Male prostitute: Encyclopedia II - Male prostitute - Male prostitution

Male prostitute - Male prostitution

The male hustler may solicit clients on the street (like pre-1990's Times Square in New York, Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles 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), a dance club, through print advertisements (such as "massage therapist" ads) or -- in recent years -- through the Internet (such as "students seeking generous older men" ads posted online, "escort" profiles in chat rooms or through a hustler's personal website; there are also websites that post client reviews for escorts, as well as message rooms for sharing questions and experiences related to escorting). He may receive clients at his residence ("in-calls"), go out to meet them at their residence or hotel ("out-calls"), or simply deliver his services in a public setting (an alley or public restroom) or a parked car.

A hustler may also work in a male brothel or "stable." This is common in South-East Asia (Thailand, Manila) and may also found in some larger U.S. cities. The pimp is relatively rare in male prostitution in the West, where most hustlers generally work for themselves, although they may occasionally work with partners or call-back services.

Although the hustler is often associated with teen-age "street kids", "runaways" and drug addicts (see "The hustler in popular culture" below), prostitution is practised by people of every kind of social, economic and relationship status. People who prostitute themselves with others while in an amorous/sexual relationship are sometimes said to "turn tricks" or hustle "on the side".

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 hustlers supplement their income by work as a pornographic actor or model, 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 underly 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).

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 (arrest for sollicitation), 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. 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".

In male prostitution with male clients (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; other hustlers engage exclusively in active anal intercourse of their client; others are exclusively passive in this respect; others are unrestricted in their sexual acts.

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 prostitition 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 is less pronounced in European, North African and Eastern cultures which have a long-standing tradition of non-aged-matched amorous relationships (although the American aged-matched couple is increasingly the rule in Europe).

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.

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

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Male prostitution", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki