The growth of the Internet and computer-mediated communications has enabled the formation of a variety of deviant subcultures online, particularly among sexual deviants.This qualitative study examines the subculture of the male heterosexual clients of sex workers by exploring their argot. Using a sample of posts from Web forums in ten U.S. cities, this study identifies three subcultural norms that structure beliefs and attitudes about sex work among johns: experience, commodification, and sexuality. The influence of computer-mediated communications on the formation of subcultures and argot are explored as well.
Best, Joel, and David F. Luckenbill.1994. Organizing deviance. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
2.
Buzzell, Timothy.2005. The effects of sophistication, access and monitoring on use of pornography in three technological contexts. Deviant Behavior26: 109-32.
3.
Clark, Thomas L.1986. Cheating terms in cards and dice. American Speech61: 3-32.
4.
Corbin, Juliet, and Anselm Strauss.1990. Grounded theory research: Procedures, canons, and evaluative criteria. Qualitative Sociology13: 3-21.
5.
Decurtis, Christina.2003. Prostitution, sex tourism on the Internet: Whose voice is being heard?Computers and Society33: 3-11.
6.
Deshotels, Tina H., and Craig J. Forsyth.2007. Postmodern masculinities and the eunuch. Deviant Behavior28: 201-18.
7.
Durkin, Keith F., and Clifton D. Bryant .1995. Log on to sex: Some notes on the carnal computer and erotic cyberspace as an emerging research frontier . Deviant Behavior16: 179-200.
8.
Durkin, Keith F., and Clifton D. Bryant .1999. Propagandizing pederasty. A thematic analysis of the on-line exculpatory accounts of unrepentant pedophiles . Deviant Behavior20: 103-27.
9.
Dumond, Robert W.1992. The sexual assault of male inmates in incarcerated settings . International Journal of the Sociology of Law2: 135-57.
10.
Einat, Tomer, and Haim Einat.2000. Inmate argot as an expression of prison subculture: The Israeli case. The Prison Journal80: 309-25.
11.
Gauthier, DeAnn K., and Nancy K. Chaudoir.2004. Tranny boyz: Cyber community support in negotiating sex and gender mobility among female to male transsexuals . Deviant Behavior25: 375-98.
12.
Halliday, M.A.K.1977. Language structure and language function. In New horizons in linguistic structure, ed. J. Lyons.Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin .
13.
Hamm, Mark S.1993. American skinheads: The criminology and control of hate crime. Westport, CT: Praeger.
14.
Hargrove, Thomas.2005. Streetwalking more bumpy in some states than others. Scripps Howard News Service. http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=CRIME=PROSTITUTE-02-17-05 (accessed January 3, 2006).
15.
Heigard, Cecile, and Liv Finstad .1992. Backstreets: Prostitution, money, and love. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
16.
Hensley, Christopher, Jeremy Wright, Richard Tewksbury, and Tammy Castle.2003. The evolving nature of prison argot and sexual hierarchies. The Prison Journal83: 289-300.
17.
Hine, Christine.2005. Virtual methods: Issues in social research on the Internet . New York: Berg.
18.
Holt, Thomas J.2007. Subcultural evolution? Examining the influence of on and offline subcultural experiences on deviant subcultures. Deviant Behavior28: 171-98.
19.
Holt, Thomas J., and Kristie R. Blevins .2007. Examining sex work from the client’s perspective: Assessing johns using online data. Deviant Behavior28: 333-54.
20.
Holt, Thomas J., Kristie R. Blevins, and Joseph B. Kuhns.2008. Examining the displacement practices of johns with online data. Journal of Criminal Justice36: 522-528.
21.
Holzman, Harold R., and Sharon Pines.1982. Buying sex: The phenomenology of being a john. Deviant Behavior4: 89-116.
22.
Hughes, Donna M.2003. Prostitution online. Journal of Trauma Practice2: 115-131.
23.
Johnson, Bruce D., Flutura Bardhi, Stephen J. Sifaneck, and Eloise Dunlap.2006. Marijuana argot as subculture threads: Social constructions by users in New York City. British Journal of Criminology46: 46: 46-77.
24.
Kaplan, Charles D., Jose Antonio Flores Farfan, and Helmut Kampe.1990. Argots as a code-switching process: A case study of sociolinguistic aspects of drug subcultures. In Codeswitching as a worldwide phenomenon, ed. Rodolfo Jacobson, 141-57. New York: Peter Lang .
25.
Lane, Frederick S.2000. Obscene profits: The entrepreneurs of pornography. London: Routledge.
26.
Leiblum, Sandra R.1997. Sex and the net: Clinical implications. Journal of Sex Education and Therapy22: 21-27.
27.
Lerman, Paul.1967. Argot, symbolic deviance, and subcultural delinquency . American Sociological Review32: 209-24.
28.
Lindlof, Thomas R., and Milton J. Shatzer.1998. Media ethnography in virtual space: Strategies, limits, and possibilities. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media42: 170-90.
29.
Mann, David, and Mike Sutton.1998. Netcrime: More change in the organization of thieving. British Journal of Criminology38: 201-29.
30.
Maurer, David W.1939. Prostitutes and criminal argots. American Journal of Sociology44: 346-50.
31.
Maurer, David W.1981. Language of the underworld. Louisville : University of Kentucky Press.
32.
McKeganey, Neil P., and Marina Barnard.1996. Sex work on the streets: Prostitutes and their clients. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
33.
Mills, Russell.1998. Cyber: Sexual chat on the Internet. Journal of Popular Culture32: 31-46.
34.
Milner, Christina, and Richard Milner. 1972. Black players. Boston: Little, Brown. O’Neill, Maggie. 2001. Prostitution and feminism. London: Polity.
35.
Quayle, Ethel, and Max Taylor.2002. Child pornography and the Internet: Perpetuating a cycle of abuse. Deviant Behavior23: 331-61.
36.
Quinn, James F., and Craig J. Forsyth.2005. Describing sexual behavior in the era of the Internet: A typology for empirical research. Deviant Behavior26: 191-207.
37.
Scott, Michael S., and Kelly Dedel.2006. Street prostitution. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.
38.
Sharp, Kieth, and Sarah Earle.2003. Cyberpunters and cyberwhores: Prostitution on the Internet. In Dot cons. Crime, deviance and identity on the Internet, ed. Yyvonne Jewkes, 36-52. Portland, OR: Willan.
39.
Silverman, David.2001. Interpreting qualitative data: Methods for analyzing talk, text, and interaction. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
40.
Soothhill, Keith, and Teela Sanders.2005. The geographical mobility, preferences and pleasures of prolific punters: A demonstration study of the activities of prostitutes’ clients. Sociological Research On-Line10. http://www.socresonline.org.uk/10/1/soothill.html (accessed October 10, 2005).
41.
Weitzer, Ronald.2000. Sex for sale. London: Routledge.
42.
Weitzer, Ronald.2005. New directions in research on prostitution. Crime, Law and Social Change43: 211-35.
43.
Wilson, Brian, and Michael Atkinson .2005. Rave and straightedge, the virtual and the real: Exploring online and offline experiences in Canadian youth subcultures. Youth and Society36: 276-311.
