相較於學界對(女性)性工作者勞動過程的分析，性消費者的經驗研究則較少獲得學者的關注，其中，男同志更是在消費者的經驗研究中缺席。近期學者提醒我們，親密關係如何成為性交易過程中炙手可熱的商品，進而改變顧客與性工作者之間的互動、彼此對性交易的看法。奠基於此，本計畫將從 下列三個面向，探討男男按摩性消費者的經驗，並說明男同志性消費中的親密劃界：首先，從顧客與按摩師之間「有界真實」的親密關係，解釋「偽裝」的情感，並非性工作的唯一表徵，顧客與按摩 師之間「真實」的情感互動，則挑戰我們對「公/私領域」的清楚劃界；再者，顧客與按摩師雙方在 性交易過程中所衍生出的情/慾關係，則指出性交易不只是經濟生產的過程，也是邊緣化主體一個操演自我認同的重要空間。最後，男男按摩性消費過程中所流溢出的不同情感經驗(如、照顧或相互理解) ，除了解釋性交易不只是情慾出售，也挑戰我們只從情慾來解釋男人之間的親密關係。透過分 析男男按摩性消費者的經驗，本研究除了處理親密關係在男同志性消費所扮演的角色，也將與現有 的性工作/性消費研究作進一步的對話。 This research examines the bounded authenticity in commercial gay sex. Specifically, from a qualitative perspective, it tries to unpack the sexual consumption of Taiwanese (gay) men who purchase erotic male-for-male massages. This research will be divided into three facets. First, it challenges the surface acting and the feigning of intimacy during encounters of commercial sex by showing how an authentic yet bounded interpersonal connections between customers and service-providers in male-for-male massages. While sexual scripts theorists underline normative perspectives of intimate performance, the (unintended) emotional interactions between clients and masseurs demonstrate how bounded authenticity becomes a particularly desirable and sought after sexual commodity. Second, it questions a singular notion of sex work as work with an implicit treatment of various sexualized labors driven by economic exchange. This becomes apparent when both customers and masseurs treat commercial sex as expressions of (homoerotic/gay) desires rather than treating sexuality as a commodity exchanged. Third, it problematizes how the intimacy between men is exclusively associated with gay desire and suggests, instead, the open tendency of their interaction/interpretation that may rest on mutual cares, pleasure, trust and potentially desexualized friendship. While the term intimacy may be euphemistically understood as having sex, it also channels the emotional experiences that are not sexualized yet intimate. By simply focusing on the highly sexualized and limited interpretation of gay desire, one eschews the opportunity to challenge the ‘naturality’ of homosexual identity (and then the heteronormative). This research builds on the existing literature that explores the authenticity in commercial sex. It extends the literature by focusing on how bounded authenticity is embodied and diversely interpreted in the sexual consumption of male-for-male erotic massages. The research intends to complicate, rather than simplify, our understandings of male sexualities and the changing nature of sex work industry.
