Abstract
The Internet has had positive impact on male–male escorts. Rather than depending on escort agencies for their clients, escorts now can set up their profiles online and upload photos that amplify their ultramasculine bodies. This autonomy provides them with the choice to provide services they wish, determine their fees, and select suitable clients. All these cyber changes lead to an evolving world of escort business. In Touching Encounters: Sex, Work, and Male-for-Male Internet Escorting, the first academic text on male–male Internet escorting, Kevin Walby examines the world of male–male Internet escorts, such as their perception of work, their relationship with clients, and the necessary bodywork to maintain a masculine yet erotic physique. His interviews with these men suggest that they have different worldviews with Internet escorting.
The author distinguishes some central views that differ these escorts from others. I will focus on two in this review. The first one is concerned with escorts’ self-definitions. The author points out that most of these men do not view themselves as sex workers. Instead, with their autonomy in the cyber transaction, they view their work more as a business and themselves more as “entrepreneurs,” as described by the author. The term entrepreneur removes the association with prostitution. They are a business owner, a manager, and an independent contractor. All these titles suggest a construction of alternative masculinity that is sexually nonconforming and minimizes the construed effeminate nature of their profession.
The second one is the concept of “feigning intimacy.” Female sex workers’ narratives often indicate that they create an intimate and affectionate facade with their clients. According to Walby, these Internet escorts have opposite experiences. He states that intimacy exists between them and their clients. Many men develop genuine intimate and tender feeling toward their clients. They stress that sex is not a necessary service with some clients even though sex is one component of their services. Many clients seek companionship, intimacy, or just tender touching. These emotional services could gradually develop into a close relationship between both parties.
While the author gives readers a sense of these men’s world, this book has several weaknesses as well. The author fails to contextualize these escorts’ narratives. For example, who are they? How old are they? What might be their background? What is the Internet male–male escorting business like in different cities? Contexts shape what subjects say and why they tell certain stories. The narratives in the book bear no support without contextualization.
The most important question is as follows: what is these escorts’ race? The author points out there are only a handful of minority escorts. Since only minority would be racially marked, this book is essentially about a group of privileged white middle-class young (or perhaps older) men who have access to computer and knowledge about cyberspace. This whiteness needs to be rendered visible. The author recruits his subjects from major gay escort websites and subjects’ responses. Yet, it is hard to imagine that there are very few minority escorts on these sites. Even if it might be true, this also shows a much discussed critique in social science research. That is, researchers tend to recruit subjects mirroring themselves without venturing out beyond their comfort zone. For example, there should be websites specifically devoted to minority male escorts’ profiles. It appears that the author did not deliberately look for these sites. Minority men are thus rendered voiceless in this subculture. This, unfortunately, weakens the author’s research and arguments.