What Should It Be Called: Prostitution or Sex Work?

[kgmets2]

A letter to the editor of today's New York Times:

"I am a gay man who engaged in sex work when other pursuits were not bringing in sufficient income. I have been, among other things, a composer, an actor, a writer, a performer in gay adult films and - of course - a waiter. Of those, sex work was the most honest. I never once felt uncomortable or coerced . . .

Incidentally, working in adult films and being a sex worker were the only jobs where I was never sexually harassed. Conversely, I never felt more like a prostitute than when I walked into a Broadway audition.

I know nothing about being a female in the heterosexual world of sex work, but I wish those talking about this subject would not paint with such a broad brush, as theirs is not the entire story."

Tom Judson, Catskill, NY

I included Tom's name, because he chose to have it printed in today's New York Times.

I found Tom's letter to the editor to be intriguing and, based upon my first hand knowledge, truthful. Any one else have any reaction to Tom's letter (which applies equally to males escorting and performing in male gay porn films)? And to Broke Straight Boys management, did Tom ever perform for Broke Straight Boys?

 

[trebligon]

I'd say the word prostitution immediately makes me think of desperate people at the mercy of pimps and creeps. Sex work makes me think of it more as a job; something one does of one's own free will. It also feels more inclusive. Yes, I suppose porn performers are having sex for money, but for whatever reason it's treated as more like acting.

 

[kgmets2]

I'd say the word prostitution immediately makes me think of desperate people at the mercy of pimps and creeps. Sex work makes me think of it more as a job; something one does of one's own free will. It also feels more inclusive. Yes, I suppose porn performers are having sex for money, but for whatever reason it's treated as more like acting.

I agree with you, but as Tom pointed out in his letter, he did both escorting and gay porn acting, and he was not the only one as I've seen gay porn models place escorting ads during New Orleans Mardi Gras season, when lots of gays are visiting.

 

[Arckangel]

I'd say the word prostitution immediately makes me think of desperate people at the mercy of pimps and creeps. Sex work makes me think of it more as a job; something one does of one's own free will. It also feels more inclusive. Yes, I suppose porn performers are having sex for money, but for whatever reason it's treated as more like acting.

The word "prostitution" is more specific. Sex work can refer to erotic dancing and stripping, lap dance, erotic massage, nude/erotic modelling, performance in adult movies, and by extension, those who produce such movies, the technical crew, those who own strip clubs, and so forth.

The terms “escorting” and “escortism” can apply to prostitution but usually when the service is offered via the Internet or a phone line rather than street soliciting or a brothel visit.

 

[mikeyank]

I have never hired an “escort” through an agency, but rather lived out my fantasies by picking up “hustlers” in Fort Lauderdale during the 1980’s. My fantasy guys have always been straight guys of college age, whom I lusted after during my own college years, and even more so after college, when I became the manager of a business that hired high school and college guys to work after school and during the summer. I never made an inappropriate move on an employee, but sure lusted after many of them.

I discovered that during college spring break in Fort Lauderdale, the streets were filled with shirtless guys exactly my type, and mixed in were non-college guys who considered themselves straight but were willing to go off to my motel room to drink a beer, smoke a joint and receive a blowjob for some minimal cash. And so I was able to fulfill my fantasies of sucking off straight young college age guys. Were they really straight? Are any of our models on Broke Straight Boys who fuck and get fucked, “truly straight”? It is all a matter of degree but just as with Broke Straight Boys, with my hustler boys, my brain told me they were straight and it all worked for my fantasies.