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Sexuality Research and Social Policy
Published in: Sexuality Research and Social Policy 2/2023

11-05-2022

A Manosphere Brotherhood Against the Law: Masculinity Threat and Legal Consciousness in Online Networks for Buyers of Sex in Illinois

Author: Lara Janson

Published in: Sexuality Research and Social Policy | Issue 2/2023

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Abstract

Introduction

Discussions about commercial sex have historically overlooked sex purchasers. Previous research often focused on sex workers, limiting our understanding of the social relationships and forms of masculinity that characterize and reproduce the industry. This research adds to growing research on sex purchasers in the “manosphere” by examining which policies purchasers themselves may consider effective or ineffective at deterring the buying of sex, a question that elucidates how law matters to this and other stigmatized populations.

Methods

This study focuses on the exchange of information among men who post on online “johns’ boards” that contain discussion forums for every type of commercial sex venue in Illinois (both indoor and outdoor, initiated in-person and online). I conducted a content analysis of 1,684 posts made in 2010, before, during, and after the passage of legislation in Illinois designed to curtail the demand for commercial sex.

Results

Forum posts indicate that many posters, who band together as what they call a “brotherhood” under the banner of persecuted masculinity, pay close attention to changes in statewide legislation and local law enforcement policies regarding prostitution.

Conclusions

I argue that when purchasers perceive policies as tangible, ongoing threats, their legal consciousness shifts, and law enforcement is no longer seen as a manageable risk within the manosphere brotherhood.

Policy Implications

This reaffirms the importance of the internet in shaping commercial sex industries and has wider implications for our understanding of how men who share perceptions of masculinity threat react to new deterrence policies for sex purchasing.
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Footnotes
1
This is an approximate estimate, since users and page loads vary throughout any given day, but this calculation is based on data provided by USG (n.d.) on their “Banner Advertising FAQ” page, boasting approximately 600,000 daily page loads to the site.
 
2
Because sites such as USG are referred to ubiquitously by sex purchasers as “johns’ boards,” I will also use this term to refer to web forums run by and for buyers of sex. Such websites should not be confused with other commercial sex-related websites designed to connect sex purchasers with sex workers; “johns’ boards” are designed to be exclusively male, sex-purchaser online communities.
 
3
The quotation “great hobby” comes from one post in particular (see p. 12), but the term “hobby” is a ubiquitous synonym for sex purchasing on USG, as well as in other commercial sex forums (Horswill & Weitzer, 2018; Milrod & Monto, 2012).
 
4
Other online commercial sex forums are larger, such as the Erotic Review, with over one million members, but these are mixed forums for both sex purchasers and sex sellers; as such, they are not only a “johns’ board” strictly for purchasers (and indeed banning suspected sex sellers).
 
5
The forum indicates that men buy sex throughout the state of Illinois, not just in Chicago, and that these men exhibit a high degree of mobility between various local commercial sex industries. For that reason, I analyzed men’s posts about commercial sex throughout the state of Illinois, rather than focusing primarily on the commercial sex industry in Chicago/Cook County, as previous research has done (see, for example, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, 2002, 2004; Raphael & Ashley, 2008).
 
6
Heather Mann, Rachel Marro, and Allyson Matvey. Rachel Durchslag also provided invaluable assistance and guidance with the larger project that undergirded this particular study.
 
7
Frequent checks I conducted of the Clearpath website—the Chicago Police Department’s website for posting arrests—during a two-year period of data collection support this idea, as arrested men of color far outnumber Euro-American men. The site has since been renamed and arrests linked to a “Prostitution Arrest Search” tab on home.​chicagopolice.​org.
 
8
The Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act and Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act.
 
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Metadata
Title
A Manosphere Brotherhood Against the Law: Masculinity Threat and Legal Consciousness in Online Networks for Buyers of Sex in Illinois
Author
Lara Janson
Publication date
11-05-2022
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Sexuality Research and Social Policy / Issue 2/2023
Print ISSN: 1868-9884
Electronic ISSN: 1553-6610
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-022-00716-9

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