Men Selling Sex to Men: Representations, Identities, and Experiences in Contemporary London
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Men Selling Sex to Men: Representations, identities, and experiences in contemporary London A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Allan Tyler, MSc FHEA 2015 School of Law and Social Sciences London South Bank University 23 October 2015 Tyler, A Men Selling Sex to Men 2 Declaration ‘I certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author alone; the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; the content of the thesis is the result of work which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved research program; any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged; and, ethics procedures and guidelines have been followed.’ Signed: Allan Tyler Date: 23 October 2015 With corrections submitted Date: 10 June 2016 Tyler, A Men Selling Sex to Men 3 Acknowledgements I owe particular gratitude to the men who allowed me to interview them, listen to their stories and learn about their experiences that have become the centre of this research. Special thanks to my supervision team: my director of studies, Professor Emeritus Jeffrey Weeks for offering his professional insight, paternal guidance and mischievous fraternity; Professor Paula Reavey for her wit and humour, even whilst insisting on clarifications that have helped me to strengthen my arguments and feel more confident in my work; and to both for the professional opportunities to teach and write in their company. Thanks also to Dr. Meg John Barker who was included in that team and has remained an ally and an inspiration and to Dr. Eric Chaline who originally recommended London South Bank University and introduced me to this team. I want to acknowledge the support, both formal and informal that I have received from the university, the departments and organisations now named as the School of Law and Social Sciences (Social Sciences Division), the School of Applied Sciences (Psychology Division), the Weeks Centre for Social and Policy Research, and the Faculty Office. Kind thanks to Dr. Bev Goring, Professor Marisa Silvestri, Dr. Chamion Caballero and the late Professor Michal Lyons for their collegiality and friendships. On friendship, I have had the pleasure of making so many friends and Dr. Laura McGrath, Dr. Jacqui Lawrence, and Dr. Frances Lyons added some bright spots to the journey. Liz, Ian, Nuno, Tim, Margaret, and Ruth from the RaRE study were supportive and enthusiastic colleagues. Thanks foremost to my families, biological and ‘logical’ for reminding me that you’re never really lost if you can remember where you’ve come from: Alby, Ali, Anna, Casey, CCT, Christopher, Clint, Coco, Connie, Dad, Dave, Donna, Eric, Jeff, Jono, Karsty, Kath, KeKi, ‘the kids’, Lenore, Mags, Marky Mark, Mum, Naomi, Nicki-Noo, Pam, the Raiders, Riana, Scout, Sherie, Tam and Trish (and your families!) Thank you for sustaining, entertaining and distracting me from myself. Thank you for advice from Belinda, Cat, David, Justin, Teela and Tyler, A Men Selling Sex to Men 4 so many academic and activist colleagues and friends, particularly John, Victor, Bill, Peter, Richard, Mary, Katy, Nicki, Steeve, Craig, and Sue who edited and commented on my published work. Finally, thanks – in advance, as I write this – to Professor Emeritus Janet Holland and Professor Nick Mai who will be the first to read this, having waited patiently for me to finally finish. My research was financially supported, with appreciation, in part by grants from London South Bank University, the former organisation of the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences and the formerly organised Psychology Department (now Division). To complete this research, I received funding in the form of a three-year full-time studentship from the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences at London South Bank University, several small grants to attend training and conferences, and valuable space and support from administration of the faculty and the university. Sections of this thesis have been adapted into book chapters and now form a part of the literature on British men who sell sex to men and how men use advertising to sell sex in the 21st century (Tyler, 2014, 2015a, 2015b). Tyler, A Men Selling Sex to Men 5 Table of Contents Declaration 2 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... 3 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 12 1.1. What is going on here? ................................................................................................. 12 1.2. An old story................................................................................................................... 15 1.3. A new story ................................................................................................................... 18 1.4. Aims and outline of the thesis ....................................................................................... 21 1.5. Summary ....................................................................................................................... 27 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................. 29 2.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 29 2.1.1 Research narratives and sexual stories .................................................................. 30 2.2. Defining (the literature of) sex work ............................................................................ 31 2.3. A catalogue of ‘exploitation’ and definitions of ‘agency’ ............................................ 33 2.3.1 Reporting risk (and resilience) for populations who sell sex ................................ 34 2.3.2 Researching the agentic subject ............................................................................. 38 2.3.3 Gendered agency ................................................................................................... 40 2.4. Men selling sex to men ................................................................................................. 42 2.4.1 Shifting discourses of Men Selling Sex to Men .................................................... 43 2.5. Life Patterns .................................................................................................................. 45 2.5.1 One researcher’s linguistic shift from ‘life patterns’ to typologies ....................... 46 2.6. Summary ....................................................................................................................... 49 CHAPTER 3: QUEER ADVERTISING AS TEXTS ............................................................. 51 3.1. Queer Theory ................................................................................................................ 51 3.1.1 Defining ‘queer’: the queer paradox ...................................................................... 53 3.1.2 Queer sex work ...................................................................................................... 53 3.1.3 Queer advertising as a mode of storytelling .......................................................... 54 3.2. Advertising .................................................................................................................... 58 3.2.1 Small ads................................................................................................................ 58 3.2.2 Ads in the late 20th century (Contemporary advertising) ...................................... 59 3.2.3 ‘Gay’ men, and MSM classified ads ..................................................................... 60 3.2.4 Ads for M$M ......................................................................................................... 62 3.2.5 Queer and ‘quantum’ semiotics ............................................................................. 66 The opportunity of fractal dimensions .............................................................. 67 Tyler, A Men Selling Sex to Men 6 3.3. Summary ....................................................................................................................... 69 CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................... 70 4.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 70 4.2. Data collection: Reflexive Queer Ethnography ............................................................ 72 4.2.1. Purposive and convenience recruitment strategies ................................................ 78 4.2.2. Interviews and Participants .................................................................................... 79 Interview Ethics ................................................................................................ 85 Interview format ................................................................................................ 87 4.2.3. Using advertisements as data ................................................................................. 89 Explanation of research objectives ................................................................... 90 Challenges of polytextual data .........................................................................