“Masc traveled couple lookin” 4 young n hot college boi to join our fun and exciting lives, compen$ation provided.”
A house boy. Pretty much a live-in, paid-for companion to older “silver foxes” looking to shake things up. In greater and greater numbers, however, young gays facing rising tuition costs are increasingly turning to an, um, alternative way to make money–just find a sugar daddy. Websites like Craigslist and apps such as Grindr and Adam4Adam are full of requests for “sugar babies” (or, as some would term it, glorified prostitution) and the ease with which they present the opportunities make it that much more alluring to more and more college kids. (read more here).
From what I can find with some basic sleuthing, such a job usually entails some sort of domination/submission relationship, requests for nudity and/or costume play, and the most confusing to me: cleaning. What college kid has the burning desire to submit to cleaning anything in the nude? Have you seen a dorm room lately?
In a world of ever-rising tuition/cost of living/unemployment, however, this “glorified prostitution” is understandably becoming a more attractive option for a lot of young gay men. Having run out of viable options, more and more of our peers are turning to sugar daddies for financial security, hustling on Craigslist and grindr, rather than the streets, in search of the opportunity to fulfill odd requests by men older than their fathers. Considering that gay teens are statistically more likely than their straight counterparts to leave home at a young age, whether by choice or forced out by their parents, and that many do so without finishing high school, the growth of the houseboy phenomenon is especially alarming. In a brutal job market, those members of our community that are marginalized by society are disproportionately affected, and are left with fewer choices in their quest for survival. Clearly, today”s harsh economy is affecting our community in more (and more disturbing) ways than many of us are aware of.
Below, a short film on the houseboy phenomenon: