Real Men Get the Best Bar Girls: Performing Masculinities in China’s Global Sex Industry

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe shifting power relations in China after the global financial crisis are redefining masculinity for both Western and Asian men. Connell (1995) argues that in most societies a hegemonic masculinity usually exists that privileges heterosexual middle-class and economically successful men who exhibit characteristics associated with being masculine. The global financial crisis has led to a new global financial order that has created paths for people to reimagine hierarchies of class, gender, nation, race, and sexuality. “Entangled masculinities” recognizes that the intersections of class, gender, nation, race, and sexuality shape identities of male clients who buy commercial sex. The article looks specifically at clients from three niche commercial sex markets (low, mid, and high tier) in Dongguan, China. Specifically, five patterns of behavior exhibited by male clients to rationalize and assert their masculinity will be analyzed in depth: vigorous and macho; austere and essentialist; suppressive and anxious; extravagant and competitive; and refined and collaborative. This article argues clients with vigorous and macho, austere and essentialist, and suppressive and anxious behavior types are frequently found in low-end and mid-tier bars. Patrons of higher-tier bars tended to engage in extravagant and competitive and refined and collaborative behavior through expressions of wealth and power.