Faculty Member, Sociological Studies
Thesis Title: Paying for Sex: A socio-cultural exploration of men who pay for sex.
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Jenny Hockey
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About
Thesis Abstract -
This thesis presents a sociological account of men who pay for sex through the lens of relationships and sexuality. By addressing the traditional absence of male clients within research on the sex industry, it aims, first, to move research away from moralistic discourses and simplistic motivational accounts, and towards an analysis of the social context of paying for sex, in which both sexual commerce and the wider intimate sphere have changed. Second, exploring this social context, focusing on relationships and sexuality, it attends to the broader cultural formations of heterosexual male identities in contemporary sexual culture.
Thirty five male clients of female sex workers were recruited using an internet message board and a local newspaper. Interviews were conducted either; face-to-face, over the phone or using MSN. Overall, I argue that paying for sex needs to be understood within the context of being a heterosexual man in contemporary sexual culture. Recognition of the social and cultural environments in which men perform their multiple identities draws attention to the interactional nature of identity, the influence of resources from the wider environment when crossing and maintaining identity boundaries, and the management strategies of conflicting identities. By exploring commercial sex as a heterosexual practice, experience and identity, which transitions over time, I argue that commercial sex allows men to sidestep the ‘bargain’, ‘burden’ and ‘mundane’ elements of non-commercial heterosexual life. Yet, paradoxically, these elements seep across the non-commercial / commercial boundary, challenging discourses that place them in opposition. Finally I propose an alternative view of gendered power relations, emphasising the contextual and fluid nature of power which is dependent on resources available to either party. However, despite the traditionally male domain of rational thought, which initially appears to allow men to take part in commercial sex, exercising power in this way can bear a cost in terms of emotional fall-out, a disrupted masculine identity and a spoiled identity.
