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Male prostitution

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Male prostitution is the sale of sexual services by a male. Although the hustler is often associated with teen-age "street kids", "runaways" and drug addicts, prostitution is practiced by people of every kind of social, economic, and relationship status.

In same-sex male prostitution (regardless of the hustler's sexual orientation), it is difficult to generalize on the sexual acts the participants may engage in. Many hustlers only permit the client to masturbate them or to perform oral sex on them; others engage exclusively in insertive anal intercourse of their client; others are exclusively receptive in this respect; others are unrestricted in their sexual acts.

Some young men come to hustling as a temporary or occasional means of making money; some engage in hustling only once; others work as a hustler for an extended length of time. Some rentboys supplement their income by work as a pornographic actor or model (and vice-versa), nude model, massage therapist, burlesque dancer (a "go-go boy", "erotic dancer" or (in the Philippines) "macho dancer"), by performing in sex shows or by running a personal website (with, for example, pictures and erotic webcam shows available for subscribers). Others have jobs entirely unrelated to the sex industry.

Financial incentives may be the primary reason that prostitutes engage in this work, but they are by no means the only reasons. Hustling may also confer on the hustler a sense of self-worth (the hustler is desired by the client), or of social status (the hustler may be taken to expensive restaurants or travel destinations), or of erotic gratification, or of societal rebellion (the hustler is breaking social conventions). Conversely, the hustler may also experience a sense of self-destructiveness or exploitation. The reasons for hustling are thus extremely personal and may involve a mixture of positive and negative justifications. This same complexity may underlie the justifications of the hustler's client: although sexual gratification may be his/her primary motive, the client may also be moved by many emotional concerns (including issues related to sexual orientation, power and emotional attachment).

Some male clients (especially men who identify as straight) may prefer escorts who are crossdressers or pre-operative transsexuals ("she-males"). The gender of a male prostitute's sexual partner, or the sexual act that the hustler participates in, is not necessarily indicative of the hustler's sexual orientation.

Slang

Common slang terms for male prostitutes include "escorts", "rentboys", "hustlers", "working boys", "call boys", "trade", and "punks". The rentboy name is derived either from the fact that the boys were renting themselves out, or that they paid their rent with their earnings. An escort who doesn't identify as gay, but who has sex with male clients, is sometimes called "gay for pay" or "rough trade". While less frequent, male prostitutes offering services to female customers are sometimes known as "giglis" or "gigolos".

Clients, especially ones who pick up escorts on the street or in bars, are sometimes called "johns" or "tricks". Prostitutes sometimes refer to their trade as "turning tricks".

People who prostitute themselves with others while in an amorous/sexual relationship are sometimes said to hustle "on the side".

Venues for male prostitution

Clients and escorts match up in several ways.

Online

Internet prostitution has surged in popularity over the past five years. One possible explanation for the drying up of street prostitution in previously notorious areas (e.g., Polk Street in San Francisco) may be the ease meeting sex workers online.

Professional escorts tend to advertise independently on male escorting websites, or else through an escorting agency. On the former business model, escorts usually pay a monthly fee to list themselves with pictures, text, and contact information on a website listing male escorts. These fees range from around $30/month to upwards of $300/month. Clients contact the escorts directly, and the escorts keep all their earnings. On the agency business model, the agency runs a website listing the escorts, clients contact the agency, and then the escort and client meet at a determined time and place. Escorts turn over a percentage (usually 25-33%) of their earnings over to the agency, and keep any gratuity for themselves.

Occasional, infrequent, or one-time escorts tend to find clients through "m4m" message boards or online chat rooms. Not knowing the market or because of an immediate need for cash, they tend to charge below the market price. They also tend to be less willing to show pictures of themselves online, and tend to be more restrictive in the services they offer (many will not kiss, or not engage in anal sex). They will frequently use code phrases like "looking for generous" or "$eeks help".

Most major U.S. cities have weekly gay-oriented newspapers or magazines. Escorts and male massage therapists (themselves frequently willing to engage in prostitution) often advertise in the backs of these publications.

Streets, bars, and clubs

The male hustler may solicit clients on the street (like pre-1990's Times Square in New York, Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, "the Wall" in Sydney's Darlinghurst or the Porte Dauphine in Paris), or in another public space (like a bus terminal, park or rest stop), in a bar (such as the former gay hustler bars Rounds in New York or Numbers in Los Angeles, or go-go bars in Thailand and the Philippines) or a dance club.

Male brothels

A hustler may also work in a male brothel or "stable." This is common in South-East Asia (Thailand, Manila) and may also be found in some larger U.S. cities. The pimp is relatively rare in male prostitution in the West, where most hustlers generally work independently or, less frequently, through an agency.

Hiring non-escorts

Young, attractive men (especially in gay bars or on gay chat rooms) are frequently offered money for sex, even if they are not escorts. While the usual response is to say no (frequently in derogatory terms), they sometimes accept these offers. James Hudson, an openly gay London socialite, once famously said to The Sun newspaper he receives far more offers for paid sex than unpaid sex. This is not uncommon for young gay men living in the world's capital cities.

Price

Price is determined by many factors including: age, attractiveness, endowment, sexual position, race, personality, skill in bed, ability to maintain an erection, charm, travel time, willingness to engage in different fetishes, fame and reputation (famous porn stars often charge the most), and (not unimportantly) knowledge of the market price. Further, an escort will sometime charge over or under his perceived market value in order to affect the number of bookings he gets.

Full-time or professional escorts tend to charge more than newcomers or people who only occasionally work. This may be because they better know where to advertise and what the market price is.

As a benchmark, a young, very attractive, full-service professional escort in a major U.S. city typically charges between $200 and $250 per hour. Similar escorts in major cities in the United Kingdom typically charge between £80 and £120 an hour. The highest average prices for top-tier escorts are in Manhattan, Los Angeles and London. High-end male escorts typically charge less than high-end female escorts, who can bill over $2000 per hour (often with a multi-hour minimum).

Risks

As in all forms of prostitution, the male prostitute and his client can face a number of risks and problems: health-related (sexually transmitted diseases, drug-use, physical abuse), legal/criminal (solicitation, drug laws, age of consent laws), societal/familial (social stigma, rejection by family and friends, gay-bashing, loss of job) and emotional (sense of exploitation or of leading a "double-life", loss of affect, self-destructiveness). Teenagers and runaways are particularly at risk. Prostitutes have stolen money, valuables, and drugs from clients, and, much more rarely, have blackmailed clients. When male prostitutes steal from their male clients or take money without "putting out" sexual services, it is sometimes referred to as "rolling a john".

Most, but not all, male escorts in the U.S. do not have unprotected anal sex with clients. Those that do are particularly likely to be HIV positive.

Stigma

Because of the social stigma attached to homosexual acts, male prostitution with male clients is generally viewed by Western society as more degrading than male prostitution with female clients.

The difference in age, in social status and in economic status between the hustler and his client is also a major source of social criticism. This same social stigma may also be attached to amorous relationships that do not involve prostitution, but which may be seen by society as a form of "quasi" prostitution. The older member of the relationship may be qualified as a "sugar daddy" or "sugar momma"; the young lover may be a "kept boy" or "boy toy". In the gay community, the members of this kind of couple are sometimes called "dad" and "son" (without implying incest). This social disdain for age/status disparity has been less pronounced in certain cultures at certain historical times.

With regards to the age difference between a hustler and his client, there appears to be a societal double standard concerning gender: whereas the age difference between a gigolo and a female client may be a mark of the hustler's sexual prowess, a similar age difference between a young male hustler and an older male client (frequently denigrated as a "troll" in the gay community) is seen as exploitative. See also: Age disparity in sexual relationships.

Male prostitution with male clients is more or less tolerated in a number of Western and non-Western countries. This kind of sexual relationship may be a transitory practice (with financial benefits) for a young man on the road to adulthood which he will subsequently abandon once he is married. (This is especially true in societies in which a young man's access to women is strictly prohibited before marriage.) This tolerance of male prostitution in other countries leads some clients to engage in sexual tourism.

For more on the topics of age, exploitation, health risks and the legality of prostitution, see the article prostitution.

Male prostitution in other cultures and periods

For more on cross-cultural and historical male prostitution, see:

  • Bacchá - in northern Turkic-speaking areas of Central Asia, an adolescent of twelve to sixteen who was a performer practiced in erotic songs and suggestive dancing and was available as a sex worker.
  • Hijra - in the Indian subcontinent, a physically male or intersex person who may enter into prostitution.
  • Kagema - young male prostitutes in Edo period of Japan whose clients were largely adult men
  • Köçek -in Ottoman Empire culture, very handsome young male rakkas, "dancer," usually dressed in feminine attire, employed as entertainers and sex workers
  • Tellak -masseurs/sex works in Turkish hammams
  • Sanky-panky - a male sex worker, principally in the Dominican Republic but also in the Caribbean in general, who solicits on beaches and has clients of both sexes
Main article: Male prostitution in the arts

The male prostitute or hustler is a frequent stereotype in literature and movies in the West from the 1960s on, and especially in movies and books with a gay perspective in which he may be considered a stock character, often portrayed as a tragic figure, an impossible love object or an idealized rebel. While less frequent in cinema and novels, the male prostitute with exclusively female clients (the "gigolo" or "escort") is generally depicted in a less tragic manner than the gay hustler, and films like American Gigolo have done much to paint the character as a sophisticated lover and seducer (this portrayal has also lead to cinematic satire in the "Deuce Bigalow" films).

The image of the male prostitute also appears occasionally in popular music (like the photo spread for The Bravery), some contemporary fashion advertising and the visual arts.

Books on male prostitution

  • Understanding the Male Hustler (Phil Andros, 1991)
  • Hustling: A Gentleman's Guide to the Fine Art of Homosexual Prostitution (John Preston, 1994)
  • A Consumer's Guide to Male Hustlers (Joseph Itiel, 1998)
  • Prostitution: On Whores, Hustlers, and Johns (James Elias, Vern L. Bullough, Veronica Elias and Gwen Brewer, eds.; introduction by Joycelyn Elders; 1998)
  • Sex for Sale: Prostitution, Pornography, and the Sex Industry (Ronald Weitzer, 1999)
  • Tricks and Treats: Sex Workers Write About Their Clients (Matt Bernstein Sycamore, ed., 1999)
  • The Male Escort's Handbook: Your Guide to Getting Rich the Hard Way (Aaron Lawrence, 2000)
  • Strapped for Cash : A History of American Hustler Culture (Mack Friedman, 2003)

See also

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