Handsome Pay: Masculine perspectives on being rewarded in sexual transactions

Our Handsome Pay project is now complete! Watch the video above to hear about what we found out!

Among the community there is talk about the role of gender impacting experiences with sexual transactions. This project, led by a man with experience of transactional sex, soughtto explore the ability to find peers, access to support, and factors such as stigma and homophobia impacting substance use and mental health.

What did we want to know?

The research was deliberately broad and aimed to hear the experiences of men and masculine sex workers. This includes people who do not consider themselves to be sex workers, for example, people who accept rewards, and those adjacent to sex work. We are interested in a multitude of perspectives and experiences that may include discussions around support needs. We were also looking to map what support avenues exist for people who exchange sex in conventional and non-conventional ways.

Who can take part?
This research was open to the experiences of, but not exclusive to:

• Those who like to be “spoiled” or rewarded after hook-ups, gay-for-pay (including those on the ‘down low’)
• Butlers/cleaners in the buff
• Financial domination services – Fin sub and fin dom (cash pig)
• Professional masters
• House/slave boys
• Those offering sex for rent
• Those offering therapeutic sexual services for clients with specific needs
• Sugar boys/sugar babies
• Gogo dancers, strippers
• Cam models, adult content creators, porn stars, porn performers
• Professional companion, discreet companion for celebrities
• Cuckold services, paid to assist pregnancy, Sero-status services
• Escorts, rentboys, Gigalos (full service sex workers), brothel/parlour workers