Victor Minichiello and John Scott (Eds.): Male Sex Work and Society

Abstract

Male prostitution has been a field that many researchers have avoided during the last decades. So the editors wanted to present a ‘‘state of the art’’-research book about history, presence, cultures and problems of male prostitution in the Western world. The book is organized in four chapters: historical overview, advertisement, social aspects, and examples from outside the US. This last part shows the greatest problem of this book: Authors and Editors believe in the concept that the situation in the US reflects all about the Western hemisphere. This is wrong. Prostitution’s ban outside Nevada, many local interdictions, and the widespread propaganda by churches and prayers—more influential than in any other country in the Western world—make the US a special object of research, but definitely not an archetype for research about male prostitution in Western world. Mark Friedman’s essay about history gives a good insight. Ancient greek vases, roman marble boys, contemporary descriptions of prejudices and working policies are presented, even the camp instrumentalisation of ‘‘antique nudity’’ by German photographer Wilhelm Gloeden. But then he jumps from antique times into 17th century, and the reader doesn’t get information about conditions in non Western countries (e.g. India). In Kervin Kay’s contribution about sex work in ‘‘modern times’’, you may get information about conditions in some US cities. The most impressive essay in the first part of the book is Russel Sheaffer’s work about male prostitution in movies from the beginnings over Fassbinder ‘‘Querelle’’ to modern queer cinema. But his look on the whole Western world is just a glimpse. Authors in the second and third chapters concentrate on the US. The articles are quite interesting, but they just give a view on conditions in some parts of the US.