The Love that Binds: Transnational Relationships in Sex Work

Abstract

The maintenance of long-term relationships between sex workers and their clients involves the management and balance of intimacy and a business relationship and requires both parties to constantly negotiate their roles and expectations. In this study, I focus on how they interpret these relationships. The data used are from in-depth interviews and participant observation collected from August 2004 through August 2007. I identify three factors affecting these relationships: distance apart, affairs and social bond. While older lovers yield a certain amount of control and power over their younger partners, the latter can convert older lovers' emotional attachment, sense of responsibility, familial involvement, and sense of pride to currencies used to increase their bargaining power.

Shifting sexual boundaries: Comparing gay-identified and non-gay-identified men who have sex with men in Brazil and in the USA

“…Consistent with earlier research, many Brazilian non-gay men argue that adopting the male role in sex preempts them from being considered gay (e.g. Cardoso, 2002;Phua, 2009). However, a few Brazilian non-gay participants also share similar narratives of shifting their boundaries.…”