Posted July 22, Reviewed by Lybi Ma. Men who engage in incidental or professional sexual services—with either women, men, or both—have been invisible or ignored in our society. Max Morris, on the faculty in the Department of Criminology and Sociology at Kingston University in London, interviewed queer men about their work with customers. As a result, they were frequently invisible to the general population, healthcare providers, and community resources.
The men were undergraduate or graduate students, with majors ranging from religion to medicine, or professionals such as teachers, doctors, mental health clinicians, retail workers, security guards, etc. Their responses were often framed in reference to the economic significance of selling sex, but it was not their primary source of income.
Rather, they viewed their sexual engagements as a way to make a quick dollar, a pleasure, an experiment, or a part-time job incidental to their ongoing lives. They believed their sexual encounters were not sufficiently frequent or professionally worthy to attach a label or an identity to them. Maxime Durocher, a straight man, provides a personal perspective of an individual who is a professional sex worker. Durocher advertises himself on his website as a male escort for women and couples.
Durocher notes that it is not easy to make a living with sex work, and the reactions he receives to his profession include disgust, glamorization, curiosity, and or indifference rare. Durocher receives varied reactions from society because of his profession. In his own words, he names four:. In words and attitudes, people judge us for the services we provide, and they can threaten violence. This is the most common response. Decriminalization would help change attitudes and reduce societal and individual stigma.
I realize my work is cloaked in mystery. How ugly are my clients? Both Morris and Durocher agree with the commonsense recommendation that sex work, whether incidental or professional, should be decriminalized. Such individuals provide a positive service to adults who are quite able to make their own decisions about personal pleasure that hurts no one. Where is the victim? Who is harmed? No one is being forced to buy or sell.
