Male prostitution
Encyclopedia
Male prostitution is the practice of engaging in sexual acts for money. Compared to female sex workers, male sex workers have been far less studied by researchers, and while studies suggest that there are differences between the ways these two groups look at their work, more research is needed.
Male prostitutes are known by various names and euphemism
Euphemism
A euphemism is the substitution of a mild, inoffensive, relatively uncontroversial phrase for another more frank expression that might offend or otherwise suggest something unpleasant to the audience...
s including male escorts, gigolos, rent-boys, models, masseurs and hustlers. The term "rentboy" is derived from the boys "renting" themselves out. A man who does not regard himself as gay, but who is prepared to have sex with male clients for money, is sometimes called "gay for pay" or "rough trade". Male prostitutes offering services to female customers are sometimes known as "gigolos".
Clients, especially those who pick up prostitutes on the street or in bars, are sometimes called "johns" or "tricks". Those working in prostitution sometimes refer to their trade as "turning tricks".
History
Male prostitution has been found in all modern cultures. The practice in the ancient world of men or women selling sexual services in sacred shrines, or sacred prostitution, was attested to be practised in "pagan" cultures in the Hebrew BibleHebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
.
The Encyclopedia of Homosexuality states that in ancient Greece
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
prostitutes were generally slaves. A well known case is Phaedo of Elis
Phaedo of Elis
Phaedo of Elis was a Greek philosopher. A native of Elis, he was captured in war and sold into slavery. He subsequently came into contact with Socrates at Athens who warmly received him and had him freed. He was present at the death of Socrates, and Plato named one of his dialogues Phaedo...
who was captured in war and forced into slavery and prostitution, but was eventually ransomed to become a pupil of Socrates
Socrates
Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...
; Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
's Phaedo
Phaedo
Plato's Phaedo is one of the great dialogues of his middle period, along with the Republic and the Symposium. The Phaedo, which depicts the death of Socrates, is also Plato's seventh and last dialogue to detail the philosopher's final days .In the dialogue, Socrates...
is told from his perspective. Male brothels existed in both Ancient Greece and ancient Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
.
Male street prostitutes solicited clients in specific areas which became known for the trade. Well-known areas for street "hustlers" have included: parts of 53rd Street
53rd Street (Manhattan)
53rd Street is a midtown cross street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, that contains buildings such as the Citicorp Building. It is 1.83 miles long. The street runs westbound from Sutton Place across most of the island's width, ending at DeWitt Clinton Park at Eleventh Avenue...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
; Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
; Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End in the City of Westminster, built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with the major shopping street of Piccadilly...
, in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
; "The Wall" in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
's Darlinghurst; The Drug Store and Rue Saint Anne in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
; Polk Street Gulch
Polk Street
Polk Street is a street in San Francisco, California, that travels northward from Market Street to Beach Street and is one of the main thoroughfares of the Polk Gulch neighborhood traversing through the Tenderloin, Nob Hill, and Russian Hill neighborhoods. The street takes its name from former U.S....
in San Francisco; Willow Avenue and Easton Avenue, County Route 527
County Route 527 (New Jersey)
County Route 527 is a county highway in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The highway extends from Main Street in Toms River Township to Pompton Avenue in Cedar Grove. It is the second longest county highway in New Jersey after Route 519. It was first given the number 527 in 1954...
in Franklin
Franklin Township, New Jersey
Franklin Township is the name of some places in the U.S. state of New Jersey:*Franklin Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey*Franklin Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey*Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey...
ew Jersey; and Taksim Square
Taksim Square
Taksim Square situated in the European part of Istanbul, Turkey, is a major shopping, tourist and leisure district famed for its restaurants, shops and hotels. It is considered the heart of modern Istanbul, with the central station of the Istanbul Metro network...
in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. Bars such as Cowboys and Cowgirls and Rounds in New York, Numbers in Los Angeles and certain go-go bars in Patpong
Patpong
Patpong is an entertainment district in Bangkok, Thailand, catering mainly, though not exclusively, to foreign tourists and expatriates. While Patpong is internationally known as a red light district at the heart of Bangkok's sex industry, it is in fact only one of numerous red-light districts...
Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
were popular venues where male prostitutes offered their services.
Examples
Young male prostitutes in the Edo periodEdo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
were called kagema
Kagema
Kagema is a historical Japanese term for young male prostitutes. Kagema were often passed off as apprentice kabuki actors and catered to a mixed male and female clientele. For male clients, the preferred service was anal sex; homosexual fellatio is almost unmentioned in Tokugawa-era documents...
. Their clients were mainly adult men.
In southern areas of Central Asia and Afghanistan, adolescent males between twelve and sixteen years old performed erotic songs and suggestive dancing and were available as sex workers. Such boys were known as bacchá
Bacchá
Bacha Bazi , also known as bacchá or bacha bereesh is sexual slavery and child prostitution in which prepubescent and adolescent boys are sold to wealthy or powerful men for entertainment...
.
In India, a hijra is a physically male or intersex
Intersex
Intersex, in humans and other animals, is the presence of intermediate or atypical combinations of physical features that usually distinguish female from male...
person who may sometimes enter into prostitution. Not all hijras are prostitutes, however, and many consider themselves to have a female identity in a male body and accept this as a sacred condition or gift. Hijras dress as women and dance at weddings, child births, and other celebrations. Many hijras in Pakistan are religious.
Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n male prostitutes are called jinetero
Jineterismo
Jineterismo is a term used to describe an alleged number of illegal or semi-legal economic activities related to tourism in Cuba. These activities include prostitution and pimping, as well as other forms of hustling, such as selling black-market and counterfeit goods. The term derives from the...
– literally "horse jockey"; female prostitutes are called jinetera.
A male sex worker in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
who solicits on the beaches and accepts clients of either sex is called a Sanky-panky
Sanky-panky
A Sanky-panky, or Sanky, is a male sex worker, found in the Caribbean. A sanky-panky solicits on beaches and has clients of both sexes or only women. When with men, the sanky-panky assumes an active A Sanky-panky, or Sanky, is a male sex worker, found in the Caribbean. A sanky-panky solicits on...
.
Present-day male prostitution
The following categorization of the male prostitute is not exhaustive:Online
Professional escorts (indoor sex workers) often advertise on male escorting websites, either independently or through an escort agencyEscort agency
Escort agencies are companies that provide escorts for the agency's clients. The agency typically arranges a meeting between one of its escorts and the client at the customer's house or hotel room , or at the escort's residence . Some agencies also provide escorts for longer durations, who may stay...
.
Streets, bars, and clubs
Most big cities have one or more areas where male street prostitutes regularly make themselves available to potential clients who drive by in cars. Such an area may have a locally-known informal name. These areas tend to be risky for both the client and the prostitute, from a legal perspective when it is in a region where street prostitution or solicitationSolicitation
Literally, solicitation means: 'urgently asking'. It is the action or instance of soliciting; petition; proposal. In criminal law, it most commonly refers to either the act of offering goods or services, or the act of attempting to purchase such goods or services...
is prohibited by law, or also from a safety perspective. These areas may be targets for surveillance and arrests by law enforcement. Some male prostitutes solicit potential clients in other public spaces such as bus terminals, parks and rest stops.
Bathhouses and sex clubs
Male prostitutes may attempt to work in gay bathhouseGay bathhouse
Gay bathhouses, also known as gay saunas or steam baths, are commercial bathhouses for men to have sex with other men. In gay slang in some regions these venues are also known colloquially as "the baths" or "the tubs," and should not be confused with public bathing.Not all men who visit gay...
s or sex club
Sex club
Sex clubs are either groups that organize sex related activities or an establishment where patrons can engage in sex acts with other patrons. A sex club differs from a brothel in that, while sex club patrons typically pay a fee to enter the club, they have sex with other patrons rather than with...
s, but prostitution is usually prohibited in such establishments, and known prostitutes are often banned by management.
Male brothels
A male prostitute may work in a male brothelBrothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
, also known in some places as a "stable." This is common in South-East Asia (Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
) and may also be found in some larger U.S. cities. The pimp
Pimp
A pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...
is relatively rare in male prostitution in the West, where most prostitutes generally work independently or, less frequently, through an agency.
Until 2009, when it outlawed all prostitution, Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
was the only U.S. state at that time to allow male sex workers to work legally.
In November 2005, Heidi Fleiss
Heidi Fleiss
Heidi Lynne Fleiss is an American former madam, and also a columnist and television personality regularly featured in the 1990s in American media. She is often referred to as the "Hollywood Madam"....
said that she would partner with brothel owner Joe Richards to turn Richards' legal Cherry Patch Ranch
Cherry Patch Ranch
The Cherry Patch Ranch is one of two brothels in Crystal, Nye County, Nevada, USA and is located on Ranch Road. The ranch is owned by Joe Richards.-External links:*, home page*Articles by the Las Vegas Review-Journal on plans by Heidi Fleiss****...
brothel in Crystal, Nevada
Crystal, Nevada
Crystal is the name of two locations in Nevada:*Crystal, Nye County, Nevada*Crystal, Clark County, Nevada...
into an establishment that would employ male prostitutes and cater exclusively to female customers, a first in Nevada . However in 2009, Fleiss said that she had abandoned her plans to open such a brothel.
In order to work in a legal brothel in Nevada
Prostitution in Nevada
Nevada is the only U.S. state to allow some legal prostitution, in the form of regulated brothels. Prostitution outside these licensed brothels is illegal....
, a cervical exam
Pap smear
The Papanicolaou test is a screening test used in to detect pre-cancerous and cancerous processes in the endocervical canal of the female reproductive system. Changes can be treated, thus preventing cervical cancer...
is required by law; therefore males are technically not allowed to work as prostitutes. In late 2009 the owner of the Shady Lady Ranch
Shady Lady Ranch
The Shady Lady Ranch is a legal brothel in Nevada, located on U.S. Highway 95 about north of Beatty.In 2006, the owner Bobbi Davis, along with two newspapers and with help from the ACLU, challenged a 1979 state law which prohibited the advertising of brothels in counties where prostitution was...
brothel challenged this provision before the Nye County Licensing and Liquor Board and prevailed. In January 2010 the brothel proceeded to hire "Markus
Markus (prostitute)
Markus is the professional name of the first male legal prostitute in the United States of America. He worked for a few weeks at the beginning of 2010 at a legal brothel in Nevada. He was born in Lawrence County, Alabama; his real name is not known to the public...
", a male prostitute who would offer his services to female clients. Markus left the ranch a few weeks later, in March 2010.
In January 2010, a luxurious brothel for gay men was opened in an industrial part of Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, the first completely gay brothel in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
Sex tourism
In contrast to most of the other venues, most sex tourism in regards to male prostitution caters to female clients. Women travel to Southern Europe (ItalyItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
), to the Caribbean Basin
Caribbean Basin
The Caribbean Basin is generally defined as the area running from Florida westward along the Gulf coast, then south along the Mexican coast through Central America and then eastward across the northern coast of South America. This region includes the islands of the archipelago of the West Indies...
(Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
, Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
, and Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
), to parts of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
(Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
and Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
), Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
(specifically Bali
Bali
Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...
) or Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
(specifically Phuket), to enjoy sex tourism. Lesser-known destinations may include Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
and Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
. Women may travel to specific locations to enjoy a holiday and find a "temporary boyfriend" who will fill the roles of sexual partner, dining companion, tour guide, dancing companion/instructor and will sometimes procure softer illicit drugs like marijuana and ecstasy for his client. German women frequent Sosua
Sosúa
Sosúa is a small town in the Puerto Plata province of the Dominican Republic. Located approximately from the Puerto Plata International Airport , the town is accessed primarily by Camino Cinco, or Highway 5, which runs much of the length of the country's North coastline...
in the Dominican Republic, Greece, and Morocco. A popular destination for the Japanese
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
is Bali in Indonesia, while Canadian and Scandinavian females don't appear to favor a specific destination. Women who spend time with male escorts while on vacation may be any age but are predominantly middle-aged women looking for romance along with their sex. Male prostitution has become increasingly visible in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
; male for female service is growing but there have been reported cases where female clients have been blackmailed by gigolos they visited.
Risks
As in all forms of prostitution, male prostitutes and their clients can face risks and problems. For prostitutes, the risks may be include: social stigma; legal/criminal risks; physical abuse; health-related risks, such as the potential risk of sexually transmitted diseases; rejection by family and friends; gay-bashing (in the case of male-male prostitution); the financial risks that come with having an insecure income; and risks of the mental/emotional effects that come with all of those factors. Teenagers and runaways engaging in sex work have shown to be particularly at risk.For clients, risks may include: fear of social stigma and family or work problems if their activities with prostitutes do not remain secret; health-related risks; being robbed; or, very rarely, being blackmailed or injured. The German fashion designer Rudolph Moshammer
Rudolph Moshammer
Rudolph Moshammer was a German fashion designer. He was murdered at the age of 64 in the Grünwald neighborhood of Munich, Germany.- Life :Born in Munich, Germany, Moshammer had an education in retail industry trading...
, for example, was killed by a man who said that Moshammer had reneged on a promise to pay him for sex. If a male prostitute steals from a male client or accepts money without then "putting out" the agreed-upon sexual services, it is sometimes referred to as "rolling a john".
Research suggests that the degree of violence against male prostitutes is somewhat lower than for female sex workers. Men working on the street and younger men appear to be at greatest risk of being victimized by clients. Conversely, the risk of being robbed or blackmailed posed to clients of sex workers appears to be much lower than many imagine. This is especially true when clients hire sex workers through an established agency or when they hire men who have been consistently well reviewed by previous clients.
Stigma
Factors like the difference in ageAge disparity in sexual relationships
Age disparity in sexual relationships refers to sexual relations between people with a significant difference in age. Whether these relationships are accepted and the question of what counts as a significant difference in age has varied over time; and varies over cultures, different legal systems,...
, in social status
Social status
In sociology or anthropology, social status is the honor or prestige attached to one's position in society . It may also refer to a rank or position that one holds in a group, for example son or daughter, playmate, pupil, etc....
and in economic status between the sex worker and his client have been cited as major sources of social criticism. Similar social stigma may also be attached to amorous relationships that do not involve direct payment for sexual services, and therefore do not fit the definition of prostitution, but which may be seen by some as a form of "quasi"-prostitution, (in that there is a power imbalance and a reward for companionship or sex). The older member in such the relationships may be referred as a "sugar daddy" or "sugar momma"; the young lover may be called a "kept boy" or "boy toy". Within the gay community, the members of this kind of couple are sometimes called "dad" (or "daddy") and "son" - without implying incest. The social disdain for age/status disparity in relationships is and has been less pronounced in certain cultures at certain historical times.
Help and support for male sex workers
In the United States and other places, there are few resources and little support readily available for male sex workers working and/or living on the streets. Men and boys in this situation may face many issues. They may be at a higher risk for health problems and abuse. Male street prostitutes may have issues such as drug addiction. Offering support and health care to such stigmatized people can be difficult due to a reluctance to disclose information about their work to health care professionals, which can also make male prostitutes difficult to identify in order to reach out to.
In recent years some organizations directed specifically at helping male sex workers have been founded and some studies have begun being done on this little-studied population. For example, Richard Holcomb, a former sex worker, founded 'Project Weber', a harm reduction
Harm reduction
Harm reduction refers to a range of public health policies designed to reduce the harmful consequences associated with recreational drug use and other high risk activities...
program in Providence
Providence
Providence may refer to:* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island* Divine providence, the idea of divinely ordained events and outcomes- Entertainment :* Providence , a French/Swiss film directed by Alain Resnais...
, Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
that offers resources and support to male sex workers living on the streets, including a needle exchange and HIV testing. Holcomb cited the lack of data available on male commercial sex workers in the region as his reason for helping develop a 2010 survey to assess the needs of this population. Project Weber recruited and surveyed 50 male sex workers living on the streets of Providence
Providence
Providence may refer to:* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island* Divine providence, the idea of divinely ordained events and outcomes- Entertainment :* Providence , a French/Swiss film directed by Alain Resnais...
. Holcomb cited the fact that he and members of his team are former sex workers themselves as one of the primary reasons why they were able to gain access to the men in order to conduct this survey. The project says they have gleaned valuable data on male sex workers who work and live on the streets of Providence. Holcomb has also created several documentaries meant to draw attention to the subjects of male street prostitution and drug use.
Academic and feminist studies
The topic of male prostitution has been examined by feminist theoristsFeminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
. Feminist theorists Justin Gaffney and Kate Beverley stated that the insights gained from research on male sex workers in central London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
allowed comparison between the experiences of the 'hidden' population of male prostitutes and the traditionally subordinate position of women in a patriarchal society. Gaffney and Beverley argue that male sex workers occupy a subordinate position in our society which, as with women, is ensured by hegemonic and patriarchal constructs.
In contrast, social theorists writing from a poststructural critical theory
Critical theory
Critical theory is an examination and critique of society and culture, drawing from knowledge across the social sciences and humanities. The term has two different meanings with different origins and histories: one originating in sociology and the other in literary criticism...
perspective have claimed that unlike women, male sex workers are seen as less likely to take on submissive roles by their clients due to hegemonic misogynistic social constructs. Based on a series of interviews, Douglas Langston finds the attitude of "johns" and underground male sex workers towards gender relations 'remarkably misogynistic,' and compares their attitude to that of the fiction and Christian apologetics of C.S. Lewis. Langston argues that both express a remarkably similar misogyny to the point of male homoerotism, and fetishization of patriarchal domination, especially over subjects seen by other members of society as less likely to take on submissive roles.
Popular culture
The male prostitute or hustler is a frequent literary and cinematic stereotypeStereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
in the West from the 1960s onwards, especially in movies and books with a gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
perspective, in which he may be a stock character
Stock character
A Stock character is a fictional character based on a common literary or social stereotype. Stock characters rely heavily on cultural types or names for their personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics. In their most general form, stock characters are related to literary archetypes,...
. The male sex worker is often portrayed either as a tragic figure, as in the film Mysterious Skin
Mysterious Skin
Mysterious Skin is a 2004 drama film directed by American filmmaker Gregg Araki, who also wrote the screenplay based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Scott Heim...
in which a male prostitute has a history of molestation, or as an impossible object of love or an idealized rebel. Though less frequent in cinema and in novels, the male prostitute with an exclusively female clientele (the "gigolo" or male for female "escort") is generally depicted as less tragic than the gay hustler. The film My Own Private Idaho
My Own Private Idaho
My Own Private Idaho is a 1991 independent drama film written and directed by Gus Van Sant, loosely based on Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, and Henry V, and starring River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves...
, starring Keanu Reeves
Keanu Reeves
Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix...
and River Phoenix
River Phoenix
River Jude Phoenix was an American film actor, musician, and teen icon. He was the oldest brother of fellow actors Rain, Joaquin, Liberty, and Summer Phoenix.Phoenix began acting at age 10 in television commercials...
, focuses upon the friendship between two male prostitutes. Rob Schneider
Rob Schneider
Robert Michael "Rob" Schneider is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and director. A stand-up comic and veteran of the NBC sketch-comedy series Saturday Night Live, Schneider has gone on to a successful career in feature films, including starring roles in the comedy films Deuce Bigalow:...
stars as a gigolo in his slapstick farce Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo
Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo
Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo is a 1999 comedy film starring Rob Schneider. Other cast members include Eddie Griffin, Amy Poehler, Oded Fehr, Arija Bareikis, and William Forsythe....
and its sequel
Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo
Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo is the 2005 sequel to the 1999 film Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, from Happy Madison Productions. Rob Schneider returns in the role of a male prostitute Deuce Bigalow who visits his former pimp T.J...
. Another well known movie featuring male prostitutes is Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 American drama film based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. It was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Dustin Hoffman and newcomer Jon Voight in the title role. Notable smaller roles are filled by Sylvia Miles, John...
. The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone is a 1961 British film made by Seven Arts-Warner Bros. It was directed by José Quintero and produced by Louis De Rochemont with Lothar Wolff as associate producer. The screenplay was written by Gavin Lambert and Jan Read and based on the novel by Tennessee Williams...
offers an older woman and a young gigolo in a tragic tryst. The TV series Hung
Hung (TV series)
Hung is a comedy-drama series, which premiered on HBO on June 28, 2009. The series was created by Dmitry Lipkin and Colette Burson and stars Thomas Jane as Ray Drecker, a struggling suburban Detroit high school baseball coach who resorts to male prostitution. The second season premiered on June 27,...
is about a Detroit high school basketball coach who, due to financial pressures, turns to prostitution.
Slang
Besides English-language slang, there are countless terms for male prostitutes in other languages. These include:- Tösapåg, literally girlboy (mainly for transvestites) and manshora, male whore (Swedish)
- hímringyó, meaning "male whore" (Hungarian)
- taxi boy (Argentina and Chile)
- escort (Chile)
- pinguero, jinetero (Cuba)
- cachero, puto, prostituto (Ecuador)
- prostituto, puto, garoto de programa (meaning "program boy"), michê, michet, gigolô (Brazil)
- flete, gigolo or gigolón (Peru)
- Prostituto (Portugal); for comparison, the word used for female prostitutes is prostituta
- jigolo, tokmakçı (Turkey)
- chichifo (pl. chichifos), puto, prostituto, chacal, mayate (Mexico)
- callboy (Germany and in the Philippines)
- boys (Tunisia)
- Masajista, puto (Colombia)
- Stricher (Germany; Stricher is a potentially more derogatory term, compared to callboy)
- 鸭子 → yāzǐ, meaning "duck" (Mainland China)
- 鴨/Money Boy, "ngaap2", meaning "duck" (Hong Kong)
- Gigolò, puttano, marchettaro (Italy)
- Chapero, prostituto, puto, gigolo (Spain)
- Tapin (France), gigolo (France, Germany and many other countries), escorte (France and Quebec)
- Trækkerdreng meaning "boy that walks the streets" (Denmark)
- жиголо – zhyholo (Ukraine)
- жиголо – zhigolo (Bulgaria and Russia)
- жиголо – žigolo (Serbia)
- ζιγκολό – zigolo (Greece)
- 男娼 – danshou 売り専/ウリ専 – urisen (lit. "exclusively sold") (Japan)
- شرموط – sharmūṭ (Arabic)
- zhigolo (Albania)
- żigolo, żigolak, męska dziwka (male whore) (Poland)
- 남창(男娼) – namchang, meaning "male prostitute" (South Korea)
- Sanky Panky, Bugarron (Dominican Republic)
- Escorta, puto (Puerto Rico)
- Kucing (Garong), meaning "cat" (Indonesia)
- Rattopoika, meaning "pastime boy" (Finland)
- Trai bao ("covered boy"), trai gọi ("call boy") (Vietnam)
- Anak ikan, moneyboy, pendangboy (Malaysia)
- Rent Boy (Great Britain)
- Mindagadu (Telugu - India)
- Giogolo ( Indonesia).
See also
- Age of consentAge of consentWhile the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
- Female sex tourismFemale sex tourismFemale sex tourism is travel by women, partially or fully for the purpose of having sex. The practice differs from male sex tourism in that women do not typically use the structures of the sex industry Female sex tourism is travel by women, partially or fully for the purpose of having sex. The...
- John (prostitution)
- Sex tourismSex tourismSex tourism is travel to engage in sexual activity with prostitutes.The World Tourism Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, defines sex tourism as "trips organized from within the tourism sector, or from outside this sector but using its structures and networks, with the primary...