Consumption of the simulacra: The prostitute’s performance within the discourses of men who pay for prostitution
Abstract
The fact of paying for prostitution is a male practice that is imbricated in gender inequality and is related to the maintenance of a certain model of (hegemonic) masculinity. This article presents the main results of a qualitative research in which in-depth interviews were conducted with male consumers of female prostitution in Spain at the present time. The conceptual framework elaborated by Raewyn Connell that establishes the binomial hegemonic masculinity-hyperfemininity is useful to explain the frame of reference through which men who consume prostitution make sense of their experiences. It is argued that these men expect prostituted women to represent mandates of hyperfemininity linked to the complacent and unconditional availability to satisfy male desires and, therefore, they are not only paying for sex but also for the performance carried out by the prostitute, for the consumption of the simulacrum.
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