Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the coconstruction of intimacy between male escorts and their male clients in Paris, France. Far from being a basic economic relationship based solely on gain and service quality, this process is a crucial aspect that emerged from the fieldwork.

Paper long abstract:

The concept of intimacy remains very elusive in the social sciences, and more specifically within anthropology. From Nicole Constable's "commodification of intimacy" (2009) to a recent special issue of The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology (Sehlikoglu & Zengin 2015) on revisiting intimacy, a quick look at the literature shows the complexity of defining such a term in our discipline. A few social scientists, such as Frank (1998), have paid attention to the complex and various meanings given to that concept in the context of (mostly indoor) female sex work. Indeed, the idea that female sex workers and their clients are not only involved in economic and exploitative relationships but also develop intimate connections is more and more acknowledged in sex work research. However, much less is known on such relationships when it comes to male sex work and online sex work (often referred to as escorting). Drawing on an on-going ethnographic research conducted in Paris among male escorts who advertise their services online for male clients, this paper aims to propose a conceptualization of intimacy as it is lived, experienced and referred to by the participants. Far from being a basic economic relationship based solely on gain on the one hand and the service quality on the other hand, the coconstruction of intimacy is a crucial aspect that emerged from the fieldwork. Yet, money undoubtedly plays a major role in this process. This is what this paper explores.