Read Male Sex Work and Society Online
Authors: Unknown
Tags: #Psychology/Human Sexuality, #Social Science/Gay Studies, #SOC012000, #PSY016000
Male Sex Work and Society (22 page)
Most of the men I interviewed made a clear distinction between the ways they use their profiles. Some maintain personal profiles on altogether different sites for strictly social purposes. However, some said they initially used their personal profile to experiment with sex work:
It was sort of in the early days of Gaydar when you could go into the chat rooms and it wasn’t really monitored, um, and you could go and pretend to sort of be an escort. Well anyone could go into the escort—there was an escort and client room. (Craig, 37)
Craig experimented with selling sex for a brief period, but he gave it up because he did not enjoy the sex he was having and found the men who hired him to be physically unattractive. His experiment with selling sex using his personal profile was closely related to his ordinary practices of using the Internet for social-sexual networking and casual sex, and he constructs his first commercial episode as being very similar to how he might conduct any personal exchange: initial contact and social exchange (online chat), evaluation of level of attraction, contract, travel to a location, sexual contact, and conclusion (for more on how men use Gaydar, see Mowlabocus, 2007a, 2007b, 2010a, 2010b).
Others revealed that their personal Gaydar profiles were the conduit for their first paid exchanges, when other members offered them money after an initial rejection. George is one example:
My friends went out at the weekend, went to saunas, met people, did it for nothing. I thought, “Fuck it, I’ll get paid for it.” [Smiles.] It was that simple … Uh. How did I start? Somebody messaged me on Gaydar, and, I wasn’t really that interested. And then they turned around and said, “I’ll pay you for it.” And that’s what started it. And they did. And I enjoyed it. I get a buzz out of getting paid for it because I would normally do it anyway. So fuck it. (George, 42)
Personal profiles and Internet chat rooms can be used to experiment with selling sex with little or no investment, financial or social, on the part of the advertiser. A commercial transaction may be initiated by the advertiser or passively received, unsolicited. M$M use interfaces, like the Gaydar website, in ways that can be described as both passive and active. The profile, while actively created by the M$M, becomes a site potential clients can use to make contact. Advertisers also use their profile to contact other members with a message or a “wink” or by leaving a “track,” like a “poke” in Facebook, effectively “spamming” members as a form of solicitation. M$M may also take advantage of other features, such as chat rooms, where they may repeatedly post messages or adopt a practice of exiting and reentering the chat room to draw the attention of other members, which is known as “frogging.”
Promotion Strategies
The men I spoke to had various advertising strategies. Some used a scattergun approach, placing advertisements with several publications and sites simultaneously and having no solid measure of how much business they were attracting through particular media. Others advertised only in publications where they realized a high return on their investment. Patterns of advertising varied as well. Some respondents focused on repeat business and only advertised when they wanted to attract new clients, whereas others used an intermittent but considered pattern of advertising, placing ads in different publications at different times, allowing for time off, and placing ads in publications in other cities if they planned to work while traveling abroad. Some of the men also were aware that ads in different publications attracted different types of clients.
Finally, the types of advertising (for sex work, body work) and the ad content (level of sexual explicitness) have an impact on the perceived effectiveness of the ads in terms of attracting clients, which affects workers’ decisions about where and how to advertise and how to represent themselves in the media in order to increase their income, maximize efficiency (i.e., earn more per client), and increase job satisfaction.
A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
Photographs make up a significant portion of contemporary ad content (see
figures 4.3
and
4.4
). They should be considered a rich source of data fundamental to understanding M$M advertising (see Mowlabocus, 2010b), as they often reinforce identities that are based on physical or personal characteristics, or on particular services. Early photo ads featured relatively tame images. For example, the first photo ads that appeared in
Boyz
in 1993 featured a studio portrait of an attractive, well-groomed young man in a white sleeveless T-shirt, which was very different from the sexually explicit photos that were to follow. Photos were not widely used until 1996, when headless photos of men’s bare muscular chests appeared regularly. The pictures continued to change over time.
figures 4.3
and
4.4
). They should be considered a rich source of data fundamental to understanding M$M advertising (see Mowlabocus, 2010b), as they often reinforce identities that are based on physical or personal characteristics, or on particular services. Early photo ads featured relatively tame images. For example, the first photo ads that appeared in
Boyz
in 1993 featured a studio portrait of an attractive, well-groomed young man in a white sleeveless T-shirt, which was very different from the sexually explicit photos that were to follow. Photos were not widely used until 1996, when headless photos of men’s bare muscular chests appeared regularly. The pictures continued to change over time.
The stigma of homosexuality and prostitution may have influenced men’s choice of whether to include photographs that would identify them. In the past 20 years, changes in politics, law, and culture have changed people’s attitudes about coming out and being identified as gay (Weeks, 2007). In England, for example, laws banning the “promotion of homosexuality” have been overturned, military service and the age of consent have been equalized, civil partnership has been introduced, and equality in marriage law is being introduced. Being gay carries fewer restrictions than in the past, and magazines like
Boyz
and
QX
have become a regular part of the coming-out experience for many men as they enter the gay scene in large cities like London. Moreover, the magazine advertisements for escorts have normalized the practice and visibility of men advertising sex to men to some extent.
Boyz
and
QX
have become a regular part of the coming-out experience for many men as they enter the gay scene in large cities like London. Moreover, the magazine advertisements for escorts have normalized the practice and visibility of men advertising sex to men to some extent.
FIGURE 4.3
Number of
Boyz
Ads with Pictures and without Pictures
Boyz
Ads with Pictures and without Pictures
FIGURE 4.4
Percentages of
Boyz
Ads with Pictures and without Pictures
Boyz
Ads with Pictures and without Pictures
FIGURE 4.5
Advertisement for “American Style Massage,” in
Boyz
, January 6, 1996.
Boyz
, January 6, 1996.
As more advertisers included facial photographs, competition increased and fueled the need to reveal ever more to potential clients. An easing of legal restrictions in the UK on showing erect penises was followed by a rise in sexually explicit ad content. As social-sexual-networking sites like Gaydar, Manhunt, and Grindr normalized the public profile and the inclusion of all types of photographs, a new way of thinking developed about gay spaces as private. And so the discussion returns to understanding the advertisement as not only a promotion but also a place.
What M$M Advertise
Sex and sexual experiences may be advertised explicitly or implicitly. Explicit mention of sex is less common, as neither advertisers nor publications refer to sex work or prostitution. An exception is
Rentboy.com
, which takes its name from the colloquial term for a young male sex worker. More common is the term “escort,” which a knowing audience reads as synonymous with sex work but to the uninitiated may suggest a companion. Advertisers who want to position themselves as high class often list social activities they attend with clients: “Good looking, educated, well-travelled and very discreet guy, working as a part-time escort. Very good companion, for dinners, meetings, travel and overnights. Very discreet clients only.” While companionship may be a part of an escort’s role, informants report that most jobs they take involve being paid for sex. In places where selling sex is illegal, as in most of the United States, advertisers often include the disclaimer that clients are only paying for their time.
Rentboy.com
, which takes its name from the colloquial term for a young male sex worker. More common is the term “escort,” which a knowing audience reads as synonymous with sex work but to the uninitiated may suggest a companion. Advertisers who want to position themselves as high class often list social activities they attend with clients: “Good looking, educated, well-travelled and very discreet guy, working as a part-time escort. Very good companion, for dinners, meetings, travel and overnights. Very discreet clients only.” While companionship may be a part of an escort’s role, informants report that most jobs they take involve being paid for sex. In places where selling sex is illegal, as in most of the United States, advertisers often include the disclaimer that clients are only paying for their time.
An ad for massage can imply different things, which may be confusing to potential customers. Indeed, some masseurs I interviewed expressed concern about being mistaken for sex workers, even though many used sexual imagery in their ads or even offered sexualized services. Advertisers may offer traditional massage, which is not intentionally sexual, although clients may become aroused; sensual massage, which is intended to stimulate the client sexually; or “metomassage,” which implies a sexual service. In meto-massage, what is sought and offered is some form of sex, although the masseur does not participate in the sexual arousal and the distinction is not necessarily obvious from the advertisements.
Escort Agency Advertising
How did I start? I started by thinking I wanted to do it so I looked at
QX
magazine and there were advertisements placed in the back of those magazines by escort agencies—not by escorts, by escort agencies—and I phoned one of them that I liked the look of and they asked me to come in for an interview, which I did and then I went onto their books. (Matthew, 38)
Boyz
sometimes also features advertisements for escort agencies. Agency ads appear in two formats, one to clients seeking masseurs and escorts (see
figure 4.5
) and the other to men who want to do sex work. The first type appeals to clients seeking sex or body work. The agencies emphasize the professional element of their service through the language in their ads: “Our Masseurs and Escorts are carefully screened.” The second type appeals to men who want to work as escorts but also suggests to potential clients the extent of their screening—“Exclusive agency requires handsome, straight-acting escorts and masseurs (18-25). Please
only
ring us if you have classic good looks, an excellent physique, are well-spoken and have a comprehensive wardrobe of good quality clothes” (see
figure 4.6
)—thus potential clients are led to assume all enquiries will be answered by someone who meets the agency’s rigorous standards. M$M may advertise through an agency rather than independently because it allows them to maintain more distinct boundaries between their sex work and their personal lives. Many men have jobs and careers apart from sex work. The agencies generally receive all enquiries and screen clients for the sex workers in exchange for a percentage of the advertised fee. Clients and workers are instructed not to exchange details and to make all contact through the agency, which gives the agency some control, particularly over financial transactions. It also allows clients and workers to maintain some privacy, anonymity, and security. The power relationship between the agency and the worker is complex and may be fraught with difficulties that are compounded by issues unique to selling sex (see Smith, Grov, & Seal, 2008).
sometimes also features advertisements for escort agencies. Agency ads appear in two formats, one to clients seeking masseurs and escorts (see
figure 4.5
) and the other to men who want to do sex work. The first type appeals to clients seeking sex or body work. The agencies emphasize the professional element of their service through the language in their ads: “Our Masseurs and Escorts are carefully screened.” The second type appeals to men who want to work as escorts but also suggests to potential clients the extent of their screening—“Exclusive agency requires handsome, straight-acting escorts and masseurs (18-25). Please
only
ring us if you have classic good looks, an excellent physique, are well-spoken and have a comprehensive wardrobe of good quality clothes” (see
figure 4.6
)—thus potential clients are led to assume all enquiries will be answered by someone who meets the agency’s rigorous standards. M$M may advertise through an agency rather than independently because it allows them to maintain more distinct boundaries between their sex work and their personal lives. Many men have jobs and careers apart from sex work. The agencies generally receive all enquiries and screen clients for the sex workers in exchange for a percentage of the advertised fee. Clients and workers are instructed not to exchange details and to make all contact through the agency, which gives the agency some control, particularly over financial transactions. It also allows clients and workers to maintain some privacy, anonymity, and security. The power relationship between the agency and the worker is complex and may be fraught with difficulties that are compounded by issues unique to selling sex (see Smith, Grov, & Seal, 2008).
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