How male and female sex workers in Canada differ

Male street prostitution has received relatively little attention in sociological inquiries. Although this phenomenon continues to provoke moral outrage, it has aroused a fraction of the research interests shown to female prostitution. This is not surprising, given the fear and ignorance accorded to homosexuality in general.[58]

Paid-up homo sex is different from het prostitution in a number of ways: unlike prostitution involving women, generally speaking there are no pimps in the realm of homo hustling, and thus those engaged in it are more independent, less under threat. ... Or to take other aspects: sexual acts between males -- this is true of homosexuality generally, and also applies to hustling -- tend to be more reciprocal or equal than those between men and women -- I'm especially thinking about acts of anal intercourse -- and thus some of the disparities of power in the encounter are more likely to be evened out.[59]

Lowman (1990) was among the first to point out that the information available on sex work in Canada is not interpreted with "sufficient recognition that the circumstances surrounding a female's drift into prostitution might be very different than a male's.[60]

There are several key differences between the experiences of male and female street prostitutes. ... Males are rarely pimped, and they are much less likely to be the victim of a "bad trick" than are females. Other aspects of their experiences are similar to the extent that they usually suggest they had unhappy childhoods and were dissatisfied with home life, although the sources of this dissatisfaction are sometimes different for males and females (with males, family problems sometimes related to parental rejection of a boy's growing homosexual consciousness; a girl's distaste for home life was more likely to relate to her sexual victimization by family members).[61]

Perhaps one of the reasons there is so much less research available on male sex work than female sex work is that, historically, males have been much less visible than women as sex workers, working primarily through indoor venues or in private residences.[62] Still, small pieces of information gathered from a variety of sources provide some understanding of the differences between male and female sex workers in Canada.

The earnings of male sex workers

There is some debate as to how much money Canadian sex workers earn. Some researchers have found that male sex workers can earn more than female sex workers because they charge more money, and because there is little if any pimping of male sex workers.[63] However, a Montreal study published in 1993 found that males actually earn less than females: between $600 and $800 a week, compared to $1,800 to $2,000 a week for women.

The differences between female and male prostitutes regarding job hazards and earning power suggest that most of the undesirable aspects of prostitution are linked to broader social problems rather than the commercialization of sex.[64]

It is important to note that "sex for survival appears to be more of a factor for females than males: a study of Ottawa street youth found that males are more frequently able to simply stay at an acquaintance's home, whereas females are frequently forced to trade sex for food, shelter and money."[65]

Age and length of career

Many studies have shown that male sex workers tend to be younger than female sex workers.[66] And some studies have found the careers of male sex workers to be shorter than those of females.[67] "For males, their term in the business is typically finished by the time they are in their early 20s as they are no longer competitive with the new and younger hustlers."[68] Males have a shorter career, in part because "when they reach the age of 20 or 22, and lose the distinctive marks of youth they ... turn to something else."[69] Yet, studies have also shown the average age of male sex workers to be greater than this.[70] In fact, Lowman (1990) writes that many sex workers interviewed for research may have been working for years. For example, the average age of two subsamples of male sex workers interviewed in 1984 and 1989 was approximately 25. Yet the approximate age at which they first sold sex was 16.[71]

In terms of length of service, an Eastern Canada study published in 1990 found that male sex workers had been involved in sex work for an average of 5.1 years.[72] And a project based at Maggie's in Toronto found that males' involvement in sex work lasted an average of 5.2 years.[73]

In Edmonton, male sex workers interviewed by a street sex work research project in 1993 were younger than females and half of them had worked for five or fewer years. In this study males were found, on average, to be better educated than females.[74]

A Montreal study published in 1996 found the gender distribution of Canadian sex workers similar to that found in clerical and health-related occupational categories, as identified by Statistics Canada. The study reported that male sex workers were more likely than females to work alone, were less likely to have regular schedules, were more likely to have legitimate jobs and tended to drop into and out of sex work almost twice as often as females. Regardless of their sexual orientation, men tended to participate in a greater variety of sexual acts and to spend more time with their clients. While male and female sex workers were equally likely to report that their work was boring, men were less likely to report that it was repetitive or stressful.[75]

A report from an Alberta task force on prostitution (1997) found that male and female sex workers reported many similar experiences (parental abuse, unconventional peers, early sexual experiences, promiscuity and drug and/or alcohol use). But it also found that males often began sex work at a greater age than females.[76]

In addition, a study of personal classified advertisements (1994) placed in a major Canadian alternative publication indicated a significant number of males over age 30 advertising sex work services,[77] a finding that is easily replicated by reading the advertisements in almost any Canadian entertainment paper.

Younger male sex workers in Canada

Most Canadian research on prostitution has focused on youth. More is known about younger male sex workers than about any other subgroup of men selling sex, even though people under 18 years of age represent only 10-12% of individuals involved in sex work.[78] However, the Badgley Committee reported that 85% of the males in its sample[79] indicated that they had first sold sex prior to the age of 18.[80]

Money

Money is perhaps the primary reason why young people enter sex work. Almost 80% of respondents told the Badgley Committee that they had entered prostitution for "rapid financial gain."[81] A Toronto study completed in 1986 also found that money is by far the single most important factor influencing a young person's decision to enter into sex work:

I liked the money and the way it came in, so I just kept with it. I was making more money as time went by. Like, the most I ever made from a trick was $250, and that was for an hour.

It's [fast, easy money]. It's all easy 'cause everyone knows how to have sex. The money is good. ... Money talks. Every man has his price. Like, you flash a $100 bill in somebody's face and they'll say "yes" if they only have 35 cents in their pocket. It's a quick buck.[82]

Home environments

Troubled home environments are a second reason why young males enter sex work. The Badgley Committee reported that 45% of young male sex workers indicated that their strongest recollection of home life was of continual fighting or arguments.[83] The Committee's report also showed that 97% of male sex workers reported running away from home at least once; 46% reported having done so more than once.[84] Whereas female sex workers tended to leave home at a considerably earlier age than other females, there was little difference in the case of males.[85]

We had the sense that a number of street youth, mostly male, had left home with family relations reasonably intact. They left not wanting to burden their financially or emotionally stressed families and were spurred on by the knowledge that there was little hope of finding employment in their home communities. Many were reminiscent of the depression-era phenomenon of young men who went from city to city looking for work.[86]

Violence against female and male sex workers

Although the risk of HIV infection among male sex workers and their clients may be high, information about other safety issues, particularly occurrences of violence, shows that it is often female sex workers who confront the greatest dangers. For example, between 1991 and 1995, 63 known sex workers were murdered.[87] Of these, only three -- or less than 5% -- were male.[88]

Whereas female street sex workers report a much greater frequency of sexual offences perpetrated by clients, "for hustlers the greatest problem is created by homophobic onlookers who assault and/or rob them."[89] Or, as Brannigan wrote in 1994, "although male street hustlers do experience violence, they are less likely to be victimized by either pimps or johns, as opposed to young male gay bashers."[90]

Footnotes

58. Visano, L., This Idle Trade, Concord, Visano Books, 1987, p. 332. [back]

pp. 44-45.

60. Lowman, J., "Street Prostitutes in Canada: An Evaluation of the Brannigan-Fleischman Opportunity Model," Canadian Journal of Law and Society, 1990, 6, p. 156.

61. Lowman, J., "Prostitution in Canada," in Jackson, M. A., Griffiths, C. T. and Hatch, A., eds., Canadian Criminology: Perspectives on Crime and Criminality, Toronto, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991, p. 125.

62. British Columbia, Community Consultation on Prostitution in British Columbia: Overview of Results, Victoria, Ministry of the Attorney General B.C., 1996.

63. Fraser Committee (Special Committee on Pornography and Prostitution), Pornography and Prostitution in Canada, Ottawa, Department of Supply and Services, 1985; Lowman, J., "Prostitution in Canada," in Jackson, M. A., Griffiths, C. T. and Hatch, A., eds., Canadian Criminology: Perspectives on Crime and Criminality, Toronto, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991.

64. Shaver, F., "Prostitution: A Female Crime?" in Adelberg, E. and Currie, C., eds., In Conflict With the Law: Women and the Canadian Justice System, Vancouver, Press Gang Publishers, 1993, p. 167.

65. Caputo, T., Weller, R. and Kelly, K., Phase II of the Runaways and Street Youth Project: The Ottawa Case Study, Policing Division, Solicitor General of Canada, Final Report #1994-11, Ottawa, Ministry of Supply and Services Canada, 1994a, cited in Federal-Provincial-Territorial Working Group on Prostitution, Report and Recommendations in Respect of Legislation, Policy, and Practices Concerning Prostitution-Related Activities, Ottawa, Department of Justice, 1998, p. 14.

66. Sansfaçon, D., Prostitution in Canada, A Research Review Report, Ottawa, Department of Justice, 1985; Earls, C. M. and David, H., "A Psychosocial Study of Male Prostitution," Archives of Sexual Behavior, 1990a, 18, 5, pp. 401-19; Lowman, J., "Street Prostitution," in Sacco, V. F., ed., Deviance: Conformity and Control in Canada, 2nd Edition, Scarborough, Ontario, Prentice-Hall Canada, 1992.

67. Badgley Committee (Committee on Sexual Offences against Children and Youth), Sexual Offences against Children, Ottawa, Department of Supply and Services, 1984; Lowman, J., "Taking Young Prostitutes Seriously," Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 1987, 24, 1, pp. 99-116; Lowman, J., "Street Prostitution," in Sacco, V. F., ed., Deviance: Conformity and Control in Canada, 2nd Edition, Scarborough, Ontario, Prentice-Hall Canada, 1992.

68. Fraser Committee (Special Committee on Pornography and Prostitution), Pornography and Prostitution in Canada, Ottawa, Department of Supply and Services, 1985, p. 372.

69. Sansfaçon, D., Prostitution in Canada, A Research Review Report, Ottawa, Department of Justice, 1985, p. 95.

70. Edmonton Social Planning Council, Street Prostitution in Edmonton, Edmonton, Street Prostitution Project, 1993.

71. Lowman, J., "Street Prostitutes in Canada: An Evaluation of the Brannigan-Fleischman Opportunity Model," Canadian Journal of Law and Society, 1990, 6, pp. 137-64.

72. Earls, C. M. and David, H., "A Psychosocial Study of Male Prostitution," Archives of Sexual Behavior, 1990a, 18, 5, pp. 401-19.

73. Maggie's, the Toronto Prostitutes' Community Service Project, Report on Assessing the Need to Reduce Drug-Related Harm Among Prostitutes Who Use Drugs, Ottawa, Health Promotion and Social Development, Health Canada, File #6552-2-371, 1994.

74. Edmonton Social Planning Council, Street Prostitution in Edmonton, Edmonton, Street Prostitution Project, 1993.

75. Shaver, F., "Prostitution: On the Dark Side of the Service Industry," in O'Reilly-Fleming, T., ed., Post-Critical Criminology, Scarborough, Ontario, Prentice-Hall Canada, 1996.

76. Task Force on Children Involved in Prostitution, Children Involved in Prostitution, Alberta, Minister of Family and Social Services, 1997.

77. Allman, D., Personal Classified Advertisements of Men Seeking Sex With Men: Trends in Representations of Risk Behaviour, 1980-1994, paper presented to the Fourth Annual Canadian Conference on HIV/AIDS Research, Toronto, June 1994.

78. Task Force on Children Involved in Prostitution, Children Involved in Prostitution, Alberta, Minister of Family and Social Services, 1997.

79. Between February 1982 and July 1983, the Badgley Committee surveyed 229 youth under age 20 who had "performed at least one sexual act in exchange for money, food, shelter, drugs, alcohol, or some other valuable consideration." This definition of sex work is almost identical to the one currently employed by Vancouver's Vanguard Study. Badgley Committee (Committee on Sexual Offences against Children and Youth), Sexual Offences against Children, Ottawa, Department of Supply and Services, 1984, p. 968.

80. Ibid.

81. Lowman, J., "Taking Young Prostitutes Seriously," Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 1987, 24, 1, pp. 99-116.

82. Mathews, R. F., Mirror to the Night: A Psycho-Social Study of Adolescent Prostitution, unpublished PhD thesis, Department of Education, University of Toronto, 1986, pp. 128-29.

83. Lowman, J., "Taking Young Prostitutes Seriously," Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 1987, 24, 1, pp. 99-116.

84. Lowman, J., "Street Prostitutes in Canada: An Evaluation of the Brannigan-Fleischman Opportunity Model," Canadian Journal of Law and Society, 1990, 6, pp. 137-64.

85. Earls, C. M. and David, H., "Early Family and Sexual Experiences of Male and Female Prostitutes," Canada's Mental Health, 1990, 38, 4, pp. 7-11, cited in Lowman, J., "Street Prostitutes in Canada: An Evaluation of the Brannigan-Fleischman Opportunity Model," Canadian Journal of Law and Society, 1990, 6, pp. 137-64.

86. Read, S., DeMatteo, D., Bock, B., Coates, R., Goldberg, E., King, S., Major, C., McLaughlin, B., Millson, M. and O'Shaughnessy, M., HIV Prevalence in Toronto Street Youth, Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children, 1993, p. v.

87. At the end of 1996, 54% of these murders remained unsolved, compared to only 20% of Canadian homicides that did not involve known sex workers; see Federal-Provincial-Territorial Working Group on Prostitution, Report and Recommendations in Respect of Legislation, Policy, and Practices Concerning Prostitution-Related Activities, Ottawa, Department of Justice, 1998.

88. Statistics Canada, Street Prostitution in Canada, Ottawa, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Catalogue #85-002-XPE, 17, 2, 1997.

89. Lowman, J., "Street Prostitution," in Sacco, V. F., ed., Deviance: Conformity and Control in Canada, 2nd Edition, Scarborough, Ontario, Prentice-Hall Canada, 1992, p. 56.

90. Brannigan, A., Victimization of Prostitutes in Calgary and Winnipeg, Research, Statistics and Evaluation Directorate, Policy Sector, Department of Justice, Technical Report #TR1996-15e, Ottawa, Department of Justice, 1994, p. 29.