Telecommunications impacts on the structure and organisation of the male sex industry

Abstract

The growth in sex as a commodity has been driven by recent economic, demographic, ideological and technological changes and a much broader tolerance towards the expression of sexualities, at least in Western countries (Ward and Aral 2006). There is increasing attention to the fact that global increases in sex work occur not only among female sex workers, but also among cohorts of male sex workers (MSW), and that both males and females can be clients of the industry. Despite this, current research continues to focus predominately on female sex workers, and specifically on street sex workers, even though there are large numbers of MSW and significant changes in the geography of sex work from "outdoors" to "indoors".