Wandering around the internet and talking to so many of my friends, I've discovered that being an escort "rent boy" isn't really a taboo anymore, and you're either trying to get a piece of meat, or trying to get paid for your meat. It's not just young waif like lads doing it either, its muscle go go boys, klub kids and their older admirers all in to offer something for everybody. Not everybody likes cute young boys, and so the market has opened up in QX, Boyz even Gay Times for the publishers to cash in on selling real sex.

We speak to Matt, a young lad from London who tells us more about being an escort and being paid by the hour for his time. We've already been talking for a while, so we'll launch straight in...

Ben: When was the first time you were paid for sex?

Matt: Um, when I was 19, in London. I worked in one of the popular bars in Soho. And, just kind of a natural thing there, the- your customers there asked you to go home with them. And, sex is always expected. So they usually give you a hundred pounds, two hundred pounds, and you go home for a couple of hours and do whatever. That's how I got kind of into escorting. Um, I had a lover at the time and me and him both did it. It was kind of hard to make it on five pounds an hour. So, couldn't even afford flat here on five pounds an hour.

Ben: Do you have a boyfriend now?

Matt: No. Um, the escorting and the drugs and everything else messed it up. Um, we got into speed and speed kind of changes people. It makes it so it's the most important thing in the world, and so he went for someone that could give him more speed. Someone cuter. So, um, and the escorting gets real tedious trying to have a relationship, because you go to the bars and, um, the guys that hit on you, they don't want you to have a lover. So if you do, then they tend to kind of cast the other one out. They don't want him in the bar. They don't want him to talk to you or nothing. So, it's kind of hard to sit there and watch your lover, you know, get fondled or handled by someone else. That just happened like two weeks ago.

Ben: Do you think you're ever going to be able to have a relationship while you're escorting?

Matt: No. It's kind of impossible. The only people you can really date are other escorts and most of the other escorts you can't trust them. I mean, they'll steal from you or rob from you or do whatever they have to to get ahead. And, anybody's that's not an escort, doesn't want to talk to you because you're a escort. Um, the whole gay world, I mean, they go and hire the escorts and they get them, but when they're not paying for it, they don't want to talk to you.

Ben: Did you every enjoy the sex with your clients?

Matt: Yeah, the first two weeks. Then you realise it's not glamorous and it's not sexual or not really anything but guys wanting someone to buy. And, when they buy you, they expect - they expect you to - they can do whatever they want. And, it's just, I don't know, some people are nice, but the only nice ones, I mean, on appointments are the really, the really old fat ones. And, they're probably the nicest people in the world, but, you know, walking down the street with one of them makes you look really bad in everybody else's eyes, but they're probably the nicest people in the world. The young ones and, um, the married ones they treat you like a prostitute you know. And, they don't really even ask you to do things, they just do whatever they want. And, they expect you to just take it.

Ben: Are there things you won't do with clients? Any rules?

Matt: You set them with each client. Um, it kind of depends on the client. Depends on how much money they're going to pay and, um, and it depends on how bad you need money. What they want to do, um, most of the time they set the ground rules. I mean, what they expect and what they- they want, and then you tell how much. So kind of -- They set the ground rules and if you can live by it you do it, and if you can't then you say no way. But most the time, I mean, I don't care what anybody says, you need the money bad enough you're going to do it. So, um, ground rules are nice, but they tend to get breached a little bit, you know, appointments they'll say whatever they want, I mean, just to get you, you know, to the hotel or whatever and then they kind of go about what they want, but most of them respect them pretty well.

Ben: Do you practice safe sex?

Matt: I've never let a client fuck me without a condom. I mean the condom has broken a few times, but that happens from time to time anyway. You stop and start again. Some guys try to shove it in without a condom, but you just push them back and you know if they're wearing one or not.

Stay Safe:

1. Always call and get to know your clients if possible. If anything seems even the slightest bit strange, it more than likely is. Stay away!
2. Ask for the money upfront, and discuss exactly what you will and won't do with your client. If he changes his mind throughout, sit and talk about it, and ask for more money if you're willing to do what he asks.
3. Always use a condom if you're fucking, or being fucked. This isn't an option, not only to protect yourself from HIV/AIDS but other diseases which could stop you working.
4. If possible, tell a friend where you're going, even if you don't tell them why you're going, let them know when you'll be back and how they can contact you.
5. If you're not happy with the situation you're in when you get to the clients place, leave.

Got a problem or in need of some advice? Email us: theboys@puffta.co.uk