Narrative identity: the construction of dignified masculinities in Black male sex workers’ narratives

ABSTRACT

This paper explores Black men’s narratives of sex work in Cape Town. Sex work in South Africa takes place in a complex context of poverty and unemployment, which plays a part in men’s entry into the profession. Much research on sex work has focused on female sex workers to the detriment of men who sell sex whose experiences are silenced. Narrative interviews were employed and the study investigated how Black men who sell sex position themselves and others and construct their identity within a workspace dominated by women. This paper is concerned with how men narrate about themselves, the language they employ to do so and its purpose. It is focused on the narratives that are told about the self and how these are co-constructed. It is additionally concerned with how men’s talk constructs their experiences as intersectional. The analysis provides insight into how masculine identities are constructed in men’s narratives about sex work.

KEYWORDS:

• Cape Town
• men who sell sex
• narrative enquiry
• intersectional
• masculinity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Throughout the interview interactions, the interviewer’s own assumptions about sex work as women’s work and “real” men as heterosexual were apparent. It was clear that the interviewer also positioned men who do sex work as “not so manly” and this would have shaped the interview itself – making the participants ever more determined to show and tell the interviewer that they are “real” men. Throughout the research process, the participants challenged the interviewer’s thinking around gender and sexuality. Subsequently, the interviewer’s perceptions around sexuality categories and what it means to be a “real” man has changed, as she has come to an awareness of the fluidity of these identities.

2. In the Population Registration Act of 1950, a “coloured” person was defined as someone who was not white or native and thus encompassed classifications of the “Cape coloured,” Cape Malay, Griqua, Indian, Chinese, “other Asiatic” and “Other coloured” with some individuals from the same family often being registered as originating from different subdivisions (Erasmus 2001, 75).The word is put in inverted commas to acknowledge that it is a constructed identity.

3. It is important to note that the participants were recruited through an organisation that provides services to them as sex workers, SWEAT (Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce). The political view of the organisation is very strong that sex work is work and so participants were also drawing on the organisational ideology in their talk with the interviewer.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Simone M. Peters

Simone M. Peters is a PhD candidate at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Her research interest includes intersections of raced, classed and gendered subjectivities, and masculine identities. Email: [email protected].

Shose Kessi

Shose Kessi is an Associate Professor at UCT. Her research interests include social identity theories, community psychology and Photovoice methodologies. She has published extensively on social psychology and social change. Email: [email protected]

Floretta Boonzaier

Floretta Boonzaier is a Professor in psychology at UCT. Her research areas include the psychological aspects of gender-based violence and critical qualitative psychologies. She has published extensively on intimate partner violence against women. Email: [email protected]