Don’t you stop sometimes and think how things have changed since a specific point in time? I don’t mean the typical “it was better in the old days” kind of thinking, I mean more like how things have changed when it comes to some everyday challenges we face. That would include many things of course, from how much more expensive some things are, how salaries have changed, how the way of thinking has changed on many matters. But not only that, there are some things that have changed in little time and affect our everyday life, i.e. modern technology: I’m sure you’ve seen somewhere on social media what comprised for example 1GB of memory, which was a device the size of a small car in the 60’s, while today hundreds of gigabytes of memory fit easily in the palm of your hand.
One of those things that carries characteristics that change over time is the services we provide or receive from others. Some have possibly remained the same, others have changed dramatically due maybe to other factors that affect them (better technology, better communication means etc.). When it comes to this industry, it is mostly the digital age that has changed the way you work, with most noticeable how easy it is to come together with the customer thanks to the internet for example.
Therefore, it is kinda interesting to have a look to what the male sex worker industry used to be. And you would not be wrong if you hypothesized that there was a point in time when this branch of the erotic industry was virtually non-existent. As you look back, the erotic industry is (and has always been) mainly focused around the woman. Males are the ones who are more sexually driven, therefore they will comprise more than 90% of the erotic market. So it follows that women will be the main customer that is called upon to satisfy that need. Even if there were, for example, male sex workers in the 19th century (something which is debatable), they would probably be looked down upon, maybe even discriminated against. But then again, if you think about it, homosexuality was “banned” in most countries back then, and, in combination with the fact that society in general kept a much more conservative view when it comes to sexual relations, it would only make sense (technically speaking of course).
But think again, let’s say that the male sex worker industry has its own “forefathers”, the ones that started it all, who went against the wind and taboos… how did they work? What exactly did they do as part of their work?
As stated, the society in general was way more conservative and traditional when it comes to sexual roles and appetites. So it would be highly unlikely that there would be people 100 years ago that would ask for a blowjob with ice-cubes in the mouth or butt-plugs and so forth. But a thing like role-playing, anal sex, spanking etc, is definitely not something that sounds extreme even for that time in the past.
As it turns out, it is not fetishes and/or bizarre tastes in sexual satisfaction that were popular back in the day for a male sex worker. Mostly, it is the unavailability of either finding a sexual partner or a homosexual partner. Or just having an extra-marital sexual relation that mostly served as relieving the sexual tension somebody may have in his/her marriage, which makes sense if you take into account the societal conservatism we mentioned earlier. Dildos in the form of a modern day vibrator and were made out of wood existed more than a century ago, even though they were used mostly by doctors in order to “cure” psychological implications in women… yes, medicine has come a long way since then. But that is not to suggest that similar sex toys couldn’t have been used in a similar fashion merely for sexual pleasure.
It is difficult to say when it is/was a safer time period for someone to be a male sex worker, since there are many factors that affect different parameters of the job. For example, it was less safe a few decades ago because of the poor methods against diseases, but maybe it was more profitable because of the few options a customer may had. And today, as much as the internet and social media have helped, it would always be wise to be careful and avoid fishy advertisements from sites that are not primarily for that purpose, for example craigslist.