Como las convenciones viajan: notas etnográficas sobre clubes de "sexo duro" em Madri

Abstract

In this paper, I present some ethnographic notes on “hard sex” clubs for men in Madrid, Spain. Initially, I approach American and European male sex clubs from the mid-1970s and 1980s exploratively. This exercise paved the way for locating some cultural references which “traveled” in the 1990s to other contexts. I also aim to examine how gender conventions operate in this market. I hypothesize that in these venues one can observe the exacerbation, embodiment and enactment of elements that supposedly form stereotypical “heterosexual masculinity” and virility.