Male prostitution is the sale of sexual services (
prostitutionProstitution is the act or practice of engaging in sex acts for hire. In most cultures, prostitution is viewed by many as a deviant profession, either illegal or socially discouraged...
) by a male (a
gigolo,
manwhore,
hooker,
rentboy,
hustler, or male prostitute). The
genderGender commonly refers to the set of characteristics that humans perceive as distinguishing between male and female entities, extending from one's biological sex to, in humans, one's social role or gender identity. As a term, "gender" has more than one valid definition...
of the customer and the sexual act(s) or sexual behavior that the prostitute engages in with that person may not correspond to the prostitute's own
sexual orientationSexual orientation is a pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions to men, women, both genders, neither gender, or another gender...
. 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.
Slang
Common slang terms for males involved in prostitution in the
Anglosphere-Definitions:According to a post on Word Spy, a blog on unusual words, the term was first used by author Neal Stephenson in his 1995 novel The Diamond Age. Stephenson did not use the term in any specific geopolitical sense but rather to describe a fictional race called the Atlantans who, when...
include "escorts", "man-whores" or "man-sluts", "rentboys", "hustlers", "working boys", "trade", "call-boys", and "gigolos".
Slang terms from other regions include:
- hímringyó (Hungarian)
- taxi boys (Argentina and to a lesser extent in Chile)
- pinguero (Cuba)
- cachero, puto, prostituto (Ecuador)
- chapero, prostituto, puto, gigolo (Spain)
- flete, gigolo or gigolón (Peru)
- Prostituto (Portugal); for comparison, the word used for female prostitutes is prostituta
- jigolo (pl. jigololar) (Turkey)
- chichifo (pl. chichifos), puto, prostituto (Mexico)
- callboys (Germany and in the Philippines)
- maricon (Cuba)
- Masajista (Colombia)
- Stricher (Germany; Stricher is a potentially more derogatory term, compared to callboy)
- 鸭子 → yāzǐ, meaning "duck" (Mainland China)
- gigolò, puttano, marchetta, escort (Italy)
- garoto de programa, meaning "program boy", michê, michet, gigolô (Brazil)
- Tapins (France) gigolo, escorte (France and Quebec)
- Trækkerdreng meaning "boy that walks the streets" (Denmark)
- Gandu (गान्डू), Londe-Baaz(South-Asia)
- жиголо - zhigolo (Bulgaria and Russia)
- жиголо/žigolo (Serbia)
- ζιγκολό - zingolo (Greece)
- zhigolo (Albania - Kosovo)
- żigolo, żigolak, męska dziwka (male whore) (Poland)
- 남창(男娼), meaning "male prostitute" (South Korea)
- Sanky Panky,Bugarron (Dominican Republic)
- escorta, bugarron (Puerto Rico)
- kucing (Garong), meaning "cat" (Indonesia)
- rattopoika, meaning "pastime boy" (Finland)
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 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 escorts on the street or in bars, are sometimes called "johns" or "tricks". Those working in prostitution 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".
Male prostitution in other cultures and periods
Male prostitution has been found in all advanced cultures. The practice in the ancient world of the selling of sexual favors by men or women in sacred shrines, or "sacred prostitution", is attested to in the
Old TestamentIn Christianity, the Old Testament is the collection of books that form the first of the two-part Christian Biblical canon. These works correspond to the Hebrew Bible , with some variations and additions. In the Eastern Orthodox Church the comparable texts are known as the Septuagint, from the...
.
Prostitutes in
ancient GreeceAncient Greece is the civilisation belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the...
were generally slaves, as prostitutes could lose their civic rights. A well known case is
Phaedo of ElisPhaedo 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 he gave his name to one of Plato's dialogues,...
who was capured in war and forced into slavery and prostitution, but was eventually ransomed to become a pupil of
Socrates Socrates was a Classical Greek philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known only through the classical accounts of his students...
and give his name to
PlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world...
's
PhaedoPlato'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 fifth and last dialogue to detail the philosopher's final days...
. Ancient Greece and
ancient RomeAncient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
both saw the existence of male brothels.
Work as a same-sex male prostitute in the
Medieval Islamic worldThe Islamic Golden Age or the Islamic Renaissance, is traditionally dated from the 9th to 13th centuries for 400 years C.E., but has been extended to the 15th century by recent scholarship...
was similarly restricted to social "inferiors" such as boys and slaves, and while frequenting prostitutes was considered a sin, the practice was nevertheless tolerated.
Historical evidence from court records and vice investigations shows male prostitution in what is now the United States as early as the late 1600s. With the expansion of urban areas and aggregation of gay communities toward the end of the nineteenth century male/male prostitution became more apparent, and included baths, brothels such as the Paresis Hall in the Bowery district of New York, and prostitution bars in which so-called "fairies" solicited other men for sex and received a commission for selling drinks.
- Bacchá
In the settled oasis region of Central Asia , entertainers known as bacchá were once common, and constituted the commercial and transgender side of the local pederastic tradition known as bacchabozlik.A bacchá, typically an adolescent of twelve to sixteen, was a performer practiced in erotic...
– 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 a physically male or intersex person who may enter into prostitution. However not all Hijras are prostitutes, many consider themselves to have a female identity in a male body and accept this as a sacred condition or gift. They dress as women and dance at weddings, child births, and other happy occasions. Many Hijras in Pakistan consider themselves to be quite religious as well.
- Jinetero
In Cuba, prostitution is legal for persons over age 17, but procuring are illegal activities....
– literally "horse jockey" (i.e. someone who "rides" tourists), this is a term used to describe CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the 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. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
n male prostitutes (female prostitutes are called "jinetera").
- 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...
– young male prostitutes in Edo periodThe , or , is a division of Japanese history running from 1603 to 1868 and is the premodern era. The period marks the governance of the Edo or Tokugawa shogunate, which was officially established in 1603 by the first Edo shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. The period ended with the Meiji Restoration, the...
of Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of 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...
whose clients were largely adult men.
- 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...
– a male sex worker in the CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
who solicits on beaches and has clients of both sexes.
Venues
Clients and male sex workers match up in several ways. Male sex workers are often referred to by different names based on where they find their clients. Men working on the street, in bathhouses, or parks are typically known as "hustlers"; men working in bars are called "bar hustlers" if they are not dancing, or "go-go boys" or "exotic dancers" if they are dancing or stripping at a club. Men advertising for clients in print media or via the Internet are typically known as "escorts," "massage/masseurs," or "rent boys." There are two kinds of escorts: independent and agency-based. The number of street workers (hustlers) has been declining with the advent of Internet-based resources, but the need for quick cash by homeless or poor men guarantees the continued availability of street hustlers.
The following categorisation of the male prostitute is not exhaustive:
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
US$The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...
30 to upwards of US$300 monthly. Clients contact the escorts directly, and the escorts keep all their earnings. On the agency business model, the agency runs a website listing the escorts, clients contact the agency, and then the escort and client meet at a determined time and place. Escorts turn over a percentage (usually 25-33%) of their earnings to the agency, and keep any gratuity for themselves. In most cases an escort agency will examine, interview a potential male escort, offer him photo session and will include the details it receives in the profile of the escort. It is not rare that one male escort works for multiple agencies to secure full time employment and maximum income.
Occasional, infrequent, or one-time escorts tend to find clients through "m4m" (male for male) message boards or online chat rooms. Not knowing the market or because of an immediate need for cash, they tend to charge below the market price. They also tend to be less willing to show pictures of themselves online, and tend to be more restrictive in the services offered (many will not kiss, or not engage in anal sex). They will frequently use weakly concealed code phrases like "looking for generous" or "$eeks help".
Other way of male prostitution on line is the
Cam whoreA cam whore is an individual who performs sexual services on the Internet with webcam software in exchange for money or goods, usually by a fixed per minute fee or by encouraging viewers to purchase items on their wish lists or add to their online accounts...
, although the prostitute has no direct contact with the customer. He exhibits his body to the wishes of the customer who pays the service to the agency through a credit card or any other on line service.
Print advertisements
Most major U.S. cities have weekly gay-oriented newspapers or magazines. Escorts and male massage therapists who are 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
streetStreet prostitution is a specific form of prostitution in which the sex worker operates from the street. The street prostitute typically solicits customers while waiting at street corners or walking alongside a street, often dressed in a provocative manner...
(such as pre-1990s
Times SquareTimes Square is a major intersection in Manhattan, a borough of New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
in New York, Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, "the Wall" in Sydney's Darlinghurst, the Porte Dauphine in Paris,
Polk Street GulchPolk Street is a street in San Francisco, California that travels northward from Market Street to Beach Street through the Polk Gulch neighborhood, and traverses through the Tenderloin, Nob Hill, and Russian Hill neighborhoods...
in San Francisco, Taksim Square in Istanbul, Lapangan Banteng Square in
JakartaJakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. It also has a greater population than any other city in Southeast Asia. It was formerly known as Sunda Kelapa , Jayakarta , Batavia , and Djakarta . Located on the northwest coast of Java, it has an area of and a population of 8,489,910...
, 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
ThailandProstitution in Thailand is illegal , but in practice it is tolerated and regulated.Since the Vietnam War, Thailand has gained international notoriety among travelers from many countries as a sex tourism destination....
and the
PhilippinesHuman trafficking and the prostitution of children is a significant issue in the Philippines, often controlled by organized crime syndicates.In an effort to deal with the problem, the Philippines passed R.A...
) or a dance club.
Most big cities have an area where hustlers regularly make themselves available to potential clients cruising by in cars. The informal name of such an area varies by the city, but it can be known as "the block" or "the hill." These areas are dangerous for both the client and the hustler, since local residents quickly figure out what is happening and report it to the police. However, the element of danger may be part of the appeal of a cruisy area.
The line between escort services and other services can sometimes be complicated: although the men working at a Host club (initially found in Japan, but expanding worldwide), are paid to offer conversation and companionship to female clients, the encounters may also involve prostitution.
Bathhouses and sex clubs
Hustlers may attempt to work in
gay bathhouseGay bathhouses, also known as gay saunas or steam baths , are places where men can go to have sex with other men. Not all men who visit such bathhouses consider themselves gay regardless of their sexual behavior...
s or
sex clubSex clubs are clubs where people can engage in sex acts with one another in public areas. The term can also be used more generally to refer to establishments such as a gay bathhouse where sexual activity often takes place in private rooms...
s, but prostitution is usually prohibited in such places, and known prostitutes are often banned.
Male brothels
A hustler may also work in a male
brothelA brothel, also known as a bordello, cathouse, whorehouse, sporting house and various other euphemisms, is an establishment specifically dedicated to prostitution, providing the prostitutes a place to meet and to have sexual intercourse with clients.-Legality:Today, brothels are illegal in the vast...
or "stable." This is common in South-East Asia (
ThailandThe Kingdom of Thailand is an independent country that lies in the heart of Southeast Asia.It is bordered to the north by Laos and Burma, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and Burma...
,
ManilaThe City of Manila , or simply Manila or Maynila, is the capital of the Philippines and one of the 17 cities and municipalities that make up Metro Manila. It is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay, on the western portion of the National Capital Region, in the western side of Luzon...
) and may also be found in some larger U.S. cities. The
pimpA pimp, also called a fleshmonger or pander, finds and manages women who might be vulnerable and susceptible, for whatever reason, to extreme manipulation and engages them in prostitution in order to profit from their earnings...
is relatively rare in male prostitution in the West, where most hustlers generally work independently or, less frequently, through an agency.
In November 2005,
Heidi FleissHeidi Lynne Fleiss , known as the "Hollywood Madam," is an American former madam.-Notoriety:In 1997, she was convicted in connection with her prostitution ring with charges including procuring and tax evasion. Her ring reportedly had numerous famous and wealthy clients...
announced that she had partnered with brothel owner Joe Richards to turn Richards' existing
Cherry Patch RanchThe 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.-History:...
brothel in
Crystal, NevadaCrystal 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 (see
Prostitution in NevadaNevada is one of only two U.S. states that allow some legal prostitution; in most of its rural counties brothels are legalized and heavily regulated. Prostitution outside the licensed brothels is illegal throughout Nevada...
). In order to work in a brothel in Nevada a
cervical examThe Papanicolaou test is a screening test used in gynecology to detect premalignant and malignant processes in the ectocervix. Significant changes can be treated, thus preventing cervical cancer. The test was invented by and named after the prominent Greek doctor Georgios Papanikolaou...
is required, so men are not allowed to work as prostitutes.
The only state in the United States that allows for male sex workers to work legally is
Rhode IslandIn Rhode Island the act of prostitution is legal, unlike 48 of the 49 other U.S. states, because there is no specific statute that defines it and makes it illegal. However, most activities associated with prostitution are outlawed. For instance operating a brothel is illegal . Street prostitution...
.
In the UK, male brothels are advertized as massage parlours. Theoretically it is still unlawful to run a 'disorderly house' but the last prosecution on this basis was in 1990 against a gay sauna in Streatham.
Sex tourism
In contrast to most of the other venues sex tourism in regards to male prostitution caters mainly to mostly female clients with the exception of Thailand. Women travel to Southern Europe (Italy, Greece, Croatia and Spain), to the Caribbean Basin (Jamaica, Barbados, Dominican Republic, and Martinique), Genoa and Kenya in Africa, Bali, Indonesia and Phuket in Thailand to enjoy sex tourism. Nepal, Morocco, Fiji, Ecuador and Costa Rica are less popular. Here, women travel specific locations to enjoy a holiday and find a "temporary boyfriend" who will provide escort services as not only a dining companion, tourist guide, dancing companion/instructor and often procurer of softer illicit drugs like marijuana and ecstasy, but also to provide sex services. German women frequent Sosua in the Dominican Republic, Greece, and Morocco. The Japanese prefer Bali in Indonesia and Canadians and Scandinavian females seem to be open market consumers. The women are of every age but are predominantly middle-aged women looking for a romance and sex. Male prostitution is increasingly visible in India. Gigolo service in
IndiaIndia, 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, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
is growing. But there are cases of harassment of client women by gigolos.
Price
Price is determined by supply and demand; many factors including age, attractiveness, endowment, sexual position, race, personality, skill in bed, length of time spent with the client, ability to maintain an erection, charm, willingness to engage in different fetishes, fame and reputation, affect the demand of the prostitute. Further, an escort will sometime charge over or under his perceived market value in order to affect the number of bookings he gets.
It should be pointed out that "high end" escorts or prostitutes are not the norm or the bulk of male prostitutes, even in the United States. Many more are "rentboys", young men who have varying degrees of financial stability and use prostitution as a method of supplementing their income. In these situations, charging US$100 or more an hour, even charging by the hour, is rare.
Full-time or professional escorts tend to charge more than newcomers or people who only occasionally work.
As a benchmark, a young, very attractive, full-service professional escort in a major U.S. city typically charges between
US$The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...
200-US$250 per hour with the most prestigious escorts charging upwards of US$400 per hour, although the bulk of less high-end escorts in the same cities charge a maximum of US$150 per hour. Similar high-end escorts in major cities in the United Kingdom typically charge between
GB£The pound sterling , often simply called the pound, is the currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and British Antarctic Territory...
80 and GB£120 per 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 US$2,000 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 including sexually transmitted diseases, drug-use, physical abuse; legal/criminal including solicitation, drug and age of consent laws; societal/familial social stigma, rejection by family and friends, gay-bashing (in the case of male-male prostitution), loss of job; and emotional including sense of exploitation or of leading a "double-life", loss of affect, self-destructiveness. Teenagers and runaways engaging in sex work are particularly at risk. For clients, risk may come from being robbed, or, much more rarely, being blackmailed or physically injured.
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".
Research suggests that the degree of violence against male prostitutes is somewhat lower than for female sex workers. Men working on the street (hustlers) and younger escorts (especially teens) appear to be at greatest risk of being victimized by clients. Conversely, the risk posed to clients of male sex workers (in terms of being "rolled") seems to be less than many imagine. This is especially true when clients hire male sex workers from an established agency or when they hire men who have been consistently well reviewed by previous clients.
Legal issues
The only state in the United States that allows for male sex workers to work legally is
Rhode IslandIn Rhode Island the act of prostitution is legal, unlike 48 of the 49 other U.S. states, because there is no specific statute that defines it and makes it illegal. However, most activities associated with prostitution are outlawed. For instance operating a brothel is illegal . Street prostitution...
.
In the United States, brothels are illegal (except in Nevada), but in order to work in a brothel in Nevada a
cervical examThe Papanicolaou test is a screening test used in gynecology to detect premalignant and malignant processes in the ectocervix. Significant changes can be treated, thus preventing cervical cancer. The test was invented by and named after the prominent Greek doctor Georgios Papanikolaou...
is required, so men are not allowed to work as prostitutes.
In a number of countries, such as Australia, brothels (with male or female staff) are legal (except in the state of Tasmania), while street prostitution is most often still illegal.
Stigma
The
difference in ageSignificant age disparity in sexual relationships has been and remains a feature of couples in many cultures and societies. Historically the most common pattern in heterosexual couples is an older man with a younger woman, however the converse has increased significantly in many countries...
, in
social statusIn sociology or anthropology, social status is the honor or prestige attached to one's position in society .A society's stratification system, which is the system of distributing rewards to the members of society, determines social status. Social status, the position or rank of a person or group...
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 "toy boy". 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 (see "Male prostitution in other cultures and periods", above).
See also: Age disparity in sexual relationshipsSignificant age disparity in sexual relationships has been and remains a feature of couples in many cultures and societies. Historically the most common pattern in heterosexual couples is an older man with a younger woman, however the converse has increased significantly in many countries...
.
For more on the topics of age, exploitation, health risks and the legality of prostitution, see the article
prostitutionProstitution is the act or practice of engaging in sex acts for hire. In most cultures, prostitution is viewed by many as a deviant profession, either illegal or socially discouraged...
.
Popular culture
The male prostitute or hustler is a frequent literary and cinematic
stereotypeA stereotype is a commonly held public belief about specific social groups, or types of individuals.The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings. Stereotypes are standardized and simplified conceptions of groups, based on some prior...
in the West from the 1960s onwards, especially in movies and books with a
gayThe term gay was originally used, until well into the mid-20th century, primarily to refer to feelings of being "carefree", "happy", or "bright and showy"; it had also come to acquire some connotations of "immorality" as early as 1637....
perspective, in which he may be a
stock characterA stock character is a 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, but they are often more narrowly defined...
, often portrayed either as a tragic figure (as in the film
Mysterious SkinMysterious Skin is a 2005 film directed by American filmmaker Gregg Araki, who also wrote the screenplay based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Scott Heim. The film is Araki's eighth, premiering at the Venice Film Festival in 2004, although it was not more widely distributed until 2005...
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 the cinema and in novels, the male prostitute with an exclusively female clientele (the "gigolo" or "escort") is generally depicted as less tragic than the gay hustler. The film
My Own Private IdahoMy Own Private Idaho is a 1991 independent film written and directed by Gus Van Sant, loosely based on Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1. The story follows two friends, Mike and Scott , as they embark on a journey of personal discovery that takes them to Mike's hometown in Idaho and then to Italy in...
, starring
Keanu ReevesKeanu Charles Reeves is a Lebanese-born Canadian-American actor, best known for his portrayals of a spaced-out metalhead in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and in two action films that were both financial and critical successes: the "ticking time bomb" thriller...
and
River PhoenixRiver Jude Phoenix was an American film actor. He was listed on John Willis's Screen World, Vol. 38 as one of twelve "promising new actors of 1986," and was hailed as highly talented by such critics as Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel. He was also well known for his animal rights activism...
, focuses upon the friendship between two male hustlers. Currently, the male prostitute also appears occasionally in popular music (e.g. the photographic spread for
The BraveryThe Bravery is an American rock band from New York City that consists of Sam Endicott , Michael Zakarin , John Conway , Mike Hindert , and Anthony Burulcich...
), and contemporary fashion advertising and visual art.
Academic and feminist studies
The topic of male prostitution has not been overlooked in academic studies by
feminist theoristsThe term Feminism can be used to describe an academic discourse, or to describe a political, cultural or economic movement aimed at establishing more rights and legal protection for women...
. In a study by feminist theorists Justin Gaffney and Kate Beverley, the insights gained from research on male sex workers in central
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
allows 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 like women, for male sex workers, hegemonic and patriarchal constructs ensure that they also occupy a subordinated position within society.
In contrast, social theorists writing from a poststructural
critical theoryCritical theory is the examination and critique of society and culture, drawing from knowledge across the social sciences and humanities. The term has two quite different meanings with different origins and histories, one originating in social theory and the other in literary criticism...
perspective have concluded that unlike women, for male sex workers, hegemonic misogynistic social constructs ensure that they are seen by "johns" as less likely to take on submissive roles. Based on a series of interviews, Douglas Langston finds the attitude of "johns" and underground male sex workers on 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.
See also
- Age disparity in sexual relationships
Significant age disparity in sexual relationships has been and remains a feature of couples in many cultures and societies. Historically the most common pattern in heterosexual couples is an older man with a younger woman, however the converse has increased significantly in many countries...
- Age of consent
While 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 of consenting to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
- Female sex tourism
Female 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 to meet foreign partners...
- John (prostitution)
- Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of engaging in sex acts for hire. In most cultures, prostitution is viewed by many as a deviant profession, either illegal or socially discouraged...
- Sexual tourism
External links