Titanic and McSex: accomplishing masculinities among Chinese men who buy sex

Abstract

It is argued that a profound transformation of personal lives has taken place in late modern Western societies. In particular traditional ‘procreative’ and modern ‘companionate’ models of sexuality have been increasingly supplemented by ‘recreational’ sexual ethics. Hong Kong follows a similar but somewhat different path due to its Confucian Chinese culture, British colonial history (1842-1997) and the rapid advance of globalization. Departing from traditional masculine roles, Hong Kong men are struggling among different discourses of heterosexual male sexuality and are increasingly preoccupied with the construction of a new self. It is under this background that I would like to explore the newly emerged scripts for Chinese masculinities. Based on 24 in-depth interviews and 2 focus group discussions conducted since 2012 of Hong Kong heterosexual men who buy sex, this paper examines these men’s involvement with commercial sex in relation to their male identity. Following Rofel (2007), I will argue that these men are a desiring subject with ‘sexual, material, and affective self-interest’. They have a wide range of aspirations, needs and longings for love, sex and relationship. Some are proud of paying for rather impersonal sex with as many women as they wish (McDonaldization of sex, or McSex) while others passionately seek intense emotional intimacy with female sex workers and refer themselves as a member of a ‘sunken boat’ or Titanic, the local parlance for male clients who fall in love with sex workers. It is through these different engagements with female sex workers that we can understand the emerging Chinese masculinities in Hong Kong. Through a sociological analysis of men’s commercial sexual experiences in Hong Kong, this research joins the current international debate to rethink masculinity in relation to the changing gender order between the sexes under the new urban sexual culture of post-industrial capitalism.