The Question of Moral Worth in a Controversial Market: Moral Justification Regimes and Boundary Work Among Israeli Men Who Pay for Sex Abroad

Lahav-Raz, Yeela; Prior, Ayelet; Peled, Einat

doi:10.1080/00224499.2023.2175346

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Participants discussed identity-related conflicts at length during the interviews-particularly those concerning their masculine and moral identities. Thus, they often described paying for sex as compromising their masculinity and self-perceptions as good, decent, and moral men (Lahav-Raz et al, 2023) and then provided the addiction discourse as a potential resolution.…”

Section: Prior and Peledmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This perspective portrays addiction simultaneously as a medical condition, a sociocultural construction, and a widespread, popular attribute of consumerist culture (Boness et al, 2023). These constructions make the addiction discourse available and appealing to MPWS, who often struggle to construct their self-identity within a stigmatizing sociocultural–legal context that condemns them as morally flawed abusers (Lahav-Raz et al, 2023). Furthermore, we agree that identity-related constructions are prominent in understanding addictive behaviors (Notley et al, 2023).…”

Section: Mpws and Sex Addictionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“It’s probably an addiction—It can't be anything else”: The role of addiction discourse in the self-identity of men who pay for sex.

Prior,

Peled

2024

American Journal of Orthopsychiatry

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This study is about the role of the addiction discourse in the self-identity of Israeli men who pay women for sex (MPWS). Using the theoretical framework of symbolic interaction, we identified two main contradictory themes regarding the role of the addict identity in the self-narratives of the participants: one presenting the addict identity as contributing to the participants’ positive self-perception and the second as challenging it. Within a social context that often portrays MPWS as perpetrators and abusers, the addiction discourse was a useful source in helping the participants negotiate the dilemma of how to engage in “deviant” acts and still appear to be decent men. While not dismissing the reality of addiction or the distress experienced by some of the participants, we suggest that being “sick” and “having no control over one’s actions” might be considered by some MPWS as preferable explanations to being an outlaw, or villain. However, the inconclusive nature of the sex addiction discourse intimidated some of the participants’ self-identity, thus stressing the need for a clear definition and further theorization of sex addiction, particularly in the context of sex for pay.

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Section: Prior and Peledmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Mpws and Sex Addictionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“It’s probably an addiction—It can't be anything else”: The role of addiction discourse in the self-identity of men who pay for sex.

Prior,

Peled

2024

American Journal of Orthopsychiatry

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“…The online setting provided Lior the sense of control and confidence to (dis)appear as he wished. Moreover, the online setting facilitated the original opportunity for Lior to participate in the study, as he declined the invitation to participate in a face-to-face interview due to the fear of being exposed and shamed-a fear that men who pay for sex often experience (Lahav-raz et al, 2023).…”

Section: The Shocking Use Of the Cameramentioning

confidence: 99%

Online Interview Shocks: Reflecting on Power Relations in Online Qualitative Interviews

Prior,

Lachover

2023

International Journal of Qualitative Methods

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The use of online camera-based interviews (OCBI) in qualitative studies is increasing. While recent studies have addressed the benefits and limitations of this method, scholarship still lacks an understanding of it beyond the technicalities. The present study explores how the online setting shapes power relations in qualitative OCBI. The data includes 52 OCBI that were conducted in two different qualitative studies. By applying the concept of interview shocks to the analysis, we gained a deep understanding of how surprising incidents and unexpected moments that occurred during the interviews revealed the role online settings play in shaping the power relations between interviewers and interviewees in OCBI. We identified three types of online interview shocks: the shocking use of the camera, the shocking presence of others during the interview, and the shocking body dispositions in online interviews. The findings demonstrate the different ways that both interviewers and interviewees use the online setting functionalities, or the affordances of OCBI, to position and negotiate their social-cultural-political stand within the interview. Furthermore, the findings uncover the socio-cultural-political context within which the power relations were shaped in OCBI. Thus, we argue that the online setting is yet another aspect that interacts dynamically with the interviewers’ and interviewees’ social locations in shaping the power relations in OCBI. We conclude by highlighting the importance of further studying the qualities of OCBI as a distinct qualitative method that is valid even when other options are available.

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“…Nonetheless, several studies have shown that men who purchase sex relate to and navigate in relation to perceptions of deviance and normality, for example by distinguishing between various types of paid sex and various contexts where such sex may occur based on their perceived morality and normativity. Furthermore, men who purchase sex seem to make a distinction between deviant aspects and forms of commercial sex, and their own experience and practice (Lahav-Raz et al, 2023;Prior & Peled, 2021;Wepener et al, 2013). Previous studies have shown differences in experiences and attitudes among men who purchase sex based on whether they had purchased sex frequently or only once (Shilo et al, 2021).…”

Section: Understanding Individual Experiences Of Purchasing Sexmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The modification of behaviours can be seen as a relational process, and the participants resisted and distanced themselves from the view of themselves as oppressors or exploiters. How the participating men tried to conceptualize their sex purchases in as nice a way as possible can be understood as moral work, with the men who purchased sex doing moral boundary work to obtain moral worth within a highly stigmatizing context (Lahav-Raz et al, 2023).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Purchase of Sex: Perceptions, Experiences, and Social Work Practices

Grönvall

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The aim of this study is to explore sex buyers’ perceptions and experiences of purchasing sex, and to study how the purchase of sex is constructed as a social problem in Swedish social work practice. The empirical material consists of interviews with 30 men with experiences of purchasing sex and with ten social workers conducting counselling or outreach work with men who purchase sex. The dissertation is a compilation thesis that consists of four papers, that have been published in international peer-review journals. The first paper focuses on how men who buy sex as one-time visitors navigate between commercialization and intimacy in a national context criminalizing their actions. The paper explores the construction of meaning and intimacy in commercial relationships for Swedish men buying sex, and how these men describe relational practices and strategies used when they purchased sex. The second paper explores the construction of intimacy among men engaged in longterm transactional relationships with women. The paper focuses on the meaning of transactions for intimacy in long-term paid sexual relationships. The third paper explores how men who purchase sex in a context in which their activities are criminalized understand and perceive risk. The paper focuses on individual assessments of risk in relation to experiences of crime, exploitation, and stigma. The fourth paper aims at exploring social workers’ understanding of the purchase of sex as a social problem. The study focuses on social workers’ approaches to the purchase of sex in relation to values, professional practices, and political goals, and how they navigate these aspects in their encounters with individuals who purchase sex. The four papers show how individual experiences are understood, navigated, and conceptualized in relation to social interaction and social norms. The participants in both sub-studies navigate between their own experiences and perceptions, moral values, and social norms in regard to the purchase of sex in Sweden. Both the sex buyers and the social workers conceptualize and make sense of the purchase of sex based on their individual experiences as sex buyers or as social workers meeting sex buyers, but they also relate to normative ideas about the purchase of sex and about ‘sex buyers’.

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The Question of Moral Worth in a Controversial Market: Moral Justification Regimes and Boundary Work Among Israeli Men Who Pay for Sex Abroad

Cited by 4 publications

References 78 publications

“It’s probably an addiction—It can't be anything else”: The role of addiction discourse in the self-identity of men who pay for sex.

“It’s probably an addiction—It can't be anything else”: The role of addiction discourse in the self-identity of men who pay for sex.

Online Interview Shocks: Reflecting on Power Relations in Online Qualitative Interviews

The Purchase of Sex: Perceptions, Experiences, and Social Work Practices

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