Sites of Empowerment: Explaining the Implementation of
Masculine Agendas through Male-Client Participation in
Amsterdam’s Sex-Work Industry and Wider Sexual Economy.
Keith Anthony Ó Néill
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
University of Amsterdam
Examined here from a constructionist perspective is the neglected phenomenon of male client participation in the sex-work industry. This prior neglect has led to a poor understanding of clients' motivations for engaging in sex-work which has served to greatly stigmatize the client owing to a lack of sufficient knowledge surrounding his motivation and behaviour. It is put forward here that there is a far greater need for a social model of research into the phenomenon of male-client participation and furthermore an approach which takes both sexuality and gender into account; extremely pertinent aspects of the debate, largely ignored or misrepresented until recently. Through a sociological model this research illustrates that men and their masculinities gain a lot more than sexual gratification and release upon visiting the sex-worker but moreover the sex-worker provides both physical and symbolic sites for male empowerment; sites which are crucial for a variety of men and for a variety of reasons. Using content analysis and client interviews I highlight the processes that account for this variation of masculinity and seek to offer an explanation of how and why men perform their masculinity at the site of highly sexualized female bodies, which become both physically and symbolically important. I conclude by highlighting some of the subsequently important areas of further research in this field. F,
Key Words: Men; masculinity; sex-work; hegemonic masculinities; the body; identity; desire; gender; empowerment; culture; sexuality; derivitization
Acknowledgements
I owe thanks to Gert Hekma for his guidance and support during this writing process, and for the many interesting conversations that we shared together over the past year.
And to my parents Colleen and Stephen, for their endless love and support without which none of this would have been possible. My respect and gratitude is eternal.
I dedicate this research to all of the countless women and children working in the industry around the globe against their will and desires in conditions unbeknown to most of us. For them the struggle against oppression and injustice must be fought. For them I write these words.
'SITES OF EMPOWERMENT'
Keith Anthony Ó Néil
1.0 Prelude
4
2.0 Introduction
5
3.0 Research Methodology
113.2 Justification for the Research Project and Methods 11
3.3 Methods of Obtaining Data and the Difficulties Encountered Along the Way 13
3.4 Layout and Structure 15
3.5 Ethical Considerations 16
3.6 Limitations of the Research 17
4.0 ‘What Makes a Man?’: A Brief Genealogy of Masculinities, Explaining Hegemonic Masculinity, and the Established Consensus within the Academy
19
5.0 Black Skin & Red Lights: Intersectionality and the Importance of Ethnicity, Race and Nation in Amsterdam’s Red Light District. 25 6.0 Through the Looking Glass: The Mirrored Self, The Masculine Self and the Importance of the Homoerotic in the Construction of the Heteronormative.
32
7.0 Questionable Ontologies: The Derivitized Subject and the Use of the Female Body in Commercial Sex-Work.
40
8.0 ‘You Get What You Pay For’: The Economies of Sex, Masculine Liberation and the Potential for Female Liberation Through Her Control Over ‘The Rules of Engagement’
48
9.0 ‘Playing with Dirt’: Masculine Narratives, Discourses and Framing Techniques Present in Clientele Identity Formation, Practice and Maintenance
55
10.0 ‘The Girlfriend Experience’: Vulnerability, Violence and Insecure
Masculinities 60
11.0 Conclusions and Suggestions for Further Research 65 12.0 Bibliography and Suggestions for Further Reading 69
1.0 Prelude
Words are important and indeed they are political. Out of consideration for the women working in Amsterdam’s sex industry I henceforth refer to them as 'sex-workers' and 'working-girls'. However throughout the globe there is a countless number of women and girls in the industry who are there involuntarily through slavery, trafficking and violence and “voluntarily” as a result of dismal educational attainment, coercion, poverty and absolute necessity. Therefore we must be mindful of labeling these women as ‘workers’ which would be misleading, and not least, ethically questionable. When using words to convey meaning we should be painfully aware of the semantic predicament that we encounter when employing labels and terminologies. For instance by referring to women and girls in the industry as 'workers' it serves to legitimize the role of those involved and strategically positions the debate as an issue of labour market relations over one of gender relations and (in)equality; an equally important component of the debate. Furthermore this language does devalue the argument that many of these individuals are undeniably operating in the industry through deep structural inequality, socio-economic neglect and violent coercion. However in acknowledgement of the many women who work in Amsterdam as self-proclaimed 'empowered women' and to keep in line with the politically preferred terminology I have adopted the pro sex-work language and refer to these women and girls respectfully as workers as opposed to using terms that would cite stigma and provoke reaction - which could potentially divert attention and focus away from the central theme of this thesis; that being men and masculinities and their relationship to the sex-work industry.
2.0 Introduction
The debate surrounding the sex-work industry generally splits into two distinct camps – the liberals usually set diametrically opposed to the abolitionists. Recent theoretical debates have questioned the usefulness of this distinction and some have even challenged the superficiality of these divisions arguing that both liberals and radicals are fighting to ensure the same thing - female autonomy - albeit from wholly different angles. In sociology, gender and sexuality studies, feminist theory and more specifically the study of sex-work, there has been a lot said about the position of women and girls involved in the sex-industry, from both these perspectives. Abolitionists such as (MacKinnon, 2005; 2006) & (Pateman, 1999) & (Barry, 1984) & (Dworkin, 1981; 1983; 1997) and liberal feminists (Sanders, 2005; 2006; 2008) & (Bernstein, 2001) & (Augustín, 2007) some of the more well-known figures in the academic arena who have provided great contributions to the academic discourse on this subject. The debate itself stems from long before the so-called 'third wave' feminist turn in the early 1990's. Its roots are firmly planted in second wave feminist theory. See Rubin (1975) among others, arguing in the height of the second wave, for a further exploration into ideas of female agency and empowerment in an attempt to end the “oppressive” discourse that many claimed surrounded female sexuality and agency that had engulfed gender theory, women's studies and feminist theory up until that point. This bold new way of thinking about female sexuality enabled many to argue that if prostitution were to be accepted within society, and prostitute women assimilated and treated as any other woman, that this would negate any exploitation because women would be in control of their lives (Pheterson, 1989). Abolitionists counter this sentiment by comparing it as akin to the parody of Plato's 'Happy Slave' - a mere flimsy embourgeoisement (Edwards, 1993; 89) often confined to the comfortable setting of the academy. Within intellectual circles around the early 1990's, coinciding with the emergence of a new 'third' wave feminist turn, the tide shifted somewhat towards a liberal, or what became known (problematically) as the 'pro-sex' position, with abolitionists and radical feminists labelled as out of touch, self-righteous, stigmatizing, and most damaging of all - stemming from Platonic idealism - that these radical abolitionists were essentialist (Stone, 2013). The radical critique equally upheld its distain for the pro-sex stance labelling this as confined to liberal circles and taken from a position of social and economic privilege – radicals arguing that most women if given the chance would choose a life other than sex-work and that you cannot simply ignore the
structural factors that influence a women's “decision” to enter the world of sex-work which are fundamental in the debate, such as coercion, poverty and low educational attainment to name but a few.
Arguably social policy still favours the abolitionist perspective with the so-called 'Nordic Model' making considerable gains in recent times throughout Europe and parts of the United States (Osborne, 2014) albeit not without significant contention (see: Kulik, 2005). The law proposes a decriminalization of the prostitute woman and criminalises the purchasers of sex, in other words the male clientele. As Svanstrom (2004; 244) points out - on the evidence, criminalizing the client is not the end of the debate in Sweden and elsewhere, and without question the jury is out on how effective the 'Swedish' or Nordic approach will be in terms of enhancing the lives of working women and girls throughout the globe – this is unquestionably an important point to acknowledge. Kulick (2005) raises important doubts towards the moral policing that is taking place in Sweden and elsewhere whereby governments are, in a very Foucaultian sense, setting out forms of 'good' and 'bad' sexuality, he says, whereby sex-work is a stellar example of a societies view on bad forms of sexuality as expressed through its distain for the worker and indeed, ever increasingly, the client.
Outside of this central debate there exists another avenue that up until very recently has remained relatively unexplored. Within feminist theory, the social sciences and more specifically gender and sexuality studies there has been little focus placed upon the client, which up until recently has remained uncharted territory (Monto & McRee, 2005). Equally under examined has been the nature of working girls encounters with these men (Edwards, 1993; 89) which as Weitzer (2012) states has become much more exposed in recent times with the advent of the internet where clients can now discuss their experiences with other clients and interested parties on public platforms.
In recent years, since the early 2000's, there has been some positive light shed upon the client, however rather problematically much of the prior focus which took place in the early 1990’s tended to take a highly medicalized direction often framing these men in terms of venereal disease and sexually transmitted infections (McKeganey & Barnard, 1996). What research that had been conducted through the social sciences had been done so by and large through framing the debate in relation to various forms of sexual aggression and violence. This has undeniably served to place the male-client into a highly problematic category. Quite frankly the male client has been constructed and represented badly within the academy. The categorization of male clients, symbolized by disease and
violence is dangerous. The client operates as a sort of monolith, void of a personage and a subjective historical background, with considerable stigma heaped upon his shoulders. This categorization of men 'as clients' has also presented us with a stagnant reductive entity; void of change and complexity, one who operates almost exclusively out of a desire to harm women and promote his own self-interest, which, as I will attempt to show here, is only a part of a much bigger story.
What merits further research then is a social model, one which moves the focus away from the problematizing health related illness critique and sexual violence discourse - towards a greater understanding of the social relations between the client and the sex-worker - one that is not merely centred on modes of physical and sexual violence and disease, but rather one which seeks to explore the interaction between the sex-worker and the client through a social model of research and more particularly through a sociology of gender, where men and masculinities is at center stage.
A key aim of this research is to highlight how this interaction between client and worker is both complex and rich. Thus what this research is attempting to do is to strengthen the role of sociology in the vast debate. Needless to say, however, that I am not advocating for a passivity surrounding the problematic components of everyday sex-work such as violence, abuse and the transmission of venereal disease etc., which are without doubt fundamental areas of concern and merit much further analysis, attention and resources to understand it - but rather I seek to make the case that we now must expand the conversation beyond the limitations that this previous research has presented to include a much richer analysis of what is going on between actors involved in sex-work and the sex-industry. Indeed this process has already begun and this research herein intends to be an addition to a largely productive, yet critical sociological model of research into the male-client and his participation in the industry.
Without doubt male clients of sex-workers are a diverse group of men (Sanders, 2008) & (Joseph & Black, 2008; 487) & (Bernstein, 2001) & (Monto & McRee, 2005) so when we look to analyse such a ubiquitous group we must immediately acknowledge the significant social variation that exists between men who we deem to be 'clientele'. As Bernstein (2007; 115) rightly points out, in North America and Europe there has been a turn towards an unbridled ethics of sexual consumption i.e. through state efforts to problematize men's demand for sexual services (see also: Kulik, 2005). This has had a deep impact on male behaviour and has undeniably served to stigmatize and problematize the client, unjustly it must be said. Globally these men operate in distinct
geographical space which brings with it social, cultural and political variation which effects (a) their behaviour and (b) their motivations adversely; this is an important point to note. In other words the distinctions between geographical space is stark even within this advanced stage of global capitalism with its homogenizing potential. The client is still a heterogeneous group. For example it has been established that the factors that exist between male clients in Western Europe and clients in South America are not generalizable because of these differences (see: Wonders & Michalowsi, 2001). Even within the ravages of late capitalism and its protégé, advanced globalisation, there remains intact a specificity of cultural nuance divided by superficially defined space, governed by state power. In other words geographical contingency is still maintaining significant cultural heterogeneity, rendering distinctions that seem, up to now at least, hostile to the homogenizing nature of globalization, perhaps superficially.
Contemporary scholarship on sexuality has established that peoples sexual relations are organized in part by their local contexts and communities and in more or less equal measures by personal and social networks (Campenhoudt et al. 1997). Although transnationalism is undermining the nation state in lieu of a global civil society (Keane, 2003) & (Sassen, 2007) many of the distinctions between the social and cultural characteristics amid geographical space remain sharp - for example - in regard to gender relations and socio-economic development, as relevant examples to this analysis. Indeed even looking at sexual desire, a vague concept, there are social, cultural and economic factors at play that undoubtedly heap influence upon the motivations of clients in particular social and political spaces. These factors coupled with disparaging levels of wealth and prosperity can fundamentally alter the behaviour of one set of actors over another. This is apparent in South Eastern Asia within poverty stricken spaces such as many parts of Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines and Vietnam acting as sites for 'sexual tourism' and exploitation (Law, 2000) & (Land, 2012) of women and children (Gaphee, 2006) where privileged Western men take advantage of the opportunities that arise from disparity, destitution and desperation.
This experience is permissible on two accounts. Firstly the exploitation of destitute women and children, via sexual tourism, is inextricably tied into colonial legacy and discourse where the privileged take massive advantage of the poor. Secondly it is prevalent on account of the West’s obsession with the 'Orient' as exemplified by Edward Said (1978) in his seminal text Orientalism - that being the imperial construction of the 'lesser' native through representation and discourse, serving to undermine and quite
literally patronize previously colonized, occupied territories and their inhabitants (Said, 1978; ii). Gregori Spivak (2007) building on Antonio Gramsci accounts for this process through the formation of a 'Subaltern' – that being one who resides outside of the social, cultural and political hegemonic power structure of the colony and the colonized homeland. Although Thailand was the only South Eastern Asian country on the continent to avoid colonization (Reynolds, 2006) it still remained and arguably remains to this day a cultural extension of the 'orient', bringing with it exploitation through a highly racialized geographical and political space (Hui-Tan, 2014). The same can be said for the previous Dutch colonies of Indonesia whereby as (Tucker & Akama, 2009) outline, wealthy Dutch tourists now flock there en masse to enjoy their status elevation and also to exploit the local homeland and its inhabitants. It is difficult not to see this behaviour as what Caffin (2010) calls ‘a mass tourism of neo-colonial practice’.
In addition to spatial relations, the social relations of prostitution also vary greatly (O'Connell Davidson, 1998; 16). For example there is significant variation between independent, self-employed prostitutes and those who are controlled by a third party (Truong, 1990; 184) which has significant influence over the client in that he is operating in different social and legal environments. For example the client in the Netherlands, although facing a certain steady increase in stigma surrounding his behaviour (Munz, 2015), remains protected within the confines of the judicial legal system. In essence his behaviour is legitimized through constitutional law and recognized as appropriate, irrespective of the social ramifications. Thus the Dutch client operates inside the law whereas many, if not the majority of men, do so as criminals - where men who visit sex-workers in illegal contexts are constructed as deviants by nature (Winick, 1962), their behaviour seen a social disgrace (Birch, 2015; 3). Also as Hekma (2005; 211) outlines, we can see how in the Netherlands because of the strong commitment to relations premised upon love, extramarital sex is becoming less tolerated. Therefore we can see that geographical space and social relations, although heavily intertwined, act as significant influences which ensure a plurality of differences among clients' around the globe, rendering it impossible to quantify the client into a reducible entity - nor would we want to for that matter, in risk of creating a monolith.
The topic of indoor prostitution remains considerably under researched. What little work that has been done in this area has tended to focus on “outdoor” street prostitution. The “indoor” or legal sex-work industry is far more impoverished in terms of empirical research and thus requires far greater scrutiny. As one of the leading sex-work
researchers in the field today puts it: “research on modern red-light districts is cantered largely on street prostitution zones. Missing from most of the literature are studies that examine red-light districts consisting of clusters of visible indoor businesses that are legal and regulated by the authorities” (Weitzer, 2015; 1). So knowing that geographically specific male clients behave differently coupled with how men operate in terms of their social and legal status i.e. as deviant or as criminal adversely affects the clients behaviour and thus this distinction must be central to any analysis of the male client. Therefore out of this rationale I am focussing on men operating within the regulated and controlled “indoor” red-light districts within Amsterdam. These men are by no means limited to Dutch natives or citizens, which would be methodologically problematic, but rather comprise of various male actors who are socially diverse. I am interested to know how these men perform their masculinities and in what way, if any, is it different from sexual performance outside of the sex-industry. It has been suggested that this behaviour consists of a highly exaggerated masculine performance (Xantidis & McCabe, 2000) & (Huysamen & Boonzaier, 2014) and this will be explored in further detail. Furthermore I am interested in uncovering the extent of the gender arrangement of the hegemonic masculine relations (Connell, 2005) that are apparent through what Joseph & Black (2008) state as a division between 'consumer types' and 'fragile types' that operate in the industry for different reasons based on pursuits of pleasure and emotional connectivity needs respectfully, but not exclusively.
3.0 Research Methodology
3.1 Introduction
Researching sex-work and those that inhabit the industry can be a difficult undertaking. This is particularly true when a researcher is interested in gathering empirical data
surrounding the direct experiences of those involved. The sex-worker is more often than not skeptical of even the most salubrious researcher and the client even more so. For it is the Dutch client who exists in an increasingly stigmatized environment, operating inside of the law but outside of conventional social taste. Middle-class sensibilities are becoming increasingly offended by the presence of the client in the Netherlands and thus his
presence is becoming ever increasingly challenged. It follows then that gaining access to clients can be a difficult task. In the following pages I will outline the ways in which I went about conducting my research. The bulk of the data consists of eleven semi-structured interviews and a content analysis of the client comment sections on two different online escort review websites. I will start out by offering a justification for the research project itself and the methodology that I employed. Following this will be a discussion of how I went about gathering my information and some of the difficulties that I encountered using these methods. Then I will talk about the layout and structure of the research design which will be followed by a brief discussion surrounding the ethical implications of the research project and how I protected against any possible breaches in sound research practice. Finally I will conclude with a discussion about the limitations of this research project and some of the possible weaknesses throughout.
3.2 Justification for the Research Project and Methods
As already outlined, within the sex-work debate very little focus has been placed upon the client; an almost exclusively male demographic. In recent years, since the early 2000's there has been some light shed upon the client, however, rather problematically, the focus prior to this has tended to take a highly medicalized direction, often framing the client in terms of venereal disease and sexually transmitted infections. What little research that has been conducted through the social sciences has been done so primarily through models of sexual aggression and violence. This has undeniably contributed to the positioning of the male-client into a highly problematic category, overshadowed by a focus on disease and violence, which is problematic for obvious reasons - but none so
more than it has painted the client as a monolith - that being one without complexity and diversity - vital characteristics that recent empirical work has uncovered, see (Jospeh & Black, 2008) & (Monto & McRee, 2005) & (Sanders, 2008) & (Xantadis & McCabe, 2000) for comprehensive scholarship highlighting the diversity, variation and complexities of the male client operating today. What merits further research then is an exploration of the gendered aspects of the male-client which concern his relationship to the commercial sex-industry, and the effect of one upon the other.
We can take it as a certainty that there is a relationship between gender and the sex-industry and thus between masculinities and sex-work. This point does not need clarification and thus a starting point for this research assumes that there is a relationship between masculinities and sex-work. This assumption is based upon the gendered division of labour which presupposes the sexual division of labour inherent at the core of the industry, that being men as players and women as providers. This is a prescribed gender arrangement which, as well documented, has remained almost exclusively true since the birth of the contemporary sex-industry. Where there are prostitute men present in the industry, it is minuscule in comparison to the quantity of female sex-workers. Then an important aim of this research is to contribute towards moving the focus away from the problematizing health related illness critique and sexual violence discourse - towards a greater, more comprehensive understanding of the social relations between client (m) and sex-worker (f) – one that is not merely centered on modes of physical and sexual violence nor sexual health matters, but one which rather seeks to explore the gendered characteristics present in the worker / client interaction. Thus what I am calling for here is a sociology of gender to further penetrate into the debate, encompassing men and masculinities and indeed trying to understand how and why they are involved in Amsterdam's commercial sexual market place. For it is this particular focus which is a crucial aspect of the process that has received relatively little attention up to now, and one which if explored efficiently, can reveal a lot about the social phenomenon we call sex-work, and the location(s) where it is grounded and embodied - the sex-industry. I seek to make the case that we now must widen the scope of the debate to include a much richer analysis of what is really going on between actors involved in the industry, from a rich, qualitative perspective, encompassing the voices of those involved in the practice as opposed to to merely talking about these people from a distance in highly categorizing discourse.
been centered on the grounds of female empowerment and / or disempowerment. An interesting question though remains unclear; what do men get from it? Thus the principle importance of this project lies in that fact that this question remains unanswered. Out of this then I am focussing on men operating within the regulated and controlled red-light districts within Amsterdam. These men comprise of various actors who are diverse in age, ethnicity, nationality and 'race'. I am interest to know how and why this diverse group of men perform their masculinities at the site of the highly sexualized female corpus and in what way, if any, is it different from sexual performance outside of the commercial sex-industry. I am also interested in uncovering the extent of the gender arrangement that results from the hegemonic masculine relations between different male-clients.
3.3 Methods of Obtaining Data and the Difficulties Encountered Along
the Way
As I have previously stated researching clients or 'johns' is a relatively difficult group to research. Without doubt gaining access to these men was a challenging task. At the beginning of this project, in December 2014, I began to search for potential clientele who would be interested to talk to me in short thirty to forty-five minute semi-structured interviews. After three weeks of trying to access clients through online sources, with little success, I decided to offer small cash payments for clients that were willing to take part in my interviews. This resulted in six replies and three actual interviews derived from this method which took place at the end of January and the start of February. The rest of my interviews were as a result of a direct approach method combined with 'snowballing'. Through the direct approach method I approached client's on the street in Amsterdam's Red Light District. This itself took a considerable effort whereby roughly one in six men were willing to talk to me meaning that out eight men interviewed in this way I had to approach nearly fifty individual men. This in itself was not an easy task. I began to notice a pattern among men that were willing to talk to me that being that more men were willing to engage in the evening than in the daytime. This anomaly was consistent for the first three days of data collection. I decided to abandoned my daytime trips to the Red Light District(s) and I only went searching for clients when it was getting dark. I can only surmise that the daytime clientele had more to hide and thus sought greater discretion than their evening time counterparts - although this sentiment is not verifiable, but remains an interesting occurrence nonetheless. Perhaps the daytime men felt
uncomfortable levels of exposure brought about by the sunlight which possibly provoked greater feelings of visibility which was not agreeable to them for whatever reasons. The bulk of the interviews were conducted between March and May of 2015. Every evening on various days between these dates I waited in locations around Amsterdam's De Wallen. Below is listed an account of my first interview and how it came about more or less as transcribed into my field notes:
February 3rd 2015: 7.45pm: I began this evening by choosing the correct outfit - I was conscious that today I was going to be approaching men in the RLD and I wanted to find the right balance between agreeable yet austere. I was well aware of the hidden implications of traversing the social barriers that are carefully policed inside De Wallen. I opted for normal blue jeans (as oppossed to my usual skinny jean), a black tee-shirt and grey trainers – a positively normal outfit. That is exactly what I wanted.
8.30pm: Arriving at De Wallen I immediately went towards a safe-place. I aim towards a bar on Wamrerstraat called ' The Hill Street Blues' – a bar I came to some ten years prior. I presumed that perhaps I may bump into a perspective interviewee here as it is a bar on the middle of the Warmerstraat and attracts many people through its door. I arrived there and I prepared myself by drinking a glass of beer at the bar. Sitting alone, staring at the bar, preparing myself for my task a stranger at the bar made a remark in Dutch. I told him that my Dutch was not very good to which he said with a wry smile, after spending two or three seconds finding the right words, “a penny for your thoughts”. I smiled back and immediately I began thinking of a suitable reason that I should be staring at the bar in such an empty state. Void of anything plausible to say I decided to own up. “I'm just waiting, actually” I confessed. “I have to conduct some research and I'm just thinking about how best to do it”. “Research” this man questioned. “Yes, it's for my thesis and I'm researching client's of prostitutes in Amsterdam so I have to research client's and I'm best wondering how to go about it” I said laughing. “Client's?” Well look no further”, he said amid hysterical laughter. I offered to buy him a beer to which he accepted. We moved down the back of the bar and found a more suitable place to talk. I brought my recording device to the table and began to record.
Each successful interview was conducted on the premise of a conversation over a glass of beer. Most of the interviews surpassed the time spent to consume one beer and often I
spent up to one hour with each client. The variations in interviews were from between twenty minutes to one hour, where the average interview was thirty-six minutes, meaning that there were good opportunities for substantial conversations and engagement. The skill here though was maintaining relevancy towards the research question.
In some of the interviews there was considerable digression off-topic, but this was easily managed by steering the conversation towards what was relevant to the research question at hand. Indeed at the data analysis stage, upon a reading of the primary interview recordings, some of the digression proved to be fruitful and relevant to the topic at hand. For example one client “Rick” referred a lot to his position as a tourist which at the time I judged superfluous. However after a deeper reading of this omission it proved to be highly relevant. The consumption of local delights such as marijuana and alcohol was tied in heavily to his consumption of the female body, as referenced in his statement (to be seen in the following pages). Thus an important, perhaps obvious, lesson here for any researcher is that sometimes the superfluous can often transform into the sublime. Therefore we should pay heady attention to what is written between the lines.
Using a content analysis was a very practical and efficient way to extract data that was relevant to the research. Owing to the explosion of online media over the past two decades we have seen the construction of cyber platforms where men talk, very candidly, about their experiences with sex-workers. Here we can see, in real time, clientele statements about their direct experiences with the working women that they patronize, giving us very rich and revealing insights into clientele behaviour and motivation.
3.4 Layout and Structure
The lay out and structure of this research purposefully avoids a conventional approach. This research is presented with both the empirical data and theoretical considerations combined into one large section which I hope makes for a far more interesting reading than a conventional segregated approach can offer. This style of writing was selected primarily because I wanted to try and maintain a natural 'story-like' feel throughout the research as opposed to writing in blocks, which can sometimes present a stagnant development, making for a dull reading (and writing) experience. Writing in this way is not only rewarding for the writer, but undoubtably for the reader too. It provides a rich contextual and thematic framework for which the experience of the research participant is not rendered as far removed from the comprehensibility of the reader (and writer) as is
often the case with other presentation styles such as the conventional 'blocked' approach with segregated sectional headings.
The main bulk of the thesis consists of a prelude, an introduction, the methodology, the main body comprising of data and theory, a conclusion which includes discussion about the possibilities for future research based on the success and shortcomings of this research. In all the research (excl. headings & bibliography) comes in at about 27,000 words in total. The majority of this content lies in the main body thus making this the most important section of the research. The reason for placing the methodology before the main body is so that the reader has in mind an understanding for the style prior to engaging with the text and furthermore it is useful to know the challenges that were met in the process before engaging with what could otherwise seem as a cool, smooth, flawless process as set on paper as a finished product. In other words, the bumps and blemishes are better known prior to engagement in order to satisfy a fuller and more rounded reading of the research project.
3.5 Ethical Considerations
Diener & Crandall (1978) first illustrated the now infamous ethical guidelines to sound social research that a researcher must ask herself before conducting research:
1. Whether there is harm to participants.
2. Whether there is a lack of informed consent. 3. Whether there is an invasion of privacy. 4. Whether deception is involved.
Using a direct approach method to gain access to clients meant that there was a considerable level of intrusion into the private lives of the research participants. However, similar to any street sales person approaching a potential customer, the individuals I approached retained a conversational preserve over the interaction, which meant they were free to engage with me or not, as they so desired. Many men did simply walk past with little or no acknowledgement towards me. In fact most of the men that I approached (roughly 85%) refused to engage in any substantial way. The 15% or so who were willing to partake made up the eleven interviews that I conducted. It was these men then for whom I had to give ethical consideration to. I ensured that my questions were not in any
way obtrusive or loaded. For example I did not make reference to a topic that may cause offense such as domestic abuse or childhood experiences. I was conscious of the sensitive nature of our arrangement and thus maintained discretion, as far as I could. There was no deception involved and I ensured that I received informed consent from the participants prior to conducting the interviews. Finally in the research I changed each participants name, giving them an alias, in order to protect their anonymity throughout.
3.6 Limitations of the Research
Semi-structured interviews and content analysis offers the researcher invaluable opportunities to include a human voice into the study of social phenomena that one cannot obtain through purely quantifiable means. As Bryman (2012; 179) outlines “the analysis of relationships between variables creates a static view of social life that is independent of people's lives.” Using primary statements (face-to-face interviews) in conjunction with secondary statements it enabled the research to acquire a wholesome account of client behaviour, more or less directly from the source. It enabled me to include a process of interpretation or definition that occurs in all human groups. This was essential for my research. However there is justifiable concerns towards these methods in that many skeptical empirical researchers will argue that with this interpretive style of research it lends too much to subjectivity and thus cannot be classified as generalizable, replicable or transparent. These are indeed genuine concerns and they must be acknowledged and kept in mind when undertaking a reading of human behaviour through an interpretive lens. However in true interpretive spirit it is thus up to the reader to evaluate to what extent this research is saying anything, if at all, about the evaluation of human behaviour that succeeds this concern in the following pages.
One of the more practical concerns however is that in using these qualitative methods– we have to trust the clientele statements as truth. With the interviews there is the added bonus of a face-to-face evaluation that can offer the researcher an opportunity to detect exaggeration or falsehood through follow up questioning of a prior omission. Furthermore the visual element of the face-to-face interaction means that the researcher can observe body language and gestures that can reveal a lot about the integrity of the client. However there is a point of acceptance that the qualitative researcher must reach based upon the respondents omission and it is for that that these methods can be viewed as weak for we must rely upon the honesty and integrity of the respondent.
Throughout this research project I have attempted to present my arguments in an explanatory manner. As a result I have thus been constructing meaning through my engagement with knowledge production. I must acknowledge these productive effects that are inherent within this research as very real and fundamental consequences of the succeeding analysis. However if perhaps looked at inversely, this constructive component to the research process could be viewed as a positively human element in the process of sociological enquiry, one which brings the research subject back into social analysis in an attempt to move away from impersonal, static social research that has become a significant component to a lot of positivistic sociological enquiry. Indeed these inductive elements of positivist epistemology are arrived at through the creation of knowledge which provide the basis for value free laws which rely deeply on the human senses. This research style seeks to push beyond that myth of the senses and approach conclusions through a constructionist framework. The following research is an hommage to this sentiment.
4.0 ‘What Makes a Man?’ A Brief Genealogy of Masculinities, Explaining
Hegemonic Masculinity, and the Established Consensus within the
Academy.
Lebowski: What makes a man? Dude: Uh, I don’t know, sir.
Lebowski: Is it being prepared to do the right thing, whatever the cost? Isn’t that what makes a man?
Dude: Umm.. Sure. That and a pair of testicles. -The Big Lebowski (1998)
Masculinity is, at its core, a perpetual achievement. Men are ceaselessly at risk of being considered insufficiently masculine (Beneke, 1997). As Birch (2015; 51) outlines men are socially conditioned to place more emphasis on physical intimacy, such as a physical sexual encounter, rather than display the emotional intimacy which coincides with physical acts. Seemingly for many clients the relatively easy access to female sex-workers serves to reinforce male assurances about their potential to successfully obtain sex and to not fail at obtaining female partners and bodies. This is an important factor for heteronormative masculinities; the ability to obtain female bodies for sexual intercourse, where failure to do so can raise pressing questions about a man's ability to control his gender requirements. In many respects acquiring control over one’s own masculinity means gaining control of the female subject (Cahill, 2012) & (O'Connell Davidson, 1998). As Joseph & Black (2008; 488-489) point out “'real men' are expected to display sexual prowess and to ‘‘conquer’’ women in their pursuit of pleasure and sexual interactions, unencumbered by emotional attachment”. In other words successful masculinities are associated with sexual voraciousness, virility and prowess and ultimately, control - not just of women but moreover self-control and self-restraint. This can been through the suppression of overt emotional displays, well documented now in popular culture in ironic ways, whereby ‘boys don’t cry’ (The Cure, 1983) and most definitely ‘big boys don’t cry’ (10cc, 1975) ad infinitum. Then, arguably, successful masculinity is associated with control over ‘the other’ and ‘the self’ whereby emotional restraint is key.
Taken from the Coen brothers 1998 comedy ‘The Big Lebowski’ the joke above captures something important about masculinity - in fact it is hard to say what it is all
about conclusively. Masculinity and more recently masculinities have been well criticized for being problematic concepts (Hearn, 1996) & (Clatterbaugh, 1998) & Peterson (1998). Furthermore masculinities are highly contingent, unstable and contested spaces within gender relations (Connell, R.W. 2006; 73) & (Jackson, P. 1991) & (Dawson, G. 1994) & (Bonnett, A. 1999). And as Connell (2000; 15) outlines, some scholars have even raised doubts about the usefulness of the concept. Just like ‘The Dude’ above, Clatterbaugh (1998) rightly points to the vagueness of masculinity as a concept when you begin to unravel it. Working through definitions of masculinity he found them mostly vague, circular and inconsistent.
One of the central developments in recent years in masculinity studies has been provided by Raewyn Connell (1995) who has successfully widened the focus of the concept from men and masculinity to a plurality of masculinities belonging to a variety of men and more recently through the efforts of Judith Halberstam (1998) - even women and girls. Now the framework of examination for succeeding research on masculinity is most likely to be undertaken through this hegemonic framework, or in other words the hierarchical approach to masculinity which acknowledges a plurality of masculinities. However this central concept in masculinity studies has itself faced considerable critique in that as Connell (2005) notes, it has been pointed out that people tend to reify the term meaning that it becomes a fixed character, in which a crucial outcome of this means that all of the many objectionable things that men do can now be accounted for because of hegemonic masculinity. In other words it has shifted the focus away from social structure and power relations and has subsequently served to 'psychologize' social problems. Connell herself acknowledges this conundrum as a theoretical concern, but also a practical one too. Thus one of the central concerns with hegemonic masculinities theory is that it has the potential to debase issues of social importance and progression i.e. gender equality, social justice, women's rights and so on which are all heavily reliant on realizing both social structures and power relations in order to advance as collective social movements. Now theorizing through hegemonic masculinity - the more extreme the behaviour, the less it has to be owned by the majority of men. In other words, problematic behaviour becomes marginalized, passed off as a condition of toxic, sporadic or extreme masculinity and not accounted to a majority of men who simply disown it. Then patriarchal systems of oppression, for example, are futile on account of a lack of collective ownership and thus the struggle against women’s oppression is fragmented and dislocated on account of the lack of a common, identifiable 'enemy' to rally against.
In many respects hegemonic masculinity individualizes social problems and places far less emphasis on group struggles for equality and collective ownership of social problems. Yet despite the considerable theoretical and practical dislocation that hegemonic masculinities produces, the great advantage here is that masculinity is now torn open to encompass a much broader reading of the male gender order and to cater for alternative expressions of male hood and ‘manliness’ - far greater than before.
Indeed in this light masculinity and the way we have come to understand the meanings of the term should be acknowledged as temporally, geographically and culturally contingent (Berg & Longhurst, 2003; 352). In other words our understanding of masculinities is dependent on where and when they are located. As Karen Lysaght (2002) states “masculinities should be seen as relational and contingent, subject to transformation depending upon locational and positional change”. Since the ancient Greeks began 'civilising' human behaviour at the start of the archaic period, through to antiquity and the middle ages, throughout the enlightenment period and the industrial and post-industrial societies of the 19th and 20th centuries, into this very moment 'the 'information' or 'knowledge' age - masculinity has remained as ever changeable and in a constant state of redefinition (Kuefler, 2001; 4). This then paves the way for a rich reading of masculinity, as open and fluid and susceptible to transformation and change as opposed to rigid, fixed and unchangeable. Then it is here where real change can take place and it is here where men have the possibility to flourish and to realise their full potential away from stagnant and, frankly, tired expressions of heteronormative manhood. To paraphrase Gayle Rubin (1975; 52), it is the notion and acceptance of change that has the potential to liberate both human personality and many forms of sexual expression from the straight-jacket of gender.
Indeed linear constructions of masculinity stretch back for centuries, at least, and can be found in imbedded into the very fabrics of human culture. The symbolic resonances of the ideal male were epitomised as far back as, at least, classical Greece in the 5th century BC (Potts, 2007; 170). As MacInnes (2001; 311) points out, in pre-modern literature the debate surrounding gender went beyond the social, and arguments were made about the biological and natural elements of gender formation. For example Sanders (2008) illustrates how over time men’s high drive for sex has been constructed within Western culture as a ‘‘biological need’’ that demands to be satisfied by quick and unemotional sexual release. Consequently any lack of female attainment can raise crucial questions about a man's commitment to his heterosexuality owing to his inability to
satisfy his biological drive. In previous times it was commonplace to justify sex-work as a necessary extension of masculinity, through this biological rational (see: Kinsey, 1948). In essence it was prominent men, well placed in society, carefully constructing male sexuality in terms a legitimate biological expression of dominance and superiority. Thus we can use history to emphasise the inherently political nature of gender itself, historically changing and politically fraught (Connell, 2005; 3). For example Nelson (2011) outlines how in London in the 1960’s there appeared in the British public space, for the first time, a third public gender made up of "effeminate homosexuals or ‘sodomites’ [sic]”. This ‘third gender’ challenged the absolute nature of such binary (op)positioning and it contested the restricted heterosexuality that had presided over the lives of the majority of men, and consequently it led many 'out of the closet'. This then highlights how the establishment of new forms of identity variation should often be seen as highly political, transformational occurrences – which subsequently upset normative standards and challenge conventional practice and taste.
Gender studies is a relatively recent discipline and its focus on masculinities even more so. This approach is one that varies from 'men's studies' in that within gender studies the centrality of power issues are recognized. To put it another way, the power imbalance between what we constitute as male and female is acknowledged and taken into account. Connell (2005; 23) outlines how it wasn’t until the 1950’s that the first comprehensive accounts of masculinity appeared in American social science journals. However it wasn't until the 1970's that feminist scholars began to shift the focus of attention towards masculinity (Vance, 1995; 38) & (Katz, 1999; 16).
Carrigan et. al (1987) assert that the starting point for any understanding of masculinity must be men's involvement in the social relations that constitute the gender order. However it is crucial that any attempt to locate masculinity must acknowledge what Mary O’Brien (1981) mockingly calls 'malestream' accounts which concern cases whereby men are not explicitly present but yet presumed to be the focus of attention. This arises through an implicit male universality or ‘mankind’; the great humanity that is written both by and for men with women on the side-lines playing a supporting role. As Judith Butler (1990) puts it "indeed there are not two genders, there is only one: the feminine - the masculine not being a gender for the masculine is not the masculine but the general". Often where men are represented it is done so in a way that does not problematize ‘men’. Thus I posit that any further analysis of men and masculinities should be done (a) through a critical lens and (b) crucially by thinking relationally about versions of masculinity and
versions of femininity as opposed to approaching them as dichotomous.
Finally the debate surrounding men and masculinity has developed in recent times and masculinity is now considered quite strictly in terms of its intersectionality – that being a relational or causal effect between masculinity (gender), ethnicity, class, nationhood and ‘race’. Indeed masculinity and sex-work has a fraught relationship and the significant development in this area is the acknowledgment of a significant variation in the masculinities of male-clients of sex-workers. In other words, there is a variety of men operating for a variety of reasons. Some of the more notable studies surrounding this interaction are (Monto & McRee, 2005) & (Sanders, 2008) & (Joseph & Black, 2008) & (Xantidis & McCabe, 2000) & (Weitzer, 2012). In these studies the principle reasons why men visit sex-workers generally fall into five or six general motivations:
•Some men have difficulty finding a partner for a conventional relationship;
•Some men are unsatisfied with their current partnered relationship;
•Some men patronize sex workers in order to bolster their masculinity;
•Some men seek to abuse other people and target sex workers because they are viewed as accessible and unlikely to report victimization to the police;
•Some men are looking to fulfil a fantasy with a person who will engage in desired activities (such as role playing or sadomasochism), someone with a desired physical appearance, ethnicity, or cultural background (often based on stereotypes of other nationalities), or someone of a different sexual orientation (e.g., heterosexual men experimenting with gay or transgender individuals; heterosexual women seeking lesbian experiences, etc.).
Source: Ronald Weitzer (2012)
These particular criteria are well established credentials of male-client participation in the global sex-work industry. Within sociology the patronage of sex-workers is acknowledged as a procedure of empowerment and for this reason I make the case that all of these motivations are deeply related to masculinity / masculinities. These motivations, already
well documented, are therefore not the primary focus of this research but rather how and moreover why does this procedure takes place. In other words the analysis here is concerned with the implementation of these masculine agendas through how the male-client performs his gender at the highly symbolic site of the female body, and why these performances are so important for so many men. This particular focus is of interest in conjunction with the motivational factors that are outlined in Weitzer’s summary above which are also apparent from my analysis below. In the following discussion we will examine the intersectionality between ethnicity, race, nation and class in the process of masculine identity construction. This will be followed by a discussion on clientele identity formation. We will then move on to the female body and question what do men get from their interaction with the female object / subject. Then we will turn to discourse and offer an explanation of the importance of language and narrative in the formation of male-client identity. After this we will discuss the economization of sex and the potential for female autonomy through sex-work. Finally we will end with an exploration of alternative client masculinities, those who patronize sex-workers for different reasons than their peers. All of these discussions will be explored using interviewee statements and various content relevant to the discussion.
5.0 Black Skin & Red Lights: Intersectionality and the Importance of
Ethnicity, Race and Nation in Amsterdam’s Red Light District.
The past has thought us that there are certain culturally and socially exemplar forms of masculinity. These ideals are indeed historical. In fact, more accurately they are products of antiquity “owing much to the formation of classical civilization” (Potts, 2007). The hierarchal formation of masculinity brings with it significant pressures for men to perform to greater demands than other variations in the masculine gender order. For instance when we look at vulnerable types experiencing doubt, uncertainty, indecisiveness, shyness and so on - they are generally regarded as possessing ‘low’ masculinities - something lacking - resulting from their devaluation in the sexual market place and the wider political economy i.e. lacking the voracious, stoic, self-assured, strong and powerful attributes associated with hegemonic masculinity. This hegemony is inextricably linked to the wider arena of identity politics encompassing ethnicity, nation, ‘race’ and class. So we should be immediately clear that it is not merely masculinity standing alone that operates somehow independently, void of other influences, but rather gender is inextricably tied to history, to race, to class, to ethnicity and to nation and therefore masculinity must be thought of as contextual, interdependent and relational. As Séan Nixon (2013; 295) puts it “it is impossible to isolate the elements that make up the masculinity of men without recognizing their dependence upon ethnicity and race, among other factors”. Kimberlé Crinshaw (2004), looking at discrimination, further highlights the bind between gender and race in what she has now infamously described as the 'intersectionality' between various forms of identity, such as race, gender and class, “...all of which operate in combination with the other to influence the material position of the individual or group inside of the political economy” (Creese & Stasiulis, 1996). The 'material position' is manifest in the day-to-day experiences of many men of racial ‘difference’ for example. Furthermore, subversive types i.e. those who seem to be in a constant state of limbo between fixed gender categorization, such as trans and queer individuals, are also greatly affected by their position as ‘other’ in the sexual and political economy. There are two key points to take from this. Firstly, masculinity acts in unison in an interrelationship with other socially symbolic identity categories which greatly effects the material position of men in the wider political economy. Secondly, and crucially, masculinity is subject to change and therefore is not, by any means, a fixed or stagnant entity. Men do have the potential to flourish according to their will of they so desire, freed
from the straight-jacket of gender and sexuality. However as we will see this is perhaps a bourgeois luxury akin to some Wildean fantasy of decadency. It must be reported that there are very real structural forces which can render it difficult to achieve transcendence from one’s own rigid identity category. An actor who does so inside of hostile territory can often face considerable political and / or social sanctioning. An example may be a teenage boy in a working-class industrial township in Northern England for example, or a rugby changing room in a South London borough perhaps. Gender transgression here could spell real trouble for any actor in both of these hypothetical scenarios.
This notion of the interrelationship between identities can be seen very clearly in Wes’s story. Wes is originally a Surinamese national who obtained Dutch citizenship a little under a decade ago. He is unemployed and lives in social housing in the Bijlmer (an infamous working class immigrant neighbourhood, south of Amsterdam’s inner city). Because of his status as “allochtoon” (one who will never fully be recognised as Dutch) he experiences his status as client through a double-bind. He experiences the usual stigma of being a client in Dutch society (an ever increasingly stigmatised position) but furthermore his experience is married to a status as a deeply racialized, brown-skinned immigrant. This dual status serves to highlight the tension between gender, race and class as he experiences it and as he illustrates himself it has a very tangible effect on the symbolic and material quality of his life.
Q. What is it for you that is appealing about working girls?
Wes: It’s easy. It’s easy to get sex. Over here it is hard for somebody who is not like the locals to find a person. Even some of the [working] girls don’t want to sleep with a black man. A lot of them think we are dirty and they just look away if you walk past. They prefer to be with a white man. Even the black girls prefer the white men because I think they think it is safer and if they have to choose they will be with them.
Q. Do you really think so?
Wes: Yes. I know so. I know so. Sometimes it is difficult for me to find a girl who will open her door to me.
Wes: Because I’m black. And old. And a bit rough looking. They don’t want to take that chance on me.
This case of discrimination is not isolated by any means. Indeed for many of the subaltern underclass living in the Netherlands the reality of their participation in the sex-work industry is heavily influenced by their ethnic and racial categorization which are telling factors about their wider social and political rejection from Dutch society. Conjoined to this is their socio-economic position, which in combination with racial “difference”, heaps influence upon their social position in Dutch society (Tillie & Slijper, 2007). Given that Amsterdam is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in Europe (Vasta, 2007) there is considerable grounds for further research into migrant men’s experience in the sex-work industry as clients. An insight which unfortunately this research cannot unveil as there was significantly low migrant or “non-Dutch” participation in the data-collection process, probably owing directly to their status as migrant which could produce understandable fear about talking to an anonymous researcher asking intrusive questions about their lives. Nonetheless Wes gave me what I would safely assume to be a common experience for a non-national of noticeable racial “difference” compared to the native white - that being one who is racialized and superficially stigmatized on top of their status as client. In other words they are seen as black, dirty, poor, aggressive ad infinitum on top of their problematic ‘client’ status. This point was made clear by one client of sex-workers from Western Europe who views black clients as problematic and as a general nuisance.
Q. What kind of men are client’s?
Jason: It’s mainly these old Japanese men I reckon. But you do see every type though to be fair. You always see lots of black guys trying to haggle the price down. Trying to get a shady deal [laughing].
…They stand there haggling with the girls and [the girls] are like ‘go fuck off, keep walking you fucker’ and on they go to the next window, they’re a fucking pain in the ass.
Here one client criticizes another in what he deems to be a general, even established, issue with black clients in Amsterdam’s Red Light District [RLD]. Though Wes also acknowledges his position as an undesirable in the sexual market place on account of his ethnic / racial status. This is a good example of ‘client policing’ whereby men act as guardians surrounding the boundaries of acceptable client behaviour and membership. What is remarkable though is that from the perspective of the male buyer seeking working girls, both race and nation are very often seen as positives, even essentials concerning the purchase of sex. In essence having the ability to choose according to one’s desire is empowering. It is clear that many clients in the RLD seek out racialized, ‘exotic others’ to play with. As Elizibeth Bernstein puts it “Amsterdam's RLD is a dense microcosm of the global sexual marketplace, where race and nation, as much as sex and gender, are culled and proffered as commodities for sale” (Bernstein, 2007; 142).
Jap: I get to choose the most gorgeous girls who are my type. These girls also fulfil all my sexual desires! I can take a black one or an Asian. Where else could you do that? You can’t just walk up to a black girl in a bar and say ‘hey I want you because you’re black’. But in the windows, you can.
Akin to picking out the colour of his gorgeous new sports car – he is able to walk up and down Oudekerksplein and pick out his favourite coloured girl to toy with. The ability to choose so freely according to one’s desire is empowering and highly liberating for any actor. This notion of consumer choice and ‘window-shopping’ for pleasure is highly representative of modern consumer culture – the abundance of coloured bodies brought in on the tide of globalisation to be consumed and proffered by the native European. It is very symbolic of the consumer culture originating in the United States in the early 20th century in what we know today as the department store - through the act of leisure shopping and conspicuous consumption which began to replace necessity shopping at the turn of the 19th century (Laermans, 1993).
Amsterdam’s Red Light District resembles the modern open-air shopping mall in the United States… windows and windows of women to choose from—every size, shape, and colour. The red light district seems designed to be a sex tourist’s Mecca. The range of
services for the leisure traveller includes sex clubs, sex shows, lingerie and S&M clothing shops, condomories, and a sprinkling of porno stores.
-Wonders & Michalowski (2001; 553)
Indeed this notion of an open-air shopping mall is very profound. In Jap’s omission ‘black one’ the ‘one’ is very interesting. It is a reference here, undeniably, to ‘one’ of a specific kind. A special commodity for sale in the market-place, or as Bernstein would put it, ‘a sort of rare delicacy that begs to be tried’, positioned amid more conventional items that are tried and tested.
In relation to this desire for the exotic we can see quite clearly how in modern times, owing largely to the achievements of globalisation, coupled with ever cheaper air travel, many men from the prosperous global north travel south to Latin America to avail of what Kempadoo & Doezema (1998) state as “exotic delights” - that being brown skinned 'Latino' women and girls - where men can experience the double advantage of 'other' exotic flesh as well as at the same time enjoy a heightened sense of their own white, male, heterosexual privilege over the economically marginalized and highly racialized native other. This process of racial empowerment is just as prevalent in Amsterdam where many men come to seek out ethnically and racially specific women and girls for reasons of self-interest.
Q. Why did you choose to be with [the Brazilian]? Is that what you were after?
Jason: Yeah, I wanted some Latino bitch straight from the Favela’s [Brazilian Ghetto].
…I wanted a girl who has probably been at it [prostitution] for years. Some sexy little thing. When I was outside the [window] I was thinking ‘right this has to be done, just man up and go and do it’ - because I had some nerves but then I thought ‘man she’s the whore and I’m the customer just go in and fuck her. That’s what she’s there for’.
Inextricably tied into this clients discourse are notions of race, class, nation and ultimately socio-economic deprivation. Again the whore complex becomes apparent whereby his own justification for his behaviour falls onto her somehow ‘inevitable’ role as a ‘cock
