Male prostitution in the arts
# Male prostitution in the arts

The male prostitute or hustler is a frequent stereotype in literature and movies in the West from the 1960s on, and especially in movies and books with a gay perspective in which he may be considered a stock character. He also appears occasionally in popular music, some contemporary fashion advertising, and the visual arts.

## Stereotypes

The most common stereotype of the hustler is as a sexy but tragic figure. This stereotype reveals both a fascination with the hustler as a sexual object and sadness or disdain with his situation and life-style. This stereotyped male hustler is often an underaged or teenage "street kid" or "runaway" forced to leave home because of his sexual orientation or because of sexual abuse. He is often portrayed as a drug addict or thief.

The plotline frequently focuses on the crisis of leaving the trade or the street ("one last trick"), or on making enough money for an important use (a medical treatment, a gift). The climax often has one of two possible outcomes: the hustler either abandons the trade and re-integrates into society, or he meets a tragic end. This tragic image of the hustler can be contrasted with the stereotype of the female hooker with a heart of gold: instead of being portrayed as someone in control and contented, the hustler is lost, homeless, broke or exploited.

In movies and books that take the point of view of the client or of a boy/girlfriend who loves the hustler, the hustler is often depicted as an impossible love object who will only bring hurt or frustration. The lover may grow jealous of and disturbed by the hustler's work; occasionally the loving boy/girlfriend will be drawn into the lifestyle of their hustler boyfriend. Older clients who fall in love with hustlers are frequently prey to emotional (and sometimes physical) pain; this is especially true in the case of "rough trade" (where the hustler identifies as straight), and this depiction has been reinforced by several famous incidents of violence against clients (such as the deaths of Pier Paolo Pasolini and Rudolph Moshammer).

In contrast to the previous depictions, the male prostitute has also sometimes been portrayed as an idealized rebel living outside the law and free of bourgeois conventions. This almost Nietzschean image of the hustler as moral and sexual outlaw owes much to the writings of Jean Genet, William S. Burroughs and John Rechy (among others).

While less frequent in cinema and novels, the male prostitute with exclusively female clients (the "gigolo" or "escort") is generally depicted in a less tragic manner than the gay hustler (the gigolo is portrayed as older, athletic, well-dressed, etc.), and films like American Gigolo have done much to paint the character as a sophisticated seducer. This portrayal has also led to cinematic satire (the Deuce Bigalow films).

The portrayal of the client or "john" of male prostitution in popular culture is far less codified than that of the hustler and runs the gamut from the lonely married man, the self-hating in-the-closet guy, the exploitative or endearing businessman, and even the serial killer.

The diversity of these stereotypes reveals much about each author's or director's personal view of love, sexuality, power and morality.

These stereotypes may have a basis in fact, but they should not be taken as true in all cases.

The same issues that surround male prostitution (including the financial security and social status of the young "kept" lover, the older lover's obsessions and insecurities with regards to his or her youthful love-object, the sexual freedom or moral indifference of the hustler, etc.) often appear in movies and literature that portray amorous or sexual relationships—without prostitution—between an older man or woman and a younger male lover; for example, in Pasolini's novel and movie Theorem, Harold Prince's film Something For Everyone (1970) and Bill Condon's film Gods and Monsters (1998).

## In literature

The following novels, memoirs, and plays feature male hustlers as major characters.

| Year | Title | Author | Notes |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1894 | Flowers of Asphalt | Stephen Crane | According to Crane biographer John Berryman Crane began writing Flowers of Asphalt after being approached by a young male prostitute in the street. The work was said to be longer than any of Crane's other works but he abandoned it at the urging of Hamlin Garland, who was horrified by the subject matter. The manuscript does not survive. |
| 1908 | Swoosh: Tales of Privateers and Pirates | D Watt | The phrase "Cap'n's Rent Boy" first used. |
| 1924 | Kyra Kyralina (Chira Chiralina) | Panait Istrati | |
| 1943 | Our Lady of the Flowers (Notre Dame des fleurs) | Jean Genet | |
| 1948 | The City and the Pillar | Gore Vidal | Lead character Jim Willard supports himself as a hustler and a "kept boy". |
| 1949 | The Thief's Journal (Journal du voleur) | Jean Genet |
| 1951 | From Here to Eternity | James Jones | In Jones's original manuscript, Private Angelo Maggio acknowledges acting as trade, allowing gay men to perform oral sex on him for money to supplement his Army pay. The publisher forced the excision of these passages. A new edition of the book with the previously censored passages restored is due out from e-book publisher Open Road. |
| 1957 | Last Exit to Brooklyn | Hubert Selby Jr. | |
| 1963 | The Basketball Diaries | Jim Carroll | |
| 1963 | City of Night | John Rechy | |
| 1965 | Midnight Cowboy | James Leo Herlihy | |
| 1967 | Numbers | John Rechy | |
| 1968 | My Father and Myself | J. R. Ackerley | |
| 1978 | Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo | Christiane F. | Christiane's boyfriend Detlef works as a hustler to earn money to buy heroin. |
| 1989 | Enchanted Boy | Richie McMullen | Memoir of a boy's journey from "abuse to prostitution" in 1950s England. |
| 1990 | Enchanted Youth | Richie McMullen | Continuation of McMullen's journey from "prostitution to love" in 1958. |
| 1990 | Closer | Dennis Cooper | |
| 1991 | Close to the Knives | David Wojnarowicz | First of Wojnarowicz's memoirs of his passage from abused kid to Times Square hustler to artist in New York's East Village underground. |
| 1992 | Memories That Smell Like Gasoline | David Wojnarowicz | Second volume of Wojnarowicz's memoirs. |
| 1994 | American Studies | Mark Merlis | Story of a john coming to terms with his life while recovering in a hospital after being bashed by a hustler. |
| 1994 | User | Bruce Benderson | |
| 1994 | Martin and John | Dale Peck | One or both of the characters are hustlers in several of the parallel narrative scenes. |
| 1994 | Los novios búlgaros | Eduardo Mendicutti | Story of a Bulgarian hustler in Madrid in the 1990s. |
| 1995 | L'Enfant ébloui | "Rachid O" | Semi-autobiographic novel about a hustler in Morocco. |
| 1996 | Wonder Bread and Ecstasy: The Life and Death of Joey Stefano | Charles Isherwood | Joey Stefano was a gay porn star of the 1990s. |
| 1996 | Seven Miles A Second | David Wojnarowicz (writer) James Romberger (artist) | Vertigo Comics version of Wojnarowicz's memoirs and diary. |
| 1996 | Boy Culture | Matthew Rettenmund | Includes an index to the sex passages (by preference). |
| 1996 | Brutal | Aiden Shaw | First novel by artist Aiden Shaw, a former prostitute and porn star. |
| 1996 | Kept Boy | Robert Rodi | Comedy novel. |
| 1997 | Quand je suis devenu fou | Christophe Donner | Narrator falls for a hustler in an Amsterdam brothel. |
| 1997 | Diary of a Hustler | "Joey" | |
| 1997 | After Nirvana | Lee Williams | |
| 1998 | Tipping the Velvet | Sarah Waters | A young woman in Victorian London is solicited by a man for sex and begins renting, but dressed only as a man for male clients, never letting them know she is a woman. |
| 1998 | The Queen of Hearts: A Transsexual Romance | Brad Clayton | |
| 1999 | Assuming the Position: A Memoir of Hustling | Rick Whitaker | |
| 1999 | Suburban Hustler: Stories of a Hi-Tech Callboy | Aaron Lawrence | |
| 2000 | Sarah | JT LeRoy | Pseudo-autobiographical story of a boy hustler whose mother was a truckstop prostitute. The author was revealed to be a fictional creation in 2006. |
| 2001 | A Thousand and One Night Stands: The Life of Jon Vincent | H. A. Carson | |
| 2001 | Can't Buy Me Love | Chris Kenry | Young man drifts into the world of escorting with humorous results. |
| 2002 | Sex Workers As Virtual Boyfriends | Joseph Itiel | |
| 2002 | Chicken: Self-Portrait of a Young Man for Rent | David Henry Sterry | |
| 2003 | Escapades of a Gay Traveler: Sexual, Cultural, and Spiritual Encounters | Joseph Itiel | |
| 2004 | The Romanian: Story of an Obsession | Bruce Benderson | |
| 2005 | Setting the Lawn on Fire: A Novel | Mack Friedman | |
| 2006 | Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins | Rupert Everett | Touches briefly on his past as a rent boy. |
| 2008 | Shuck | Daniel Allen Cox | Fictionalized memoir of a New York City hustler who dreams of becoming a writer. |
| 2008 | Murder Most Fab | Julian Clary | Main character Johnny started life out as a high-class gigolo. |
| 2016 | What Belongs to You | Garth Greenwell | Details the ethically ambiguous relations and transactions between Greenwell's unnamed protagonist and a young Bulgarian hustler, Mitko. |

## In theater

| Year | Title | Author | Character | Originated by | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1940 | Pal Joey | Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, John O'Hara | | | |
| 1964 | Entertaining Mr Sloane | Joe Orton | Mr Sloane | Dudley Sutton | |
| 1965 | Balm in Gilead | Lanford Wilson | Franny Rake | | Franny is a transvestite prostitute. |
| 1968 | The Boys in the Band | Mart Crowley | "Cowboy" | Robert La Tourneaux | La Tourneaux reprised the role in the 1970 film version. |
| 2005 | Trafficking in Broken Hearts | Edwin Sanchez | | | |

## In cinema

### Films with a hustler as a main character

| Year | Title | Country | Director | Character | Actor | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1961 | The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone | United Kingdom | José Quintero | Paolo di Leo | Warren Beatty | Karen Stone is introduced to a young Italian man, Paolo (Warren Beatty), who is actually a highly paid professional gigolo. Karen and Paolo begin an affair, but it soon becomes obvious that Paolo is in it only for personal gain. |
| 1961 | Breakfast at Tiffany's | United States | Blake Edwards | Paul "Fred" Varjak | George Peppard | Varjak is maintained by a rich woman, Mrs. Failenson, who leaves him $300 after every sexual encounter. After falling in love with Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn), Varjak cuts off the relationship. Failenson offers $1000 for a "paid vacation with your girl" and cynically suggests that a union (of gigolos) could "get all the fringe benefits" – but Varjak persists in giving up this way of life. |
| 1965 | My Hustler | United States | Andy Warhol Chuck Wein | Paul | Paul America | IMDb |
| 1968 | Flesh | United States | Paul Morrissey | Joe | Joe Dallesandro | Dallesandro hustles to buy drugs for himself and his wife. |
| 1969 | Entertaining Mr Sloane | UK | Douglas Hickox | Mr Sloane | Peter McEnery | Adapted from the play by Joe Orton. |
| 1969 | Midnight Cowboy | United States | John Schlesinger | Joe Buck | Jon Voight | Hustler Buck forms an unlikely friendship with junky Rico "Ratso" Rizzo. Academy Award winner for Best Picture. |
| 1970 | The Boys in the Band | United States | William Friedkin | "Cowboy" | Robert La Tourneaux | Featured in rejected ads for the film under the tagline: "Today is Harold's birthday. This is his present." |
| 1978 | Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo (Just a Gigolo) | West Germany | David Hemmings | Paul Ambrosius von Przygodski | David Bowie | An aristocratic Prussian officer returns from World War I to find the world he once knew gone. To make ends meet, he becomes a gigolo. The film was panned by critics and viewers alike. IMDb |
| 1978 | El Lugar Sin Limites | Mexico | Arturo Ripstein | Manuela | Roberto Cobo | IMDb |
| 1978 | El Diputado (The Deputy) | Spain | Eloy de la Iglesia | | | Teenage hustler used by the secret police for blackmail falls for the victim. IMDb |
| 1980 | American Gigolo | United States | Paul Schrader | Julian Kaye | Richard Gere | High-class gigolo is framed for murder. |
| 1982 | Forty Deuce | United States | Paul Morrissey | | Kevin Bacon | Conniving hustler Bacon (who won an Obie for the original 1981 off-off Broadway production) tries to cover-up the overdose death of another kid. IMDb |
| 1983 | L'homme blessé (The Wounded Man) | France | Patrice Chéreau | Henri | Jean-Hugues Anglade | Winner of a César Award for Best Direction. IMDb |
| 1983 | Un ragazzo come tanti (A boy like many others) | Italy | Gianni Minello | | | IMDb |
| 1987 | Revolutions Happen Like Refrains in a Song | Philippines | Nick Deocampo | | | IMDb |
| 1987 | Less than Zero | United States | | Julian | Robert Downey, Jr. | A young man resorts to performing sexual favors for affluent gay men in order to fund his heroin addiction. |
| 1988 | The Everlasting Secret Family | Australia | Michael Thornhill | | Mark Lee | Homosexuality and prostitution amidst a secret brotherhood. IMDb |
| 1988 | Macho Dancer | Philippines | Lino Brocka | Pol Noel | | Macho dancers in Manila. |
| 1988 | Cop | United States | James B. Harris | | | Based on the novel by James Ellroy. IMDb |
| 1989 | Loverboy | United States | Joan Micklin Silver | Randy Bodek | Patrick Dempsey | Pizza boy becomes an escort. IMDb |
| 1990 | Via Appia | Germany | Jochen Hick | | | IMDb |
| 1991 | My Own Private Idaho | United States | Gus Van Sant | Mike Waters Scott Favor | River Phoenix Keanu Reeves | |
| 1991 | J'embrasse pas (I don't kiss) | France | André Téchiné | | Manuel Blanc | A boy from the provinces ends up as a hustler in Paris. |
| 1991 | Where the Day Takes You | United States | Marc Rocco | | Balthazar Getty | A young man living on the streets finds temporary refuge with a client. |
| 1992 | Film (Fill 'em) | Canada | Sky Gilbert | | | Story of a male hustler and his roommate. IMDb |
| 1992 | Street Kid (Gossenkind) | Germany | Peter Kern | Axel Glitter | Max Kellermann | A young hustler in Düsseldorf. IMDb |
| 1992 | Being at Home with Claude | Canada | Jean Beaudin | Him (Yves) | Roy Dupuis | IMDb |
| 1992 | The Living End | United States | Gregg Araki | Luke | Mike Dytri | HIV+ street hustler. |
| 1992 | Die Blaue Stunde (The Blue Hour) | Germany Switzerland | Marcel Gisler | Theo | Andreas Herder | IMDb |
| 1993 | Smukke dreng (Pretty Boy) | Denmark | Carsten Sønder | | | IMDb |
| 1993 | Hatachi no binetsu (Slight Fever of a 20-Year-Old) | Japan | Ryosuke Hasiguchi | | | One teenage hustler in love with another. |
| 1994 | Post Cards from America | UK | Steve McLean | | | Three chapters in David Wojnarowicz's life. IMDb |
| 1994 | Super 8½ | Canada | Bruce LaBruce | | | Semi-autobiographical. |
| 1994 | Sibak (Midnight Dancers) | Philippines | Mel Chionglo | | | Three brothers in Manila, working as "Macho Dancers" in a gay bar. IMDb |
| 1995 | The Basketball Diaries | United States | Scott Kalvert | | Leonardo DiCaprio Mark Wahlberg | Based on the book by Jim Carroll. |
| 1995 | Dupe Od Mramora (Marble Ass) | Serbia | Zelimir Zilnik | | | Transvestite prostitutes in Serbia. IMDb |
| 1995 | Tattoo Boy | United States | | Arizona Sam | Amanda Tirey C.J. Barkus | IMDb |
| 1996 | The Toilers and the Wayfarers | United States | Keith Froelich | | Matt Klemp Andrew Woodhouse | Runaway hustlers in Minneapolis. IMDb |
| 1996 | Hustler White | United States | Rick Castro Bruce LaBruce | Monti | Tony Ward | |
| 1996 | The Unveiling | United States | Rodney Evans | | | IMDb |
| 1996 | "Tapin du soir", included in L'Amour est à réinventer | France | Anne Fontaine | | | One of ten collected short films about life in France in the time of AIDS. |
| 1996 | Skin & Bone | United States | Everett Lewis | Harry Billy Dean | B. Wyatt Garret Scullin Alan Boyce | Three Los Angeles hustlers in different stages of their careers. |
| 1996 | johns | United States | Scott Silvers | Donner John | Lukas Haas David Arquette | |
| 1997 | Private Shows | United States | Blaine Hopkins Stephen Winter | | | IMDb |
| 1997 | Mandragora | Czechoslovakia | Wiktor Grodecki | Marek | Miroslav Caslavka | IMDb |
| 1997 | A River Made to Drown In | United States | James Meredino | | Michael Imperioli James Duval | |
| 1997 | Star Maps | United States | Miguel Arteta | Carlos Amado | Douglas Spain | IMDb |
| 1998 | From the Edge of the City (Apo tin akri tis polis) | Greece | Constantine Giannaris | | | IMDb |
| 1998 | Hard | United States | John Huckert | | | IMDb |
| 1998 | In the Flesh | US | Ben Taylor | Oliver Beck | Dane Ritter | |
| 1998 | L'École de la Chair | France | Benoît Jacquot | Quentin | Vincent Martinez | IMDb |
| 1999 | Speedway Junky | United States | Nickolas Perry | Johnny | Jesse Bradford | A young man with dreams of becoming a stock car racer drifts into the world of prostitution in Las Vegas. |
| 1999 | Mauvaise passe | France | Michel Blanc | Pierre | Daniel Auteuil | Pierre (Daniel Auteuil) leaves his family and flees to London to work on a novel. There he meets Tom (Stuart Townsend), a male escort, who leads Pierre into his underground world of sex and money. |
| 2000 | Km. 0 | Spain | | Miguel | Jesús Cabrero | A gigolo who services female clients. |
| 2000 | Nincsen nekem vágyam semmi (This I Wish and Nothing More) | Hungary | Kornél Mundruczó | Brúnó Ringó | Ervin Nagy Roland Rába | Closted bisexual Brúnó unknown by his girlfriend works as a male prostitute for male clients with her homosexual brother, Ringó. |
| 2000 | L.I.E. | US | Michael Cuesta | Gary | Paul Dano Billy Kay | A Long Island teenager discovers his best friend (Kay) is a hustler. |
| 2001 | Circuit | United States | Dirk Shafer | Hector | Andre Khabbazi | A hustler who's terrified of growing old. |
| 2001 | Jet Boy | Canada | Dave Schultz | | Branden Nadon | A teenage hustler finds a father figure who does not want to exploit him. |
| 2001 | Vagón fumador (Smokers Only) | Argentina | Verónica Chen | Leonardo Brzezicki | Andrés | A suicidal woman and a male prostitute fall in love. IMDb |
| 2002 | AKA | UK | Duncan Roy | Benjamin | Peter Youngblood Hills | |
| 2002 | Sonny | United States | Nicolas Cage | Sonny | James Franco | Raised by his mother to be a gigolo. IMDb |
| 2003 | Mr. Smith Gets a Hustler | United States | Ian McCrudden | | | IMDb |
| 2003 | The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone | United States, Ireland | Robert Allan Ackerman | Paolo di Leo | Olivier Martinez | It was a TV film and remake of the 1961 film of the same name. |
| 2003 | 200 American | United States | Richard LeMay | | | New York businessman falls for Australian hustler. IMDb |
| 2003 | Un fils (A son) | France | Amal Bedjaoui | | | North-African hustler in France. IMDb |
| 2003 | Gan (Garden) | Israel | Ruthie Shatz Adi Barash | | | Two young gay prostitutes in Tel Aviv. IMDb |
| 2003 | Twist | | | Dodge | Nick Stahl | Gay-themed re-telling of Dickens' Oliver Twist. |
| 2003 | Bulgarian Lovers (Los Novios búlgaros) | Spain | Eloy de la Iglesia | Kyril | Dritan Biba | IMDb |
| 2004 | Yeladim Tovim (Good Boy) | Israel | Yair Hochner | Menni Tal | Daniel Efrat Yuval Raz | Two Tel Aviv rent boys. IMDb |
| 2004 | Eighteen | Canada | Richard Bell | | | IMDb |
| 2004 | Trois 3: The Escort | United States | Sylvain White | Trenton "Trent" Meyer | Brian White | Hip-hop promoter becomes an escort after getting into debt with a gangster. |
| 2004 | Ethan Mao | Hong Kong | Quentin Lee | Ethan Mao, Remigio | Jun Hee Lee, Jerry Hernandez | An Asian gay teen is kicked out of his house and forced to become a hustler for money. Soon, he meets Remigio, a teen hustler and drug dealer, and the two become friends. |
| 2004 | Sugar | Canada | John Palmer | Butch | Brendan Fehr | Coming of age story. |
| 2004 | Mysterious Skin | United States | Gregg Araki | Neil McCormick | Joseph Gordon-Levitt | Based on Scott Heim's book. |
| 2004 | My Hustler Boyfriend | | Peter Pizzi | | | Short included in video program at Newfest 2005. IMDb |
| 2005 | Dirty Little Sins | United States | | | | |
| 2005 | Boy Wonder | United States | Kery Isabel Ramierez | Luis | | Color video short (12 min) about a man living a double life as "straight male" provider and transvestite prostitute. Included in MIX NYC November 2006. |
| 2005 | The Wedding Date | United States | Claire Kilner | Nick Mercer | Dermot Mulroney | Woman hires male escort to pose as her boyfriend. |
| 2005 | Transamerica | United States | Duncan Tucker | Toby Wilkins | Kevin Zegers | Pre-operative M2F transsexual discovers she has a son (Zegers) who is hustling in New York. |
| 2005 | Breakfast on Pluto | UK | Neil Jordan | | Cillian Murphy | Based on the novel by Patrick McCabe. Transvestite flees Ireland for London during the 1970s and becomes a prostitute. |
| 2006 | Boy Culture | United States | Q. Allan Brocka | | | Based on the novel. |
| 2006 | Can't Buy Me Love | United States | Todd Wilson | | | Short film from Newfest 2006. IMDb |
| 2006 | In The Blood | United States | Lou Peterson | | | Gay supernatural thriller featuring a young man dating a Latino hustler. IMDb |
| 2006 | Boys Briefs 4 | United States | | | | Six short films about guys who hustle: Boy (Welby Ings); Gigolo (Bastian Schweitzer); Build (Greg Atkins); Into the Night (Tony Krawitz); Gold (Armen Kazazian); Rock Bottom (Mary Feuer). review |
| 2006 | Happy Hookers | India | Ashish Sawhny | | | The lives of three male sex workers in India. Short film from Newfest 2007. |
| 2006 | Into It | United States | Jeff Maccubbin | | | Two hustlers dealing with drugs and relationships. Film from Newfest 2007. |
| 2007 | Before I Forget | France | Jacques Nolot | | | An aging hustler reflects on his life. IMDb |
| 2008 | Strictly Sexual | United States | Joel Viertel | | | Two women hire two unemployed construction workers as sex slaves. |
| 2008 | Cliente (A French Gigolo; The Client) | France | Josiane Balasko | Patrick/Marco | Eric Caravaca | A female television anchor falls in love with an internet escort. IMDb |
| 2009 | Lucky Bastard | United States | Everett Lewis | Denny | Dale Dymkoski | Denny is a hustler and meth addict who exploits a man who's fallen in love with him. Lucky Bastard was an Official Selection at Outfest 2009. |
| 2009 | Complices (Accomplices) | France | Frédéric Mermoud | Vincent Bouvier | Cyril Descours | Two detectives try to solve Victor's murder. Victor appears only in flashbacks. |
| 2010 | Strapped | United States | Joseph Graham (director) | Hustler | Ben Bonenfant | A nameless hustler encounters a series of gay men as he searches for the exit to a client's apartment building. |
| 2013 | Aleksandr's Price | United States | Pau Masó | Aleksandr Ivanov | Pau Masó | A boy named Aleksandr becomes a prostitute in NY, after the death of his mother. IMDb |
| 2016 | Romantic Noy (Not Romantic) | West Bengal, India | Rajib Chowdhury | Shekhar | Shaheb Bhattacharya | A boy named Shekhar becomes a prostitute in Kolkata and he entertains women with his body. At a stage he becomes addicted in drugs. |
| 2022 | Good Luck to You, Leo Grande | United States | Sophie Hyde | Leo Grande | Daryl McCormack | Retired widow Nancy Stokes (Emma Thompson) hires a good-looking young sex worker called Leo Grande, in the hope of enjoying a night of pleasure and self-discovery after an unfulfilling married life. |

### Other films that include hustlers

* Advise & Consent (United States: 1962, by Otto Preminger) – Ray Shaff, a former associate of Senator Brigham Anderson, now supports himself as a hustler in New York City.
* The Cheat (la Triche) (France: 1984, by Yannick Bellon with Victor Lanoux and Xavier Deluc)
* JFK (United States: 1991, by Oliver Stone) – Kevin Bacon plays a gay hustler associated with Oswald
* By The Dawn's Early Light (Denmark: 1993, by Knud Vesterskov, narrated by David Wojnarowicz)
* L.A. Confidential (United States: 1997, by Curtis Hanson) – includes a subplot with a young would-be actor, played by Simon Baker, who agrees to sleep with the D.A. for cash, but ends up with his throat cut
* Boogie Nights (United States: 1997, by Paul Thomas Anderson, with Mark Wahlberg and Burt Reynolds)
* Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (United States: 1997, by Clint Eastwood, with Kevin Spacey; Jude Law and John Cusack) – based on John Berendt's best-selling book, a prominent Savannah citizen (Spacey) shoots to death his lover
* Happy Together (Hong Kong: 1997, by Wong Kar-wai, with Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai; in Mardarin, Cantonese and Spanish) – the brash and irresponsible Ho Po-Wing (Chang) makes his money from the street
* Artificial Intelligence: A.I. (United States: 2001, by Steven Spielberg, with Haley Joel Osment and Jude Law)
* Vers le sud (Heading South) (France: 2005, by Laurent Cantet)
* A Single Man (US: 2010, Tom Ford)

### Documentary films

| Year | Title | Country | Director | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1967 | Portrait of Jason | US | Shirley Clarke | Interview with African-American gay hustler Jason Holliday. |
| 1984 | Streetwise | US | Martin Bell | Seattle street boys struggle to get along without having to sell themselves for sex. |
| 1992 | Maybe I Can Give You Sex? Part I | Philippines Germany | Rune Layumas Jurgen Bruning | Examine gender roles in the Philippines and the lives of macho dancers, bar boys, and their customers. |
| 1992 | Maybe I Can Give You Sex? Part II | Philippines Germany | Rune Layumas | |
| 1992 | A Kind of Family | Canada | Andrew Koster | Profile of the relationship of a gay city councilman and his straight, street-kid, hustler, drug-abusing, HIV+ foster son. |
| 1993 | Boys From Brazil | Brazil | John-Paul Davidson | Brazilian transvestite prostitutes. |
| 1994 | Not Angels But Angels | Czechoslovakia | Wiktor Grodecki | About prostitution in Prague. |
| 1996 | Body Without Soul | Czechoslovakia | Wiktor Grodecki | Teenage guys who prostitute in Prague. |
| 2000 | 101 Rent Boys | US | Fenton Bailey Randy Barbato | Interviews with hustlers who work Santa Monica Boulevard. |
| 2006 | Hooks to the Left | US | Todd Verow | Shot on a cell-phone camera, narrated journal of a New York hustler named Nail. Short film (75 min) from Newfest 2007. |
| 2009 | Men for Sale | Canada | Rodrigue Jean | Film about male prostitutes in Montreal, Quebec. |

## On television

The following television programs feature a hustler as a main character:

| Year | Title | Network | Character | Actor | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1977 | Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn | ABC | Alexander | Leigh McCloskey | Sequel to Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway. |
| 1986 | The Children of Times Square | | Eric Roberts | Brandon Douglas | A teenage boy runs away to New York City and is immediately recruited by other boys for a man who wants him for sex. He escapes only to end up working for a drug dealer. |
| 1993 | Dafydd | BBC | | | Welsh boy/hustler goes to Amsterdam and meets a music teacher. |
| 1997 | Band of Gold | ITV | Cherrie/Carl | Daniel Edwards | Turned to hustling to pay for his sex reassignment surgery. He was working as a cross dresser during his stint in the series. |
| 2000–2005 | Queer as Folk | Showtime | James "Hunter" Montgomery | Harris Allan | Pushed into hustling by his mother; adopted by Michael Novotny and Ben Bruchner. |
| 2001–2008 | Trailer Park Boys | Showcase | Randy | Patrick Roach | The character on the hit Canadian mockumentary television show is an ex-prostitute. |
| 2005–2006 | Desperate Housewives | ABC | Andrew Van de Kamp | Shawn Pyfrom | Survived on the streets as a hustler after being thrown out of his house by his mother Bree. |
| 2006–2009 | Dante's Cove | here! | Kevin | Gregory Michael | Confessed to his boyfriend that he sometimes used to accept money for sex. |
| 2009– | Hung | HBO | Ray Drecker | Thomas Jane | An unhappy and financially strapped history teacher and basketball coach, who decides to turn his large penis into an opportunity to make money. |
| 2011— | Gigolos | Showtime | | | Reality television series following the lives of five male escorts who service female clients in Las Vegas. |
| 2005—2012 | The Closer | TNT | Rusty Beck | Graham Patrick Martin | The character first appeared in 2012. He survived on the streets as a hustler after his mother disappeared. Rusty later became a main character on the spin-off series Major Crimes. |
| 2011—2019 | Game of Thrones | HBO | Olyvar | Will Tudor | Male prostitute employed by Littlefinger, used to spy on noblemen to gain favour with richer nobility / royalty. |
| 2009—2015 | Glee | Fox | Brody Weston | Dean Geyer | Love interest of Rachel Barry (Lea Michele), whom she breaks up with upon learning he supports himself as a gigolo. |
| 2013—2016 | Masters of Sex | Showtime | Dale | Finn Wittrock | Male prostitute involved with Barton Scully (Beau Bridges), a closeted, married university official. |
| 2013—2019 | Silicon Valley | HBO | Donald "Jared" Dunn | Zach Woods | One of the main protagonists, who used to work as a male prostitute after graduating from college. |
| 2019—2021 | Shrill | Hulu | Ruthie | Patti Harrison | Trans woman working with Annie (Aidy Bryant), who is implied to have worked as a prostitute before her full transition, stating that there were various straight and gay men alike who "liked hitting that." |
| 2013— | Brooklyn Nine-Nine | Fox (2013-2018) NBC (2019-present) | Bill Hummertrout | Winston Story | Gigolo hired by Detective Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) for several Halloween Heists as a distraction due to his resemblance to Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio). |

## In photography

The following photographers, in their work, frequently use the image of the male prostitute:

* Larry Clark
* Terry Richardson
* Nan Goldin
* Wolfgang Tillmans
* Jack Pierson
* Wilhelm von Gloeden
* Philip-Lorca diCorcia
