This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(February 2013) |
Launched | January 18, 1996 [1] |
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Current status | Not operational |
Rentboy.com was a commercial social networking site which connected male sex workers and masseurs with potential clients. Rentboy.com was also the major organizer of the International Escort Awards and a traveling cabaret called "Hustlaball."
Formerly, Rentboy.com published a manifesto on their website intended for sex workers and clients. This statement promoted a philosophy of "safer sex because the vast majority of sex-workers will not engage in unsafe sex," and stated, "while this job may not be for everyone, it has its rightful place among honorable careers." [2] On August 25, 2015, CEO Jeffrey Hurant and six others were arrested at Rentboy.com headquarters.
Rentboy.com was started by Jeffrey Hurant in 1997, making it the first male escorting website. [3] From its founding, Davids served as CEO, and Sean Van Sant served as company director. The company was headquartered in Manhattan. [4] Rentboy.com is described by Van Sant as follows:
Rentboy.com is not an escort agency. We are an ad listing service for male escorts, where men place their own ads and work for themselves, so that clients can contact them directly. Our mission is to create a non-judgmental space where anyone curious about exploring male-male companionship can hire a man by the hour. [5]
As of June 2009 [update] , rentboy.com employed 10 people in three offices and hosted 40,000 escort profiles. [6] In 2009, 1.4 million clients visited the website. [7]
On August 25, 2015, Federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security and members of the New York Police Department raided Rentboy.com's headquarters. [8]
Rentboy.com sponsored its own float every year in the New York City Gay Pride March. [9]
The International Escort Awards, also known as the "Hookies," were founded by rentboy.com's Jeff Davids and Sean Van Sant. [10] The first ceremony was held at the Roxy in New York City in October 2006. [11]
Hustlaball was a sex cabaret and dance party organized in part by rentboy.com [12] as a party to destigmatize and honor sex workers. [7] Starting in 2007, Rentboy.com hosted Hustlaball three times yearly with a Las Vegas show in January, a London show in May, and a Berlin show in October. [9] Part of the proceeds from this event go to charities such as the Lambeth Hate Crime Initiative, the Terrence Higgins Trust, and the Gay Men's Health Crisis. [13] [14]
Founder Davids said of Hustlaball, "This is a chance for sex workers to be open and proud of what they do." [15]
Summary of Hustlaball Events | ||||
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year | location | venue | publicized attendees | notes |
1998 | Midtown Manhattan, New York City | Stella's Nightclub | founding of event [7] | |
1999 | New York City | Lure Nightclub | [16] | |
2000 | San Francisco, Chicago | Pleasuredome, San Francisco | [16] | |
2001 | New York City | changed name from "Hustler Ball" to "Hustlaball" because of a lawsuit initiated by Larry Flynt due to similarity of name to Hustler Magazine [7] [16] | ||
2002 | New York City, West Hollywood (Los Angeles) | Factory nightclub, Los Angeles | Christopher Ciccone | [16] |
2003 | Berlin | KitKatClub, Berlin | first time outside US [16] Hustlaball in Berlin | |
2004 | Berlin | KitKatClub, Berlin | attendance doubled from previous year [16] Hustlaball in Berlin | |
2005 | Berlin, Las Vegas | KitKatClub, Berlin | Gioia Bruno, Chi Chi LaRue, Lady Bunny, Matthew Rush, Jeff Stryker, Michael Lucas | held in conjunction with AVN Award Ceremony [16] Hustlaball in Berlin |
2006 | Berlin, Las Vegas | KitKatClub, Berlin | Ari Gold, Marc Almond | show professionally video recorded and released [16] Hustlaball in Berlin |
2007 | Berlin, New York City, Las Vegas | KitKatClub, Berlin | Britney Spears | [16] Hustlaball in Berlin |
2008 | Berlin, London, Las Vegas | KitKatClub, Berlin | Willam Belli, Jonny McGovern | [16] Hustlaball in Berlin |
2009 | Berlin, London, New York City | The Old Mint (Münze), Berlin | [16] Hustlaball in Berlin | |
2010 | Berlin | KitKatClub, Berlin | Hustlaball in Berlin | |
2011 | Berlin | KitKatClub, Berlin | Hustlaball in Berlin | |
2014 | Berlin, New York City, Las Vegas | KitKatClub, Berlin | ||
2015 | Berlin, New York City, Las Vegas | KitKatClub, Berlin | Britney Spears | |
2016 | Berlin, Las Vegas | KitKatClub, Berlin |
On August 25, 2015, DHS and NYPD agents raided the Manhattan headquarters of Rentboy.com as part of a money laundering and state prostitution investigation. Seven people, including CEO Jeffrey Davids, were arrested. [8] "As alleged, Rentboy.com attempted to present a veneer of legality, when in fact this Internet brothel made millions of dollars from the promotion of illegal prostitution," acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Kelly Currie said in a statement. DHS was involved in the raid in part because the investigation involved transferring money across state lines. The seven defendants are charged with conspiring to violate the Travel Act by promoting prostitution. [17]
On October 7, 2016, Hurant pleaded guilty in federal court of promoting prostitution. In August 2017 Hurant was sentenced to 6 months in federal prison. [18] While the case had prompted allegations of anti-gay bias, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stated that "any insinuation that a specific population was targeted is categorically false." [19]
Sex work is "the exchange of sexual services, performances, or products for material compensation. It includes activities of direct physical contact between buyers and sellers as well as indirect sexual stimulation". Sex work only refers to voluntary sexual transactions; thus, the term does not refer to human trafficking and other coerced or nonconsensual sexual transactions such as child prostitution. The transaction must take place between consenting adults of the legal age and mental capacity to consent and must take place without any methods of coercion, other than payment. The term emphasizes the labor and economic implications of this type of work. Furthermore, some prefer the use of the term because it grants more agency to the sellers of these services.
A call girl or female escort is a prostitute who does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency. The client must make an appointment, usually by calling a telephone number. Call girls often advertise their services in small ads in magazines and via the Internet, although an intermediary advertiser, such as an escort agency, may be involved in promoting escorts, while, less often, some may be handled by a pimp. Call girls may work either incall, where the client comes to them, or outcall, where they go to the client. Some porn stars are known to escort as well.
A massage parlor, or massage parlour, is a place where massage services are provided. Some massage parlors are front organizations for prostitution and the term "massage parlor" has also become a euphemism for a brothel.
Male prostitution is the act or practice of men providing sexual services in return for payment. It is a form of sex work. Although clients can be of any gender, the vast majority are older males looking to fulfill their sexual needs. Male prostitutes have been far less studied than female prostitutes by researchers. Even so, male prostitution has an extensive history including regulation through homosexuality, conceptual developments on sexuality, and the HIV/AIDS, monkeypox, and COVID-19 epidemic impact. In the last century, male sex work has seen various advancements such as popularizing new sexual acts, methods of exchange, and carving out a spot in cinema.
A girlfriend experience (GFE) is a commercial sex service that blurs the boundaries between a financial transaction and a romantic relationship. It ranges from a transactional sex relationship to a client paying a sex worker to pretend to be his girlfriend during the session. If the sex worker is male, the service is called a boyfriend experience.
Prostitution is illegal in the vast majority of the United States as a result of state laws rather than federal laws. It is, however, legal in some rural counties within the state of Nevada. Prostitution nevertheless occurs elsewhere in the country.
Prostitution in Ireland is legal. However, since March 2017, it has been an offence to buy sex. Third party involvement is also illegal. Since the law that criminalises clients came into being, with the purpose of reducing the demand for prostitution, the number of prosecutions for the purchase of sex increased from 10 to 92 between 2018 and 2020. In a report from UCD's Sexual Exploitation Research Programme the development is called ”a promising start in interrupting the demand for prostitution.”
Procuring, pimping or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp or a madam or a brothel keeper, is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The procurer may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing and possibly monopolizing a location where the prostitute may solicit clients. Like prostitution, the legality of certain actions of a madam or a pimp vary from one region to the next.
Tracy Quan is an American writer and former sex worker. She is best known for her Nancy Chan novels. In addition, Quan has written a regular column for The Guardian website on pop culture, sex and politics and is involved in the prostitutes' rights movement.
Bay Area Sex Worker Advocacy Network (BAYSWAN) is a non-profit organization in the San Francisco Bay Area which works to improve working conditions, increase benefits, and eliminate discrimination on behalf of individuals working within both legal and criminalized adult entertainment industries. The organization provides advice and information to social service, policy reformers, media outlets, politicians, including the San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution and Commission on the Status of Women (COSW), and law enforcement agencies dealing with sex workers.
Prostitution in Turkey is legal and regulated. The secularization of Turkish society allowed prostitution to achieve legal status during the early 20th century. Known as "general houses" (genelevler) in the country, brothels must receive permits from the government to operate. In turn, the regulatory agencies issue identity cards to sex workers that give them rights to some free medical care and other social services. However, many local governments now have a policy of not issuing new registrations, and in some cities, such as Ankara and Bursa, brothels have been demolished by court order.
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact with the customer. The requirement of physical contact also creates the risk of transferring diseases. Prostitution is sometimes described as sexual services, commercial sex or, colloquially, hooking. It is sometimes referred to euphemistically as "the world's oldest profession" in the English-speaking world. A person who works in this field is called a prostitute, and sometimes a sex worker.
Prostitution in Portugal is legal, but it is illegal for a third party to profit from, promote, encourage or facilitate the prostitution of another. Consequently, organized prostitution is prohibited.
Prostitution in Kenya is widespread. The legal situation is complex. Although prostitution is not criminalised by National law, municipal by-laws may prohibit it.. It is illegal to profit from the prostitution of others, and to aid, abet, compel or incite prostitution.. UNAIDS estimate there to be 133,675 prostitutes in the country.
The Erotic Review, also functioning as TheEroticReview.com, is a review site that ostensibly presents clients' assessments of their experiences with sex workers.
Richard Holcomb is a human rights advocate, street outreach worker and HIV prevention counselor in Providence, Rhode Island. He is best known for his groundbreaking work in HIV prevention and as the founder of Project Weber, a program for male sex-workers in Rhode Island. The program is named after Roy Weber, a 22-year-old male sex worker who was murdered on Christmas Day, 2003. Holcomb has done extensive research on male prostitution in the United States, Canada and Europe, and has been featured in several films on this subject.
The Internet has become one of the preferred methods of communication for prostitution, as clients and prostitutes are less vulnerable to arrest or assault and for its convenience.
Tanya Moore and Tina Rodriguez were two transgender friends & sex workers on Philadelphia's thirteenth street in 1986. The pair disappeared on June 30, 1986 after getting into the car of a couple of clients. On July 3, 1986 their mutilated and dismembered bodies were found burning at a baseball diamond in Middletown.
Clients of prostitutes or sex workers are sometimes known as johns or tricks in North America and punters in Britain and Ireland. In common parlance among prostitutes as well as with others, the act of negotiating and then engaging with a client is referred to as turning a trick. Female clients are sometimes called janes, although the vast majority of prostitution clients are male in almost all countries.