Escort

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.

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$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[6]. 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 whore, 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 street(such as pre-1990s Times Squarein New York, Santa Monica Boulevardin Los Angeles, "the Wall" in Sydney's Darlinghurst, the Porte Dauphinein Paris, Polk Street Gulchin San Francisco, Taksim Square in Istanbul, Lapangan Banteng Square in Jakarta, 488 Eighth Avenue, New York, New York (Video, Video, Video) as known as "The Hoe Stroll" next door to Mc Donalds, or in another public space (like a bus terminal, park or rest stop), in a bar (such as the former gay hustler bars Roundsin New York or Numbersin Los Angeles, or go-go bars in Thailandand the Philippines) 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. Homophobic gangs can prey on individuals in these areas.[citation needed]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 bathhousesor sex clubs, but prostitution is usually prohibited in such places, and known prostitutes are often banned.

Male brothels
A hustler may also work in a male brothelor "stable." This is common in South-East Asia (Thailand, Manila) and may also be found in some larger U.S. cities. The pimpis relatively rare in male prostitution in the West, where most hustlers generally work independently or, less frequently, through an agency.[1]

In November 2005, Heidi Fleissannounced that she had partnered with brothel owner Joe Richards to turn Richards' existing Cherry Patch Ranchbrothel in Crystal, Nevadainto an establishment that would employ male prostitutes and cater exclusively to female customers, a first in Nevada (see Prostitution in Nevada).[7]In order to work in a brothel in Nevada a cervical examis required, so men are not allowed to work as prostitutes. [8]The only state in the United States that allows for male sex workers to work legally is Rhode Island.[9]

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, Turkey, 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.[10]Male prostitution is increasingly visible in India. Gigolo service in Indiais growing.[11]But there are cases of harassment of client women by gigolos.[12]

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 supply and demandof 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. As pointed out in the Journal of Homosexuality, it is believed that less than five percent of the active male prostitutes in the U.S. would fall into the "escort" category.[citation needed]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. This may be because they know better where to advertise and what the market price is.[citation needed]

As a benchmark, a young, very attractive, full-service professional escort in a major U.S. city typically charges between US$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￡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 andhis 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.[1]

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 Island.[13]In the United States, brothels are illegal (except in Nevada), but in order to work in a brothel in Nevada a cervical examis required, so men are not allowed to work as prostitutes. [14]

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 age, in social statusand in economic status between the hustler and his client is also a major source of social criticism.[15]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".[16]In the gay community, the members of this kind of couple are sometimes called "dad" and "son" (without implying incest)[dubious – discuss]. 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).

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

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

Popular culture
Main article: Male prostitution in the arts
The male prostitute or hustler is a frequent literary and cinematic stereotypein the West from the 1960s onwards, and especially in movies and books with a gayperspective, in which he may be a stock character, often portrayed either as a tragic figure (as in the film Mysterious Skinin 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; films such as American Gigolohave done much to portray the character as a sophisticated lover and seducer (a portrayal also satirised cinematically in the Deuce Bigalowfilms).[citation needed]. Yet the film My Own Private Idaho, starring Keanu Reevesand River Phoenix, 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 Bravery), 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 theorists. In a study by feminist theorists Justin Gaffney and Kate Beverley, the insights gained from research on male sex workers in central Londonallows 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.[17]

In contrast, social theorists writing from a poststructural critical theoryperspective 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.[18]