kin support structures through migration. The chapter is unique in its focus on migrant men, as few studies examine migration or the fact that prostitution is legal in Germany, or that these migrant street MSWs are not “illegal” because they are EU citizens.
In
chapter 17
, Paul Maginn and Graham Ellison draw on fieldwork and online data to provide a contemporary account of male sex workers in Ireland. As with most Western liberal democracies, Ireland’s regulatory approach to sex work is biased in the sense that political, policy, and moral concerns tend to focus on the experiences of female sex workers while very little is known about the male sex worker population. This is especially pronounced in a heteronormative country like Ireland—North and South—where the Catholic and Protestant churches have played a fundamental role in shaping societal and political attitudes toward sex and sexuality. This chapter breaks new empirical ground in its analysis of male sex work in Ireland, which draws from profile data of both male and female sex workers who operate across the country. Data obtained from one of the UK’s largest Internet-based escort agencies provides insight into the scale and characteristics of male sex workers in terms of the age, nationality, sexual orientation, and the sexual preferences of approximately 500 male and almost 5,000 female sex workers. The data also reveal that the geography of male sex work is by no means an urban phenomenon, as a significant proportion of Ireland’s male sex workers provide services to people in rural areas.
The structure and organization of male sex work has undergone a massive reconfiguration over the last two decades. How we understand male sex work also has changed. The studies in this book show that the sex industry cannot be understood without considering the wider societal forces and cultural environments in which the sex industry operates. The notion that male sex work is a clandestine and violent activity largely restricted to the streets or beats—public spaces where men can meet to have casual sex, such as toilets—is not supported by recent empirical research, which has begun to examine male sex work as a socially legitimate activity, and to frame it from an occupational perspective and as a rational economic and/or sexual choice. Recent work continues to demonstrate that the intrinsic nature of sex work is not oppressive, that there are different kinds of worker-client experiences, and that there is a varying degree of both victimization and exploitation, as well as agency and choice.
The studies in this book help the reader move beyond the pathologizing discourses that have produced an understanding of MSWs and their clients as deficient or deviant. By continuing to recognize the diverse demographics, motivations, and experiences of MSWs, we will be better equipped to provide support and to construct policy and conduct research that meets this diversity head on.
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Chapter Credits
Chapter 1
: Mack Friedman, “Male Sex Work from Ancient Times to the Near Present”—is revised and condensed from Mack Friedman,
Strapped for Cash: A History of American Hustler Culture
. New York: Alyson Books, 2003.
Chapter 2
: Kerwin Kaye, “Male Sex Work in Modern Times”—is adapted from Kerwin Kaye, “Male Prostitution,” in Melissa Hope Ditmore, ed.,
Encyclopedia of Prostitution and Sex Work
(Vol. I). Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006, pp. 275-281. Adapted with permission through the Copyright Clearing Center.
Chapter 5
: Trevon D. Logan, “Economic Analysis of Male Sex Work”—is adapted from Trevon D. Logan, “Personal Characteristics, Sexual Behaviors, and Male Sex Work: A Quantitative Approach,”
American Sociological Review
, 75 (2010): 679-704. Copyright © 2010 by American Sociological Association. Adapted with permission from SAGE Publications.
Chapter 12
: Paul Boyce and Gordon Isaacs, “Male Sex Work in Southern and Eastern Africa”—is adapted from Paul Boyce and Gordon Isaacs, “An Exploratory Study of the Social Contexts, Practices, and Risks of Men Who Sell Sex in Southern and Eastern Africa” [online technical report]. Oxford, England: Oxfam Great Britain, 2011.
Chapter 14
: Linda M. Niccolai, “Male Sex Work in Post-Soviet Russia”—is adapted from L. Niccolai, E. King, K. Eritsyan, L. Safiullina, & M. Rusakova, “In Different Situations, in Different Ways: Male Sex Work in St. Petersburg, Russia,”
Culture, Health & Sexuality
, 15 (2013): 480-493. Adapted with permission from Taylor & Francis.
Chapter 16
: Heide Castañeda, “Migrant Male Sex Workers in Germany”—is adapted from Heide Castañeda, “Structural Vulnerability and Access to Medical Care among Migrant Street-Based Male Sex Workers in Germany,
Social Science & Medicine
, 84 (2013): 94-101. Adapted with permission from Elsevier. Original article available at
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795361300083X
.
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