Abstract

DUARTE AKE, Miguel Agustín  and  VERA GAMBOA, Ligia. Internet-based Male Sex Work, Ethnicity, and Race: Mayan Sexuality, Hypersexualization, and Risk. Estud. cult. maya [online]. 2022, vol.60, pp.319-351.  Epub Nov 14, 2022. ISSN 0185-2574.  https://doi.org/10.19130/iifl.ecm.60.23x00s710.

This article aims to show how Mayan ethnicity, race and sexuality of online sex workers -who inhabit in Mérida, Yucatán- are articulated. The sex workers observed -with brown skin, and of Mayan and Mayan-mestizo origin- hide their faces for “discretion”. Thus, sex workers are ethnoracialized by their Yucatecan or Mexican clients (and, to a lesser extent, by foreigners), as they are seen as hypersexual and childish; in their profile pictures they tend to appear naked and to show their penis, anus and chest; but only the thin and young ones can charge a fee of 700 or 800 pesos for the full service. Therefore, a Mayan sex worker who does not possess the aforementioned characteristics would probably have to offer anal sex without a condom in order to come close to the service fee of a brown-skinned, thin, and young sex worker. This would seem to suggest that Mayan men are hypersexualized. This paper contributes to the understanding of the practices of contemporary Maya men’s sexualities from an ethnohistorical-racial perspective by analyzing how they engage in “performative” sexual practices (virtual and physical), which in turn are racialized and gendered in order to attract and keep clients.

Keywords : internet male sex work; racialized sexuality; Maya ethno-sexuality; Maya men; Maya male hyper-sexualization.

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