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Abstract
This paper identifies the psychosocial issues present amongst male sex workers within the new context of Internet-based sex work in Melbourne, Australia. Drawing on qualitative interview data, this paper argues that despite the benefits associated with this medium of sex work, certain negative impacts are a reality for many men in this population, with few actively engaging with supportive networks. This lack of support networks may exacerbate the internalisation of stigma, leading many workers to experience anxiety towards being discovered selling sex, with their activities obscured from all but a select few. Identity management techniques were employed by participants in an attempt to distance themselves from their work, primarily via the use of bodily exclusion zones and the construction of sex work as a legitimate profession. The impact of sex work upon the private sex lives of participants is also detailed, before a final discussion outlines the isolation experienced by members of this population, due in large part to a lack of engagement with local services and other workers.
Key words: male sex work, Internet, stigma, support services
Introduction
All too often, new means of technology, whilst seemingly developed to provide for greater convenience and ease in our personal and/or working lives, bring with them new issues and unforeseen complications. One example of this appears in the increased use of the Internet as a medium in which male sex workers advertise sexual services (an area that constitutes the focus of this paper). Whilst the Internet potentially reduces exposure to violence for sex workers in addition to providing greater levels of autonomy, flexibility and remuneration (McLean, 2012), this does not mean that the sex industry has changed so radically so as to address a number of structural and social factors associated with sex work.
Following on from a review of the literature on the topic, the findings presented in this paper highlight two main themes facing men using the Internet to advertise sexual services.1 The first of these themes concerns the negative impacts of sex work as described by participants. For example, coping with stigma, as well as the physically and emotionally taxing nature of regularly engaging in sexual relations with strangers - any number of who may potentially prove to be 'undesirables'...