Intervening in masculinity: work, relationships and violence among the intimate partners of female sex workers in South India

Abstract

Although health researchers have begun to examine the forms of violence and power dynamics that play out in the intimate relationships of female sex workers (FSWs) in India, this knowledge has tended to focus on the perspectives of women, leaving men's motivations and attitudes relatively unexamined. This paper examines the contours of masculinity and gender norms from the perspective of the intimate partners of FSWs. Based on six months of ethnographic research in Northern Karnataka, the study employed two focus group discussions (FGDs) with Devadasi FSWs (N = 17), as well as four FGDs (N = 34) and 30 in-depth interviews with their intimate partners. Given the precarious labour conditions in this region, tensions developed in the participants' relationships with FSWs, as these men were unable to meet local ideals of manhood. Violence became a way that men attempted to re-secure a sense of control in their relationships with women, and to fulfil fantasies of male power. We recommend that programs engaging men not only address intimate partner violence but also attend to the social and structural realities surrounding these men's daily lived experiences.

Doing Critical Health Communication: Negotiating the Terrain of Transdisciplinary Collaboration

“…Thus, while thinking about the ways in which critical health communication scholars may contribute to or form partnerships with transdisciplinary research teams, we need to realize that the path is not that easy and rather fraught with multiple challenges. For instance, in his work with transdisciplinary team members including physicians, anthropologists, demographers, public health researchers and managers (Lorway et al, 2017;Khan et al, 2018;Huynh et al, 2019), Khan and colleagues found it productive but also challenging to use critical concepts. Consider a concept like "structural violence": because it refers to large-scale social and structural processes, as well as multiple and intersecting layers of disease causation, for example, it is both virtually invisible and hard to quantify.…”

Conflicted masculinities: understanding dilemmas and (re)configurations of masculinity among men in long-term relationships with female sex workers, in Kampala, Uganda

“…Besides dealing with negative social perceptions, couples in these relationships may be disadvantaged economically, have higher HIV infection rates and have children from previous relationships (Onyango et al 2019;Warr and Pyett 1999). However, with most research highlighting the plight of female sex workers within relationships, the voice of their long-term partners is missing (Bekker et al 2015;Huynh et al 2019) which may be partly due to the challenges of accessing men in relationships with women who practice sex work (Fleming et al 2015;Schmidt-Sane 2020).…”

“…Hegemonic masculinity has been implicated in men's pursuit of paid sex (Hammond and van Hooff 2020;Shumka, Strega, and Hallgrimsdottir 2017). When clients become lovers they cannot expect to have a monopoly over sex with a woman, something that may be challenging to dominant forms of masculine identity (Huynh et al 2019;Jewkes et al 2012). Studies focusing on the long-term partners of female sex workers, particularly on how these relationships shape men's perceptions of themselves are few, especially within sub-Saharan Africa (Onyango et al 2019;Schmidt-Sane 2020).…”