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This article is based on ethnographic fieldwork about pigeon keeping in Amman. Pigeon racing – ‘kashsh hamâm’ in Arabic – is a particularly popular hobby in Jordanian society. One only has to spend a morning in the midst of the weekly pigeon market to appreciate this–and that pigeons are men’s business. In this article, I describe the ways pigeon fancier activities are organized in Amman, and analyse the gendered figures associated with them. I show that pigeon racing is a matter of distinction within the working classes, linked to models of masculinity of varying value.