Purchasing sex, consuming love: masculinity of male clients in the Chinese Sex Industry

Abstract

Studies indicate that approximately 300,000-400,000 men visited female sex workers in Hong Kong in 2010. These men, known as male clients, are morally condemned and socially ostracised, and as a result usually hide their identities and live double lives. In spite of such a considerably sizable population, we know relatively little about them. Based on 20 in-depth interviews and 2 focus group discussions with Hong Kong men who have bought sex since 2012, this paper discusses these men’s involvement with commercial sex in relation to their male identity, e.g., why they buy sex, how such experiences relate to masculinity, and how they handle the stigmatized identity of a client. Through a sociological analysis of men’s commercial sexual experiences in Hong Kong, this research sheds new light on this assumed ‘deviant’ sexual behaviour and stigma in terms of male identity and coping strategies, and rethinks the ethics of sexual consumption in everyday life and ultimately the nature of masculinity, male desires, and human sexuality.