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For Italian Law
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Direttore Responsabile: Giulia Golo

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

TitleBecoming Male Sex Worker, Doing Masculinities. Socio-Sexual Interactions and Gender Production in Men Selling Sex to Men in Italy and Sweden
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2022
AuthorsBacio M, Rinaldi C
Secondary TitleItalian Journal of Sociology of Education
Volume14
Issue2
Pagination7-30
Date Published07/2022
PublisherPadova University Press
Place PublishedPadova, IT
ISSN Number2035-4983
KeywordsItaly, male sex workers, masculinity, prostitution, Sweden
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 perfectives: 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

URLhttps://ijse.padovauniversitypress.it/2022/2/2
DOI10.14658/PUPJ-IJSE-2022-2-2