Homeless boys look out at the Strait of Gibraltar near the port in Tangier October 10, 2009. More than 10,000 homeless minors live on the streets of Morocco according to the Al Jaima association, an association that works with street kids. Most of them ar
Homeless boys look out at the Strait of Gibraltar near the port in Tangier October 10, 2009. More than 10,000 homeless minors live on the streets of Morocco according to the Al Jaima association, an association that works with street kids. Most of them are victims of the drugs and the prostitution. Reuters/Rafael Marchante
Homeless boys look out at the Strait of Gibraltar near the port in Tangier October 10, 2009. More than 10,000 homeless minors live on the streets of Morocco according to the Al Jaima association, an association that works with street kids. Most of them are victims of the drugs and the prostitution. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante (MOROCCO SOCIETY)

Information technology has also benefitted male sex trade workers in Australia. Most of them get clients from online dating sites, unlike some of their female counterparts who still walk the streets to find customers.

By linking directly with their clients, the male gigolos enjoy the bulk of the income they earn by engaging in sex with female and gay customers without the need to provide a substantial part of their fee to owners of brothels, according to newly released book titled Male Sex Work and Society.

YouTube/Anthony Clark

The Internet also allowed the Aussie sex trade workers - usually between the ages 20 and 30 - to have international careers by offering their services, complete with naked photos, online to foreigners willing to shoulder their plane fares, accommodations and pay handsome fees in exchange for nights of pleasure.

The book also reveals that male sex trade workers don't have only gay men as clients. A growing number of their customers are women - bored and rich female executives who are often lonely and without partners on Saturday nights.

One agency, the Melbourne-based Aphrodisiac Male Escorts, focuses on "discerning professional women aged between 40 and 60." The agency is also run by two females who are childhood friends and quit their day jobs to run the agency which charges clients $350 an hour rate for a social event and no sex involved and $500 if there is sex involved.

So how would you know if the Aussie dude you met at the mall or party offers sex services for a fee? The book says that based on the online profiles of the sex trade workers, most of them are young, have well-built bodies, handsome faces, usually brown hair and brown eyes, and often go by the name Jake.

Unlike other books about sex trade workers which often focus on crimes and sexually transmitted diseases usually associated with the flesh trade, it also tackled their daily lives, negative view of them by society and gay communities and how technology has benefited the flesh trade in Australia.