Secret Relationships and Clandestine Encounters: an Ethnography of Youth Romance and Marriage among Javanese Male Sex Workers in South Bali (Indonesia)

Abstract

This article is intended as an ethnographic and theoretical reflection on the significance of courtship practices and marriage
among lower classes Indonesian youth. It also discusses gender roles and social transformation. It is based on fieldwork research
carried out in Bali and East Java between 2008 and 2010 among a gang of male sex workers. The article discusses the importance of
secret relationships and clandestine encounters, pacaran backstreet, between Javanese male sex-workers who cater the homosexual
sex market and migrant female workers in Bali, and the role of marriage as a cognitive resource in the transition to adulthood in the
context of sex work. It sheds light on alternative forms of masculine identity and on articulations of juvenile malaise, gang affiliation,
corporeal practices, male bonds of solidarity, reciprocity and respect, and their impact on the construction of interpersonal emotional
relations. It draws conclusions about the role of customary practices and values in the lives of young men (and women) in a specific
sector of contemporary Indonesian society.