The male prostitute or hustler is a frequent stereotype in literature and movies in the West from the 1960s on, and especially in movies and books with a gay perspective in which he may be considered a stock character. He also appears occasionally in popular music, some contemporary fashion advertising, and the visual arts.
The most common stereotype of the hustler is as a sexy but tragic figure. This stereotype reveals both a fascination with the hustler as a sexual object and sadness or disdain with his situation and life-style. This stereotyped male hustler is often an underaged or teenage "street kid" or "runaway" forced to leave home because of his sexual orientation or because of sexual abuse. He is often portrayed as a drug addict or thief.
The plotline frequently focuses on the crisis of leaving the trade or the street ("one last trick"), or on making enough money for an important use (a medical treatment, a gift). The climax often has one of two possible outcomes: the hustler either abandons the trade and re-integrates into society, or he meets a tragic end. This tragic image of the hustler can be contrasted with the stereotype of the female hooker with a heart of gold: instead of being portrayed as someone in control and contented, the hustler is lost, homeless, broke or exploited.
In movies and books that take the point of view of the client or of a boy/girlfriend who loves the hustler, the hustler is often depicted as an impossible love object who will only bring hurt or frustration. The lover may grow jealous of and disturbed by the hustler's work; occasionally the loving boy/girlfriend will be drawn into the lifestyle of their hustler boyfriend. Older clients who fall in love with hustlers are frequently prey to emotional (and sometimes physical) pain; this is especially true in the case of "rough trade" (where the hustler identifies as straight), and this depiction has been reinforced by several famous incidents of violence against clients (such as the deaths of Pier Paolo Pasolini and Rudolph Moshammer).
In contrast to the previous depictions, the male prostitute has also sometimes been portrayed as an idealized rebel living outside the law and free of bourgeois conventions. This almost Nietzschean image of the hustler as moral and sexual outlaw owes much to the writings of Jean Genet, William S. Burroughs and John Rechy (among others).
While less frequent in cinema and novels, the male prostitute with exclusively female clients (the "gigolo" or "escort") is generally depicted in a less tragic manner than the gay hustler (the gigolo is portrayed as older, athletic, well-dressed, etc.), and films like American Gigolo have done much to paint the character as a sophisticated seducer. This portrayal has also led to cinematic satire (the Deuce Bigalow films).
The portrayal of the client or "john" of male prostitution in popular culture is far less codified than that of the hustler and runs the gamut from the lonely married man, the self-hating in-the-closet guy, the exploitative or endearing businessman, and even the serial killer.
The diversity of these stereotypes reveals much about each author's or director's personal view of love, sexuality, power and morality.
These stereotypes may have a basis in fact, but they should not be taken as true in all cases.
The same issues that surround male prostitution (including the financial security and social status of the young "kept" lover, the older lover's obsessions and insecurities with regards to his or her youthful love-object, the sexual freedom or moral indifference of the hustler, etc.) often appear in movies and literature that portray amorous or sexual relationships—without prostitution—between an older man or woman and a younger male lover; for example, in Pasolini's novel and movie Theorem, Harold Prince's film Something For Everyone (1970) and Bill Condon's film Gods and Monsters (1998).
The following novels, memoirs, and plays feature male hustlers as major characters.
| Year | Title | Author | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1894 | Flowers of Asphalt | According to Crane biographer John Berryman Crane began writing Flowers of Asphalt after being approached by a young male prostitute in the street.[1] The work was said to be longer than any of Crane's other works but he abandoned it at the urging of Hamlin Garland, who was horrified by the subject matter. The manuscript does not survive.[2] | ||
| 1908 | Swoosh: Tales of Privateers and Pirates | D Watt | The phrase "Cap'n's Rent Boy" first used. | |
| 1924 | Kyra Kyralina (Chira Chiralina) | |||
| 1943 | Our Lady of the Flowers (Notre Dame des fleurs) | |||
| 1948 | The City and the Pillar | Lead character Jim Willard supports himself as a hustler and a "kept boy". | ||
| 1949 | The Thief's Journal (Journal du voleur) | Jean Genet | ||
| 1951 | From Here to Eternity | In Jones's original manuscript, Private Angelo Maggio acknowledges acting as trade, allowing gay men to perform oral sex on him for money to supplement his Army pay. The publisher forced the excision of these passages. A new edition of the book with the previously censored passages restored is due out from e-book publisher Open Road.[3] | ||
| 1957 | Last Exit to Brooklyn | |||
| 1963 | The Basketball Diaries | |||
| 1963 | City of Night | |||
| 1965 | Midnight Cowboy | |||
| 1967 | Numbers | |||
| 1968 | My Father and Myself | |||
| 1978 | Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo | Christiane's boyfriend Detlef works as a hustler to earn money to buy heroin. | ||
| 1989 | Enchanted Boy | Richie McMullen | Memoir of a boy's journey from "abuse to prostitution" in 1950s England. | |
| 1990 | Enchanted Youth | Richie McMullen | Continuation of McMullen's journey from "prostitution to love" in 1958. | |
| 1990 | Closer | |||
| 1991 | Close to the Knives | First of Wojnarowicz's memoirs of his passage from abused kid to Times Square hustler to artist in New York's East Village underground. | ||
| 1992 | Memories That Smell Like Gasoline | Second volume of Wojnarowicz's memoirs. | ||
| 1994 | American Studies | Mark Merlis | Story of a john coming to terms with his life while recovering in a hospital after being bashed by a hustler. | |
| 1994 | User | |||
| 1994 | Martin and John | One or both of the characters are hustlers in several of the parallel narrative scenes. | ||
| 1994 | Los novios búlgaros | Story of a Bulgarian hustler in Madrid in the 1990s. | ||
| Mysterious Skin | ||||
| 1995 | L'Enfant ébloui | "Rachid O" | Semi-autobiographic novel about a hustler in Morocco. | |
| 1996 | Wonder Bread and Ecstasy: The Life and Death of Joey Stefano | Joey Stefano was a gay porn star of the 1990s. | ||
| 1996 | Seven Miles A Second | David Wojnarowicz (writer) James Romberger (artist) | Vertigo Comics version of Wojnarowicz's memoirs and diary. | |
| 1996 | Boy Culture | Matthew Rettenmund | Includes an index to the sex passages (by preference). | |
| 1996 | Brutal | First novel by artist Aiden Shaw, a former prostitute and porn star. | ||
| 1996 | Kept Boy | Comedy novel. | ||
| 1997 | Quand je suis devenu fou | Christophe Donner | Narrator falls for a hustler in an Amsterdam brothel. | |
| 1997 | Diary of a Hustler | "Joey" | ||
| 1997 | After Nirvana | Lee Williams | ||
| 1998 | Tipping the Velvet | A young woman in Victorian London is solicited by a man for sex and begins renting, but dressed only as a man for male clients, never letting them know she is a woman. | ||
| 1998 | The Queen of Hearts: A Transsexual Romance | Brad Clayton | ||
| 1999 | Assuming the Position: A Memoir of Hustling | Rick Whitaker | ||
| 1999 | Suburban Hustler: Stories of a Hi-Tech Callboy | Aaron Lawrence | ||
| 2000 | Sarah | Pseudo-autobiographical story of a boy hustler whose mother was a truckstop prostitute. The author was revealed to be a fictional creation in 2006. | ||
| 2001 | A Thousand and One Night Stands: The Life of Jon Vincent | H. A. Carson | ||
| 2001 | Can't Buy Me Love | Chris Kenry | Young man drifts into the world of escorting with humorous results. | |
| 2002 | Sex Workers As Virtual Boyfriends | Joseph Itiel | ||
| 2002 | Chicken: Self-Portrait of a Young Man for Rent | |||
| 2003 | Escapades of a Gay Traveler: Sexual, Cultural, and Spiritual Encounters | Joseph Itiel | ||
| 2004 | ||||
| 2005 | Setting the Lawn on Fire: A Novel | Mack Friedman | ||
| 2006 | Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins | Touches briefly on his past as a rent boy. | ||
| 2008 | Shuck | Fictionalized memoir of a New York City hustler who dreams of becoming a writer. | ||
| 2008 | Murder Most Fab | Main character Johnny started life out as a high-class gigolo. | ||
| 2016 | What Belongs to You | Details the ethically ambiguous relations and transactions between Greenwell's unnamed protagonist and a young Bulgarian hustler, Mitko. |
| Year | Title | Author | Character | Originated by | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 | Pal Joey | |||||
| 1964 | Entertaining Mr Sloane | Mr Sloane | ||||
| 1965 | Balm in Gilead | Franny Rake | Franny is a transvestite prostitute. | |||
| 1968 | The Boys in the Band | "Cowboy" | La Tourneaux reprised the role in the 1970 film version. | |||
| 2005 | Trafficking in Broken Hearts | Edwin Sanchez |
| Year | Title | Country | Director | Character | Actor | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone | Paolo di Leo | Karen Stone is introduced to a young Italian man, Paolo (Warren Beatty), who is actually a highly paid professional gigolo. Karen and Paolo begin an affair, but it soon becomes obvious that Paolo is in it only for personal gain. | ||||
| 1961 | Breakfast at Tiffany's | Paul "Fred" Varjak | Varjak is maintained by a rich woman, Mrs. Failenson, who leaves him $300 after every sexual encounter. After falling in love with Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn), Varjak cuts off the relationship. Failenson offers $1000 for a "paid vacation with your girl" and cynically suggests that a union (of gigolos) could "get all the fringe benefits" – but Varjak persists in giving up this way of life. | ||||
| 1965 | My Hustler | Andy Warhol Chuck Wein | Paul | IMDb | |||
| 1968 | Flesh | Joe | Dallesandro hustles to buy drugs for himself and his wife. | ||||
| 1969 | Entertaining Mr Sloane | Mr Sloane | Adapted from the play by Joe Orton. | ||||
| 1969 | Midnight Cowboy | Joe Buck | Hustler Buck forms an unlikely friendship with junky Rico "Ratso" Rizzo. Academy Award winner for Best Picture. | ||||
| 1970 | The Boys in the Band | "Cowboy" | Featured in rejected ads for the film under the tagline: "Today is Harold's birthday. This is his present." | ||||
| 1978 | Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo (Just a Gigolo) | Paul Ambrosius von Przygodski | An aristocratic Prussian officer returns from World War I to find the world he once knew gone. To make ends meet, he becomes a gigolo. The film was panned by critics and viewers alike. IMDb | ||||
| 1978 | El Lugar Sin Limites | Manuela | Roberto Cobo | IMDb | |||
| 1978 | El Diputado (The Deputy) | Eloy de la Iglesia | Teenage hustler used by the secret police for blackmail falls for the victim. IMDb | ||||
| 1980 | American Gigolo | Julian Kaye | High-class gigolo is framed for murder. | ||||
| 1982 | Forty Deuce | Conniving hustler Bacon (who won an Obie for the original 1981 off-off Broadway production) tries to cover-up the overdose death of another kid. IMDb | |||||
| 1983 | L'homme blessé (The Wounded Man) | Henri | Winner of a César Award for Best Direction. IMDb | ||||
| 1983 | Un ragazzo come tanti (A boy like many others) | Gianni Minello | IMDb | ||||
| 1987 | Revolutions Happen Like Refrains in a Song | Nick Deocampo | IMDb | ||||
| 1987 | Less than Zero | Julian | A young man resorts to performing sexual favors for affluent gay men in order to fund his heroin addiction. | ||||
| 1988 | The Everlasting Secret Family | Michael Thornhill | Homosexuality and prostitution amidst a secret brotherhood. IMDb | ||||
| 1988 | Macho Dancer | Pol Noel | Macho dancers in Manila. | ||||
| 1988 | Cop | James B. Harris | Based on the novel by James Ellroy. IMDb | ||||
| 1989 | Loverboy | Randy Bodek | Pizza boy becomes an escort. IMDb | ||||
| 1990 | Via Appia | Jochen Hick | IMDb | ||||
| 1991 | My Own Private Idaho | Mike Waters Scott Favor | |||||
| 1991 | J'embrasse pas (I don't kiss) | Manuel Blanc | A boy from the provinces ends up as a hustler in Paris. | ||||
| 1991 | Where the Day Takes You | Balthazar Getty | A young man living on the streets finds temporary refuge with a client. | ||||
| 1992 | Film (Fill 'em) | Sky Gilbert | Story of a male hustler and his roommate. IMDb | ||||
| 1992 | Street Kid (Gossenkind) | Peter Kern | Axel Glitter | Max Kellermann | A young hustler in Düsseldorf. IMDb | ||
| 1992 | Being at Home with Claude | Jean Beaudin | Him (Yves) | Roy Dupuis | IMDb | ||
| 1992 | The Living End | Luke | Mike Dytri | HIV+ street hustler. | |||
| 1992 | Die Blaue Stunde (The Blue Hour) | Germany Switzerland | Marcel Gisler | Theo | Andreas Herder | IMDb | |
| 1993 | Smukke dreng (Pretty Boy) | Carsten Sønder | IMDb | ||||
| 1993 | Hatachi no binetsu (Slight Fever of a 20-Year-Old) | Japan | Ryosuke Hasiguchi | One teenage hustler in love with another. | |||
| 1994 | Post Cards from America | Steve McLean | Three chapters in David Wojnarowicz's life. IMDb | ||||
| 1994 | Super 8½ | Semi-autobiographical. | |||||
| 1994 | Sibak (Midnight Dancers) | Mel Chionglo | Three brothers in Manila, working as "Macho Dancers" in a gay bar. IMDb | ||||
| 1995 | The Basketball Diaries | Scott Kalvert | Based on the book by Jim Carroll. | ||||
| 1995 | Dupe Od Mramora (Marble Ass) | Zelimir Zilnik | Transvestite prostitutes in Serbia. IMDb | ||||
| 1995 | Tattoo Boy | Arizona Sam | Amanda Tirey C.J. Barkus | IMDb | |||
| 1996 | The Toilers and the Wayfarers | Keith Froelich | Matt Klemp Andrew Woodhouse | Runaway hustlers in Minneapolis. IMDb | |||
| 1996 | Hustler White | Monti | |||||
| 1996 | The Unveiling | Rodney Evans | IMDb | ||||
| 1996 | "Tapin du soir", included in L'Amour est à réinventer | One of ten collected short films about life in France in the time of AIDS. | |||||
| 1996 | Skin & Bone | Everett Lewis | Harry Billy Dean | B. Wyatt Garret Scullin Alan Boyce | Three Los Angeles hustlers in different stages of their careers. | ||
| 1996 | johns | Scott Silvers | Donner John | ||||
| 1997 | Private Shows | Blaine Hopkins Stephen Winter | IMDb | ||||
| 1997 | Mandragora | Marek | Miroslav Caslavka | IMDb | |||
| 1997 | A River Made to Drown In | James Meredino | |||||
| 1997 | Star Maps | Carlos Amado | IMDb | ||||
| 1998 | From the Edge of the City (Apo tin akri tis polis) | IMDb | |||||
| 1998 | Hard | John Huckert | IMDb | ||||
| 1998 | In the Flesh | US | Ben Taylor | Oliver Beck | Dane Ritter | ||
| 1998 | L'École de la Chair | Quentin | Vincent Martinez | IMDb | |||
| 1999 | Speedway Junky | Nickolas Perry | Johnny | A young man with dreams of becoming a stock car racer drifts into the world of prostitution in Las Vegas. | |||
| 1999 | Mauvaise passe | Pierre | Pierre (Daniel Auteuil) leaves his family and flees to London to work on a novel. There he meets Tom (Stuart Townsend), a male escort, who leads Pierre into his underground world of sex and money. | ||||
| 2000 | Km. 0 | Spain | Miguel | Jesús Cabrero | A gigolo who services female clients. | ||
| 2000 | Nincsen nekem vágyam semmi (This I Wish and Nothing More) | Brúnó Ringó | Ervin Nagy Roland Rába | Closted bisexual Brúnó unknown by his girlfriend works as a male prostitute for male clients with her homosexual brother, Ringó. | |||
| 2000 | L.I.E. | US | Gary | Paul Dano Billy Kay | A Long Island teenager discovers his best friend (Kay) is a hustler. | ||
| 2001 | Circuit | Hector | A hustler who's terrified of growing old. | ||||
| 2001 | Jet Boy | Dave Schultz | Branden Nadon | A teenage hustler finds a father figure who does not want to exploit him. | |||
| 2001 | Vagón fumador (Smokers Only) | Argentina | Leonardo Brzezicki | Andrés | A suicidal woman and a male prostitute fall in love. IMDb | ||
| 2002 | AKA | Benjamin | |||||
| 2002 | Sonny | Sonny | Raised by his mother to be a gigolo. IMDb | ||||
| 2003 | Mr. Smith Gets a Hustler | Ian McCrudden | IMDb | ||||
| 2003 | The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone | Robert Allan Ackerman | Paolo di Leo | It was a TV film and remake of the 1961 film of the same name. | |||
| 2003 | 200 American | Richard LeMay | New York businessman falls for Australian hustler. IMDb | ||||
| 2003 | Un fils (A son) | North-African hustler in France. IMDb | |||||
| 2003 | Gan (Garden) | Israel | Ruthie Shatz Adi Barash | Two young gay prostitutes in Tel Aviv. IMDb | |||
| 2003 | Twist | Dodge | Gay-themed re-telling of Dickens' Oliver Twist. | ||||
| 2003 | Bulgarian Lovers (Los Novios búlgaros) | Spain | Kyril | Dritan Biba | IMDb | ||
| 2004 | Yeladim Tovim (Good Boy) | Israel | Yair Hochner | Menni Tal | Daniel Efrat Yuval Raz | Two Tel Aviv rent boys. IMDb | |
| 2004 | Eighteen | Richard Bell | IMDb | ||||
| 2004 | Trenton "Trent" Meyer | Hip-hop promoter becomes an escort after getting into debt with a gangster. | |||||
| 2004 | Ethan Mao | Ethan Mao, Remigio | Jun Hee Lee, Jerry Hernandez | An Asian gay teen is kicked out of his house and forced to become a hustler for money. Soon, he meets Remigio, a teen hustler and drug dealer, and the two become friends. | |||
| 2004 | Sugar | John Palmer | Butch | Coming of age story. | |||
| 2004 | Mysterious Skin | Neil McCormick | Based on Scott Heim's book. | ||||
| 2004 | My Hustler Boyfriend | Peter Pizzi | Short included in video program at Newfest 2005. IMDb | ||||
| 2005 | Dirty Little Sins | ||||||
| 2005 | Boy Wonder | Kery Isabel Ramierez | Luis | Color video short (12 min) about a man living a double life as "straight male" provider and transvestite prostitute. Included in MIX NYC November 2006. | |||
| 2005 | The Wedding Date | Claire Kilner | Nick Mercer | Woman hires male escort to pose as her boyfriend. | |||
| 2005 | Transamerica | Duncan Tucker | Toby Wilkins | Pre-operative M2F transsexual discovers she has a son (Zegers) who is hustling in New York. | |||
| 2005 | Breakfast on Pluto | Based on the novel by Patrick McCabe. Transvestite flees Ireland for London during the 1970s and becomes a prostitute. | |||||
| 2006 | Boy Culture | Based on the novel. | |||||
| 2006 | Can't Buy Me Love | Short film from Newfest 2006. IMDb | |||||
| 2006 | In The Blood | Lou Peterson | Gay supernatural thriller featuring a young man dating a Latino hustler. IMDb | ||||
| 2006 | Boys Briefs 4 | Six short films about guys who hustle: Boy (Welby Ings); Gigolo (Bastian Schweitzer); Build (Greg Atkins); Into the Night (Tony Krawitz); Gold (Armen Kazazian); Rock Bottom (Mary Feuer). review | |||||
| 2006 | Happy Hookers | Ashish Sawhny | The lives of three male sex workers in India. Short film from Newfest 2007. | ||||
| 2006 | Into It | Jeff Maccubbin | Two hustlers dealing with drugs and relationships. Film from Newfest 2007. | ||||
| 2007 | Before I Forget | Jacques Nolot | An aging hustler reflects on his life. IMDb | ||||
| 2008 | Strictly Sexual | Joel Viertel | Two women hire two unemployed construction workers as sex slaves. | ||||
| 2008 | Cliente (A French Gigolo; The Client) | Patrick/Marco | A female television anchor falls in love with an internet escort. IMDb | ||||
| 2009 | Lucky Bastard | Denny | Dale Dymkoski | Denny is a hustler and meth addict who exploits a man who's fallen in love with him. Lucky Bastard was an Official Selection at Outfest 2009.[4] | |||
| 2009 | Complices (Accomplices) | Frédéric Mermoud | Vincent Bouvier | Two detectives try to solve Victor's murder. Victor appears only in flashbacks. | |||
| 2010 | Strapped | Joseph Graham (director) | Hustler | Ben Bonenfant | A nameless hustler encounters a series of gay men as he searches for the exit to a client's apartment building.[5] | ||
| 2013 | Aleksandr's Price | Aleksandr Ivanov | A boy named Aleksandr becomes a prostitute in NY, after the death of his mother. IMDb | ||||
| 2016 | Romantic Noy (Not Romantic) | Rajib Chowdhury | Shekhar | Shaheb Bhattacharya | A boy named Shekhar becomes a prostitute in Kolkata and he entertains women with his body. At a stage he becomes addicted in drugs. | ||
| 2022 | Good Luck to You, Leo Grande | United States | Sophie Hyde | Leo Grande | Daryl McCormack | Retired widow Nancy Stokes (Emma Thompson) hires a good-looking young sex worker called Leo Grande, in the hope of enjoying a night of pleasure and self-discovery after an unfulfilling married life. |
| Year | Title | Country | Director | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | Portrait of Jason | US | Interview with African-American gay hustler Jason Holliday. | ||
| 1984 | Streetwise | US | Seattle street boys struggle to get along without having to sell themselves for sex. | ||
| 1992 | Maybe I Can Give You Sex? Part I | Philippines Germany | Rune Layumas Jurgen Bruning | Examine gender roles in the Philippines and the lives of macho dancers, bar boys, and their customers. | |
| 1992 | Maybe I Can Give You Sex? Part II | Philippines Germany | Rune Layumas | ||
| 1992 | A Kind of Family | Canada | Andrew Koster | Profile of the relationship of a gay city councilman and his straight, street-kid, hustler, drug-abusing, HIV+ foster son. | |
| 1993 | Boys From Brazil | Brazil | Brazilian transvestite prostitutes. | ||
| 1994 | Not Angels But Angels | Czechoslovakia | About prostitution in Prague. | ||
| 1996 | Body Without Soul | Czechoslovakia | Teenage guys who prostitute in Prague. | ||
| 2000 | 101 Rent Boys | US | Interviews with hustlers who work Santa Monica Boulevard. | ||
| 2006 | Hooks to the Left | US | Shot on a cell-phone camera, narrated journal of a New York hustler named Nail. Short film (75 min) from Newfest 2007. | ||
| 2009 | Men for Sale | Canada | Film about male prostitutes in Montreal, Quebec.[6] |
The following television programs feature a hustler as a main character:
| Year | Title | Network | Character | Actor | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Alexander | Sequel to . | ||||
| 1986 | The Children of Times Square | Eric Roberts | A teenage boy runs away to New York City and is immediately recruited by other boys for a man who wants him for sex. He escapes only to end up working for a drug dealer. | |||
| 1993 | Dafydd | BBC | Welsh boy/hustler goes to Amsterdam and meets a music teacher. | |||
| 1997 | Band of Gold | Cherrie/Carl | Daniel Edwards | Turned to hustling to pay for his sex reassignment surgery. He was working as a cross dresser during his stint in the series. | ||
| 2000–2005 | Queer as Folk | Pushed into hustling by his mother; adopted by Michael Novotny and Ben Bruchner. | ||||
| 2001–2008 | Trailer Park Boys | The character on the hit Canadian mockumentary television show is an ex-prostitute. | ||||
| 2005–2006 | Desperate Housewives | Survived on the streets as a hustler after being thrown out of his house by his mother Bree. | ||||
| 2006–2009 | Dante's Cove | Kevin | Confessed to his boyfriend that he sometimes used to accept money for sex. | |||
| 2009– | Hung | Ray Drecker | An unhappy and financially strapped history teacher and basketball coach, who decides to turn his large penis into an opportunity to make money. | |||
| 2011— | Gigolos | Reality television series following the lives of five male escorts who service female clients in Las Vegas.[7] | ||||
| 2005—2012 | The Closer | Rusty Beck | The character first appeared in 2012. He survived on the streets as a hustler after his mother disappeared. Rusty later became a main character on the spin-off series Major Crimes. | |||
| 2011—2019 | Game of Thrones | Olyvar | Male prostitute employed by Littlefinger, used to spy on noblemen to gain favour with richer nobility / royalty. | |||
| 2009—2015 | Glee | Brody Weston | Love interest of Rachel Barry (Lea Michele), whom she breaks up with upon learning he supports himself as a gigolo. | |||
| 2013—2016 | Masters of Sex | Dale | Male prostitute involved with Barton Scully (Beau Bridges), a closeted, married university official.[8] | |||
| 2013—2019 | Silicon Valley | HBO | Donald "Jared" Dunn | One of the main protagonists, who used to work as a male prostitute after graduating from college. | ||
| 2019—2021 | Shrill | Ruthie | Trans woman working with Annie (Aidy Bryant), who is implied to have worked as a prostitute before her full transition, stating that there were various straight and gay men alike who "liked hitting that." | |||
| 2013— | Brooklyn Nine-Nine | Fox (2013-2018) NBC (2019-present) | Bill Hummertrout | Winston Story | Gigolo hired by Detective Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) for several Halloween Heists as a distraction due to his resemblance to Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio). |
The following photographers, in their work, frequently use the image of the male prostitute: