It’s the end of “awards season,” but with the Oscars and the Grammys all finished, what does that leave us with?
How about the Hookies?
Organized by escort website rentboy.com, the Hookies (link NSFW) is just like any other awards show, with hosts (Alec Mapa), presenters (including Village Voice queen Michael Musto) and various categories. The only difference is that the nominees are all professionals who work in the sex trade.
Sex workers — whether they be escorts, working in porn, street-level or wherever — are often maligned by the very society that seeks out their services. It’s kind of nice to see something that celebrates some of the individuals who work in this trade. The scope of the awards is limited — it is geared toward men who work/have sex with men — but it’s a very public start.
I know a few Haligonian sex workers who deserve awards. The I Put My Kid Through School Award. The Advocacy Without Judgment Award. Let me know when the nominations for those are coming out.
Limitations aside, the one thing I enjoy the most about this event is the inclusion of people who work in the porn industry. The fact that many “pornstars” work as escorts, or in various forms of the sex trade, is rarely discussed openly, working as a bit of an open secret within the sex trade. The nominees include individuals such as Kennedy Carter, and there is even a Best Pornstar Escort category.
So who will win for Best Newcomer, Best Top or the penultimate Mr International Escort 2012? It all goes down (or up?) on March 23 in New York City.
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