A Consumer's Guide to Male Hustlers

A Consumer’s Guide to Male Hustlers gives you exciting insight into all you ever wanted to know about hustlers but were too embarrassed to ask. You’ll find answers to questions such as where and how to find hustlers, how much to pay them, and how to make it an experience that is satisfying to both parties. Author Joseph Itiel shares with readers his personal experiences and observations, describing his dealings with hustlers, over a period of about 35 years, in many different countries.

Throughout A Consumer’s Guide to Male Hustlers, Itiel narrates personal anecdotes, lending an intimate dimension to his general observations. He describes the hustler scene in the United States and abroad, dispelling many erroneous notions about hustlers by addressing such topics as:

• under what circumstances sex-for-money arrangements are exploitative (a comparison of male hustlers and female prostitutes)
• emotional involvement and control between clients and hustlers
• the notion that hustlers are only for the wealthy
• whether or not hustlers are likely carriers of sexually transmitted diseases
• whether or not it is dangerous to pick up hustlers
• why hustlers hustle
• the differences between street hustlers, models (or escorts), and masseurs
• legal issues associated with hustling
• regular sessions with hustlers as an emotional and libidinal sedative

  It is the contention of the author that hustlers are an under-used resource in the gay community, especially valuable to those with a vigorous sex appetite but no steady partner. This opportunity is often shunned because potential clients feel guilty about hiring hustlers. The author hopes that by reading this book, you will come to understand that the hustler experience, meeting with hustlers regularly, can be mutually exciting and satisfying for both parties.

A Consumer’s Guide to Male Hustlers gives you exciting insight into all you ever wanted to know about hustlers but were too embarrassed to ask. You’ll find answers to questions such as where and how to find hustlers, how much to pay them, and how to make it an experience that is satisfying to both parties. Author Joseph Itiel shares with readers his personal experiences and observations, describing his dealings with hustlers, over a period of about 35 years, in many different countries.

Throughout A Consumer’s Guide to Male Hustlers, Itiel narrates personal anecdotes, lending an intimate dimension to his general observations. He describes the hustler scene in the United States and abroad, dispelling many erroneous notions about hustlers by addressing such topics as:

• under what circumstances sex-for-money arrangements are exploitative (a comparison of male hustlers and female prostitutes)
  
• emotional involvement and control between clients and hustlers
  
• the notion that hustlers are only for the wealthy
  
• whether or not hustlers are likely carriers of sexually transmitted diseases
  
• whether or not it is dangerous to pick up hustlers
  
• why hustlers hustle
  
• the differences between street hustlers, models (or escorts), and masseurs
  
• legal issues associated with hustling
  
• regular sessions with hustlers as an emotional and libidinal sedative

  It is the contention of the author that hustlers are an under-used resource in the gay community, especially valuable to those with a vigorous sex appetite but no steady partner. This opportunity is often shunned because potential clients feel guilty about hiring hustlers. The author hopes that by reading this book, you will come to understand that the hustler experience, meeting with hustlers regularly, can be mutually exciting and satisfying for both parties.

Publishers Weekly

Despite the sweeping subtitle, this case study focuses narrowly on male prostitution in Lila's house, a squalid brothel in a lower-middle-class quarter of San Jose, Costa Rica, where the prostitutes are cacheros--young men who have sex with older men for money. Two gay-health advocates spent six months observing and interviewing 25 workers from the brothel, who were paid for participating. They found that how cacheros talk about sex contradicts their sexual behaviors. Defiantly, the cacheros disavow their supposed homosexuality and instead "compartmentalize" aspects of their sexuality to distinguish themselves from homosexuals. They ridicule gays, balk at passive sex acts that they refuse to (but probably do) perform and boast that prostitution supplies ample cash to support their families. With religious and cultural sanctions against homosexuality forever in their minds, they insist that they don't enjoy their work. All the while, they appear to get drawn deeper into it. Indeed, the well-translated and compelling transcripts of their reflections could easily support an expose of a sexual subculture in the making. Unfortunately, Schifter draws specious conclusions from a rather shallow reading of the cacheros' narratives, and his research methods are poorly elaborated. We ultimately can't tell whom the cacheros wished to distinguish themselves from: homosexuals or Schifter's interviewers. A sophomoric rehearsal of postmodern theory renders this failed case study all the more clumsy. Illustrations. (Sept.) FYI: In October, Harrington Park will publish Joseph Itiel's A Consumer's Guide to Male Hustlers, which purports to "acquaint readers who have a vigorous sexual appetite with a resource available in the gay community which is often shunned or used inappropriately." ($39.95 178p ISBN 0-7890-0596-4; $14.95 paper 1-56023-947-6)