Male Sex Work and Society (31 page)
Read Male Sex Work and Society Online
Authors: Unknown
Tags: #Psychology/Human Sexuality, #Social Science/Gay Studies, #SOC012000, #PSY016000
Despite the expansion of male sex work into suburban and rural spaces, it is not surprising that large cities continue to have high concentrations of male sex workers. These areas also have larger client populations and thus offer an attractive market for male sex workers’ services. These urban spaces are relatively cosmopolitan and thus are often considered more open and tolerant of sexual diversity. The urban client base is not necessarily gay identified, and male sex work can thrive in locations that do not have large gay populations
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With the greater number of escorts in the large cities, we also find greater diversity of race, age, and body build, and a broader menu of sexual services offered. However, the client does not have to live in a large city to access these services. More affluent clients can travel to where the desired sex worker is located or transport the worker to them. The Internet clearly has significantly increased the reach of male sex workers and their potential clients, so that geographic distribution refers not only to a physical space but to the virtual environment. This means that sexual interactions can occur almost anywhere, any time
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Women hiring male escorts is also becoming fashionable in some Western and affluent societies. What motivates women to hire male escorts? Are their reasons similar to men’s? Unfortunately, we have little information about the female clients of male escorts. Gaining such information is vital if we are to fully understand why people use escorts, what this service means to them, and how—through the experiences and perspective of clients—the male sex industry can become more responsible, professional, and responsive. The lack of understanding of clients, both female and male, is a big gap in the research literature. Researchers need to determine what research methods are best suited for this population, such as online surveys, and to develop a relevant research agenda for the study of male sex workers’ female and male clients
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| Clients of Male Sex Workers | |
JOHN SCOTT DENTON CALLANDER VICTOR MINICHIELLO |
A sex work client can be defined as someone who pays for a service that includes some form of sexual activity. The clients of male sex workers (MSWs) can be male, female, or transgender, members of any ethnic or cultural group, any age, HIV negative or positive, and able-bodied or disabled. However, the clients of both male and female sex workers (FSWs) are overwhelmingly men. While there is much less literature available on the clients of sex workers than on sex workers themselves (Vanwesenbeeck, 2013), what research does exist is diverse, complex, and often contradictory, which can be attributed to the wide range of legal, health, and social problems associated with the sex work industry.
As Serughetti (2013) points out, there have been many (mainly derogatory) words created to describe FSWs, but far fewer to describe their clients, although slang words like “john” or “punter” have currency in some English-speaking countries. This asymmetry is a product of modern research and discussion that have tended to cast sex workers as deviants or victims but largely ignored their clients, who remain a mysterious and elusive population. Although such generalizations may be true of the clients of FSWs, it is less applicable to the clients of MSWs. While specific slang has not evolved to describe the clients of MSWs, this group has typically been labeled with the negative descriptors used to describe men who have sex with men. Buying sex is a stigmatized activity, and the clients of MSWs often face additional stigma associated with homosexuality.
The fact that the clients of MSWs are typified as gay or homosexual is significant, as it reflects the importance of sexuality in the public’s perception of and reaction to this population. Furthermore, the focus on sexuality has resulted in a high level of interest in these clients, who have been constructed largely as a deviant or socially problematic population. In recent years, however, changing conceptions of sexuality have resulted in some normalization of the clients of MSWs. Meanwhile, increasing public scrutiny of the clients of FSWs continues to present them as a deviant population needing corrective action, despite the apparent conformity among this group with many traditional masculine norms.
This chapter explores various issues relevant to the clients of MSWs and, by extension, of FSWs, including changing concepts of gender, masculinity, and social perception. To fully grasp the social, legal, theoretical, and medical paradigms that influence MSWs’ clients, it is also important to know something of how the clients of FSWs have been represented through public discourse and the available research. As one study of clients of MSWs observed, “Although a not completely analogous comparison, one might examine the larger body of published research on men hiring female sex workers to better understand the characteristics of men hiring [male sex workers]” (Grov, Wolff, Smith, Koken, & Parsons, 2013, p. 4).
Extent of the Client Population
Generally, the clients of sex workers were invisible in public discourse prior to the mid-20
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century. Public reactions to the sex industry were focused on FSWs, especially those based on the street, which is perhaps a reflection of social discomfort with displays of feminine sexuality in public spaces. Accordingly, FSWs were subject to what was referred to by feminists as the double standard—that is, critical attention was directed to the supply of sex work but not the demand. In one of the first social science accounts of sex work clients, Kinsey, Pomeroy, and Martin (1948) found that 60 percent of men in the United States had purchased sex and 15-20 percent did so on a regular basis. Kinsey and colleagues also observed that the practice of buying sex declined as men aged or increased their education. More recent research suggests that these percentages have decreased (Serughetti, 2013).
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century. Public reactions to the sex industry were focused on FSWs, especially those based on the street, which is perhaps a reflection of social discomfort with displays of feminine sexuality in public spaces. Accordingly, FSWs were subject to what was referred to by feminists as the double standard—that is, critical attention was directed to the supply of sex work but not the demand. In one of the first social science accounts of sex work clients, Kinsey, Pomeroy, and Martin (1948) found that 60 percent of men in the United States had purchased sex and 15-20 percent did so on a regular basis. Kinsey and colleagues also observed that the practice of buying sex declined as men aged or increased their education. More recent research suggests that these percentages have decreased (Serughetti, 2013).
International research into FSWs suggests that 15-20 percent of men in the U.S. have bought sexual services from a woman (Shively et al., 2008; Weitzer, 2000), 16 percent of men in Australia have done so (Rissel, Richters, Grulich, de Visser, & Smith, 2003), as have 4-25 percent of men in the UK (Brooks-Gordon, 2006). In developing regions, such as parts of Latin America, Asia, and Africa, it is estimated that 10 percent of men pay for sex every year and that 9-10 percent of men globally have paid for sex at some point in their lives (Carael, Slaymaker, Lyerla, & Sarkar, 2006).
Properly describing MSWs’ clients is hindered by the legal and social status of sex work. The stigma associated not only with paying for sex but with homosexuality challenges efforts to examine the full extent of this population. In Australia, where sex work is largely decriminalized, among a random sample of over 10,000 men it was suggested that 16 percent had hired a sex worker at some point in their lives, 3 percent of which involved an MSW (Rissel et al., 2003). While it has been estimated that MSWs account for approximately 10 percent of the sex worker population globally (Weitzer, 2005), no similar estimate is available for their clients. There is, however, some indication that hiring an MSW may be more common among men who have sex with men than in other populations. A community-based survey of sexually active nonmonogamous gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men in New York City found that nearly 43 percent of participants had paid for sex, been paid for sex, or both (Koken, Parsons, Severino, & Bimbi, 2005). Among samples of gay and bisexual Australian men gathered in Sydney and Melbourne in 2012, 3 percent reported engaging the services of a sex worker in the previous year (Hull et al., 2012; Lee et al., 2012). Commercial sex transactions appear to play varying roles in the sexual landscape of communities of gay men in different parts of the world.
Client Characteristics
The rise and evolution of feminism may be credited with shifting the focus away from sex workers and toward their clients, although the recent attention given to health-related aspects of sex work (particularly relevant to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections [STIs]) has also contributed. A major aspect of this shift has been to define and label those who hire MSWs, but almost exclusively the male clients of sex workers; their female clients remain a particularly elusive population in the literature, a fact we touch on later in this chapter. Much of the existing work on male clients portrays them negatively, which is possibly because much of the research on clients has relied on data obtained from sex workers themselves, or because many studies have focused on men arrested for street solicitation (“curb crawling”) and ignored the many other ways clients connect with sex workers (Brooks-Gordon, 2006; Weitzer, 2005).
Historically, it was in the 1950s postwar period that the notion emerged of clients or johns as socially problematic and deviant. In the U.S., the early work of Kinsey and colleagues (1948) highlighted the deviant nature of clients by setting them apart from an imagined mainstream middle class. Since then, clients have largely been portrayed as physically repulsive, alienated, and antisocial. Furthermore, Earle and Sharpe (2008) argue that paying for sex may damage self-esteem, especially as it may be seen as counter to notions of hegemonic masculinity because it suggests weakness or a dependence on sexual and emotional support and attention (Joseph & Black, 2012). There is a definite preoccupation with classifying MSWs and their clients within particular gendered norms, with clients often characterized as effeminate (Scott, 2003), while MSW stereotypes evoke notions of the masculine hustler (Benjamin & Masters, 1964).
In the postwar period, male prostitution was increasingly understood as socially problematic. During this time it was not unusual to find MSWs portrayed as “casual” or “situational” perverts, while their clients, in contrast, were presented as dangerous homosexuals. This understanding of MSWs strengthened the view of male prostitution as exploitative and reinforced the emerging characterization of MSWs as victims. This view, which at the time was prevalent within the criminological and medical discourse of homosexuality, argued that male prostitution was the outcome of queer seduction (see Weeks, 1985, 1992; Wotherspoon, 1991). Jersild (1956) commented at the time on the clients of MSWs as “unhappy people … walking the streets by day or night … [looking for] a partner who can satisfy their very strong sexual urge” (p. 67). These historical narratives of male prostitution are laden with specific understandings of homosexuality, which cast the clients of MSWs in a predatory light and condemned these lust-based relationships.
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