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Good Ol’ Country Boys Playin’ on the Farm: Online Articulations of Rural Masculinity by Men Who Have Sex with Men

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Abstract

This study seeks to fill existing gaps in the literature about the lives of rurally-situated men who have sex with men (MSM). Much work in this field grapples with identity construction and the unique contexts faced by queer, gay, or MSM in rural areas. This study explores the ways in which this population utilizes Craigslist as a means to articulate and perform rural masculinity. Findings suggest that MSM located within rural topographies often deploy culturally contingent masculine traits specific to rural cultural and geographic locations. The relationship that rural MSM have with the Internet is complex and dialectical in nature. The present study leads the author to conceptualize rural MSM’s relationship to both rurality and same-sex sexual behavior in two primary ways: (1) to queer or fetishize the rural, and similarly, (2) to ‘ruralize’ the queer.

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  1. Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Carbondale, IL, USA

    Mick Brewer

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  1. Mick Brewer
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Brewer, M. Good Ol’ Country Boys Playin’ on the Farm: Online Articulations of Rural Masculinity by Men Who Have Sex with Men. Sexuality & Culture 22, 355–379 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-017-9470-6

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