The world's oldest profession is not for women only. The point is made clearly in the Cinemax Reel Life documentary "101 Rent Boys," which debuted Aug. 28 and repeats Sept. 7 and 20.
"I'm 33 years old and I'm still making money off my body. ... I dress like a businessman because that's what you are, you're dealing with the public. ... Don't get me wrong, I mean, anybody that's working Santa Monica, y'know, shouldn't be out there, but sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do."
So says Rent Boy #54, who's working the streets on the Santa Monica Strip as a male prostitute a hustler to support his wife and two kids.
Filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato interviewed 101 hustlers, also known as "rent boys," about what their lives are like and what drives them. In motels and apartments, they asked the "boys" frank questions: What's a turn-off? What's a turn-on? Is love ever any part of it? What's your future going to be like?
They paid their subjects $50, the going rate on the street, for talking about themselves in front of a camera.
They all sell their bodies, and they're all different, but there is a common theme to what they say. Hustlers and their tricks alike need to feel they're loved, even if it's only for an hour. And even if it's for cash.
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