We also highlight spiritual dimensions of non-religious practices that contribute to a sense of sexual-spiritual wholeness. LAY SUMMARY:This article offers therapists a framework for helping clients identify and embrace healing practices that are informed by both traditional religious categories and by contemporary spiritualities outside religious institutions. We highlight spiritual connections to nonreligious practices of body and community, and conclude with guidance for clinicians to offer appropriate support and reflection for clients on this sexual-spiritual journey. This paper offers constructive recommendations for spiritual practices that may aid clients in reintegrating sexuality and spirituality, and provides therapists with a framework for helping clients identify and embrace healing practices that are informed by traditional religious categories and by contemporary spiritualities emerging outside religious institutions. The theological reflections of women, BIPOC, and queer scholars provide sex-positive spiritual resources for a holistic view of the human person as embodied and enspirited, including sexuality as a foundational and integrated dimension of spirituality. Yet research also shows that personal and communal spirituality can be a therapeutic resource for fostering mental health and relational wholeness.
Shame that is rooted in one’s understanding of oneself as a sexual being may result in dis-integration (lack of internal integrity) and feelings of disconnection from sense of self, one’s body, and others. Studies show that people from traditional religious belief systems may experience relational, emotional, and psychological dysfunction related to sexual identity and behaviors. Further research can benefit from more attention to somatic affection in the interplay between bodywork and intimacy in male sexual labour. This paper concludes that corporeal and affective dimensions are inseparable in understanding gay massage. Whereas the former refers to the ‘boyfriend experience’ built up through tactile encounters, the latter regards erotic services as caring practices for the socially vulnerable, adding a moral dimension to the cultural significance of gay sexual commerce in Taiwan.
Drawing upon in-depth interviews with 34 self-identified gay masseurs, I examine two prominent servicing features of male-for-male massage: crafted intimacy and unscripted care.
Feminist perspectives on bodywork and affective embodiment are used to analyse how intimacy is lived out during commodified same-sex engagements. This paper explores the relatively unexamined topic of interactions between corporeal and affective dimensions in male sexual labour, focusing on the role of intimacy in the bodywork of erotic gay massage in Taiwan.