saminseattle

Not sure if you still live around these parts Gman, but Palm Springs and Puerto Vallarta are super popular winter escapes from the Northwest this time of year. I know quite a few folks who've been already this season, just by coincidence. So, in addition to the various gay gatherings they always seem to be having, it could also just be the common tendency to flee the grey.

Any thoughts on whether the technique should vary between recipients who are circumcised versus uncircumcised? Genuinely curious here.

While all that’s true , the weather here in late March is likely to be overcast, drizzly, and in the 40’s to 50’s F. I’d guess it’s gray and overcast about 2/3 of the time in March. There are occasional “sunbreaks,” as we call them, where you can see the Olympics and Cascades and Mt. Rainier (“the Mountain”), etc., but if you want to do stuff outside, you should definitely bring a light rain jacket. Like DC, we have a large number of cherry trees, and they're all over the city (a former Japanese Prime Minister went to school here), but especially at the “Quad” on the University of Washington campus, and late March is typically when they’re in full bloom.

Happy Birthday Mike! You were the first person to “engage me in conversation” via PM after I joined the forum, and I have always appreciated the kindness, wisdom, and humor in your posts. I hope you have a fabulous day

I had a number of enjoyable massages from Dylan (WrldTraveledForU) when he used to visit the city, though I haven’t seen him in some time. I recall that he is quite athletic, into running and biking and whatnot. I believe he used to go by "collegestudguy," and there may be something about him in the “spa.”

I think the big ones have been mentioned, but there are also these sites: https://www.renthotangels.com/, http://www.rentboys.us, https://www.jockboyescorts.com/, http://hourboy.com/, http://www.gpscort.com/ https://jock2go.com/ Just keep in mind that these sites currently seem to have fewer advertisers, more outdated information, or both. Here are a few threads on some of these sites and their limitations: https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/unable-to-join-hourboy.125178/ https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/issues-updating-hourboy.119507/ https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/anyone-using-gpscort-com.103455/ https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/new-rentboy-type-website.116153/ https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/jocks-2-go.130001/ https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/jock2go-com.126710/ Still, I think it’s good to check in with a variety of sources from time to time. Who knows, maybe some small/new site will really take off if the main sites get too monopolistic.

I don’t know if I am one of the “popular” kids around here, but I do have more "likes" than messages, for whatever that’s worth. For me, I think it was helpful to poke around these forums for awhile (several months as I recall) before I became a member or started asking questions—to get a feel for the place, to see what kind of things led to threads being shut down or people being placed on time-out, etc. When people took my questions on tangents, I mostly went along for the ride, and if people were overly sensitive or hostile, I tried not to take the bait and avoided get into pointless shouting matches via my keyboard. I don’t ask questions or comment as much as I used to, but I still check the forum regularly, and appreciate all the helpful information it provides. While we have not always agreed, I certainly appreciate your contributions, @Tarte Gogo, and think this thread is a very good idea. *One other thought, if a newbie finds this forum valuable, he/she may consider making a donation to help keep this place running. I don’t know if that leads to more “popularity” or people taking a contributor’s questions more seriously, but I see this place as a rather unique little community, and I appreciate those who support it as they are able, as I try to do (will be sending in my annual contribution later today in fact).

In 2017, it was Erick, during his visit to Seattle, though I believe he goes by Eddie now and lives in New York: https://www.masseurfinder.com/members/erick27.shtml Just a lot of chemistry for a massage

I remain a big fan of @Andrew Maroc, although I was only able to see him twice this year. https://rent.men/AndrewMaroc I think he and Mike Gaite are the most professional and consistently, reliably excellent companions I have had the privilege of spending time with over the last few years.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I couldn’t disagree more. Personally, I loved the show, thought the writing was excellent, and could really identify with many of the story lines based on experiences I’ve had or people I’ve known. Far more realistic and less contrived than dated shows like Tales of the City or Queer As Folk. For example, I’m quite certain there has never been a place like “Babylon” in Pittsburgh, whereas the venues and scenes portrayed in Looking are genuine San Francisco. Obviously, the series is not to everyone’s tastes, but I have no hesitation in recommending it as a smart but entertaining take on contemporary gay urban life for those in the 25-45 age-range. *I do agree that the movie they made after the show was cancelled seemed rushed and the quality was not up to the same standard as the episodes in seasons 1 and 2.

I never consider PMs to be “private messages.” As @Guy Fawkes reminded us a couple of years ago, it is better to consider them “personal messages.” While they may begin as relatively private “conversations,” they do not necessarily stay that way. https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/psa-conversation-facts-of-life.107601/#post-1001935 Personally, while I acknowledge that such personal messages may be useful, I am also somewhat troubled by the lack of accountability they imply. I consider the actual review system to be the most fair and reliable system that is possible in this world, because a neutral arbiter moderates it, providing checks and balances and giving all sides their say. A personal message, while it may convey valuable information, typically reflects only one (relatively anonymous) person’s claims and perspectives, not subject to any kind of independent verification. And while I think that most people aspire to avoid descending into gossip and to remain objective and fair in their assessments, but I also suspect that this is not always the case. Just something to keep in mind.

I raised this question awhile back, but folks mostly went on tangents about Presbyterians versus Anglicans and how to best arrange bills in a wallet. https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/what-denomination-do-you-prefer.116261/ Since then, I’ve asked a number of people one-on-one, and they have uniformly expressed no preference between 20’s and 100’s (though admittedly, this is a small sample of the population). Anyway, I generally now pay with a mixture of denominations to cover all my bases

Apparently, it is possible to have an “internalized orgasm” from bottoming, based on a recent video starring our own @Lance_Navarro. https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/video-of-the-day-on-rent-men.131728/ I watched the video he referenced in this thread (purely for academic purposes of course ), and it does seem that Mr. Alan was experiencing tremendous physical pleasure from bottoming (this is especially apparent around minute 15 in the video), so it is possible with particular positions if the circumstances are right. Perhaps this should go in another thread, but I am really curious about how one might learn to be a better top, in terms of giving the bottom more physical pleasure. Any ideas on this?

I just want to point out that you guys are making a lot of assumptions. Maybe those assumptions make sense as generalizations based on your own experiences, but they are rank speculation when it comes to a specific situation with which you have no direct personal involvement. Before leaping to conclusions about what people supposedly know and don’t know, you should remember that people can only be convicted of a crime if the State proves they are guilty of a particular crime on a particular date in a particular jurisdiction. The fact—and it is a fact—that at least some RM advertisers on at least some occasions provide nonsexual companionship/nonsexual massage/nonsexual coaching services for an hourly fee, raises plenty of doubts, imho, about whether any given RM advertiser is actually engaged in criminal activity on a particular occasion. That’s why cops go to the trouble of setting up undercover stings operations…they need specific, reliable, admissible evidence of a particular crime, not just “common sense” assumptions about what people are up to. So, while I don’t claim to have any particular expertise beyond what I read on the Internet, I would say that more important than the specific “disclaimer” language in an ad, is what someone says and does with an undercover cop. If there is nothing sexual going on, then you are innocent and in a strong position to defeat any unwarranted charges. If there is something sexual going on, then you are obviously at much greater risk of being accused and convicted of a crime. To minimize this risk, you should probably be as careful in person about what you say (avoiding anything explicit or that could be interpreted as offering a sex-for-money exchange) as you are in your ad.

Nice try, but if you are talking about certified sex therapists, you are talking about licensed professionals in areas like psychology and medicine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certified_Sex_Therapist I am fairly certain that the applicable professional ethics rules would forbid them from personally participating in a sexual situation with one of their patients, at the risk of losing their license. If you are talking about someone who is more of an informal “coach,” if you will, who uses a “hands-on” approach to help clients deal with sexual hang-ups, I should think that person would still be at risk for being charged with the crime of prostitution if he accepts money in connection with any kind of sexual act. While I personally think this kind of service could be totally legitimate and genuinely therapeutic for some people, the “powers that be” would probably argue that it is still a crime. Having said that, it would be interesting to see someone use this as a defense, especially if they could put forward a particularly believable and sympathetic case.

You may have access to this site from your work computer, but your employer almost certainly has the right to access your website history at work. Something to keep in mind…

I do not think that a disclaimer is necessarily useless or ineffective. It really all depends on the particular facts of a given situation. First, remember that it is not a crime to be an escort. Providing someone nonsexual companionship for a fee is perfectly legal. Moreover, as has been discussed many times on this forum, such companionship does occur and may be more common than many people assume. http://www.companyofmen.org/threads/a-session-with-no-sex.111157/; https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/time-only.106963/#post-993783 (post 2), https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/cuddle-up-day-and-miscellaneous-mentions.120706/, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/fashion/professional-cuddling.html, https://blogs.lawyers.com/attorney/...tween-prostitution-and-escort-services-24035/. For example, many people might be skeptical that a client would pay someone $200 simply to have brunch together with no sex before or after…just to talk, and yet I know for a fact that this kind of thing does happen. Second, even assuming that many people use escorting as a cover for what is actually prostitution, that does not mean that law enforcement can simply go around arresting escorts on the assumption that they are actually sex workers. The reason cops go to the trouble of setting up stings is that they are trying to get some fairly explicit evidence of a sex-for-money-exchange in a particular case. Remember, a prosecutor may ultimately need to unanimously convince a jury of his case beyond a reasonable doubt, which can be a tough standard to meet if there is any ambiguity or gap in the evidence. So, for example, if an undercover police officer invites an advertiser to a hotel and gets him to say, “yes, I will fuck you for $200,” then the fact that his ad said, “I do not accept money for sexual acts” would not be particularly helpful to him. If the disclaimer is obviously not true, it won't do the advertiser any good. On the other hand, if the advertiser refuses to get dragged into that kind of talk and goes back to the language in his ad that he does not accept money for sexual acts and any fee will be for his time only, I should think that without more evidence, this would be a much harder case to prove. Not necessarily impossible, depending on the context and other details, but certainly harder. The only concern I would have about this kind of disclaimer, particularly for those advertisers who are actually sex workers, is that it might lure them into having a false sense of security. They should remember that there is no set of legalish sounding “magic words” that will transform an illegal activity into a legal one. If the State can prove that they are in fact engaging in illegal activity, a disclaimer to the contrary in their advertisement will not protect them.

While I understand your perspective and desire for a commonly understood and agreed upon system of terminology, I think the person paying for the ad can call himself whatever he damn well pleases. Aside from this point, I have to say that I profoundly disagree with your assertion. My own view, as I stated above and in many other posts over the past two years (and have fully supported with citations and examples) is that escorts provide professional companionship. Period. To the extent someone may be trading sex for money, he is engaged in the crime of prostitution. While many people treat the term "escort" as a euphemism for "prostitute," it is only the reality that they are not the same that allows escort advertising to exist in this country. I would remind you that the RB prosecutors were not free to arrest Mr. Hurrant merely based on the assertion that "escort = fucking for money." They had to conduct an extensive undercover investigation to be in a position to prove that at least some advertisers on his site were actually engaged in prostitution despite disclaimers to the contrary and that he was aware of and profiting from this fact. IMHO, the claim that the term "escort" is just another word for prostitute is not only inaccurate, it also has dangerous implications.

This is now the 3rd time I have seen this exact language in different advertisers’ profiles. There was another thread discussing it actually: https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/alex-dreamlover-im-not-a-prostitute-im-an-escort.130455/page-2 I will repeat here what I said there:

Recycling has been legally mandated here since 2006. http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Mandatory-recycling-program-working-well-1198413.php We also have mandatory food waste composting. http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/New-Seattle-law-No-more-food-in-trash-5983805.php However, the courts recently ruled that the city is not allowed to inspect people’s garbage to see if they are in compliance. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/09/14/trash-talk-seattle-war-on-waste.html Still, I always recycle and compost, in part because the rates for garbage collection incentivize this, in part because the city makes it easy to do, but mostly because I try to be a good person.

I am very sorry that this happened to you, Victor. Having experienced a few no shows and last-second cancellations myself, I understand it can be very frustrating. And even more so if one’s livelihood is negatively affected. But regarding the suggestion to post someone’s phone number…I just have to wonder if that is the right approach. In fact, I thought I remembered reading somewhere that that kind of thing is generally verboten here under terms of service, though perhaps @Guy Fawkes could clarify that. I did see a couple of posts where these kinds of issues were discussed in the past: https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/warning-from-an-escort.89901/ https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/no-show-clients-do-you-post-their-numbers-online-to-warn-other-escorts.113122/ Certainly, there have been a number of occasions when warnings about alleged escort scammers have been barred, for example: https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/warning.123096/ https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/warning-dont-go-to-this-liar.122912/ https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/warning-hungpolo-in-nyc.120947/

For some people, like me, a 1% chance still sounds too high. But people should know that based on all the research, the odds of HIV being transmitted through condomless anal sex if the HIV-positive partner is undetectable are far, far, far, far less than 1%. Indeed, there has never been a recorded case of such transmission and after studies covering tens of thousands of such sexual encounters, the best estimate for the chances of transmission from someone who is undetectable is zero. http://www.beyondpositive.org/2014/03/06/study-reports-hiv-transmission-undetectable-men/ Recently, the CDC issued a memo admitting that that HIV-positive people who are able to maintain an undetectable status (defined as less than 200 copies per milliliter) are simply not infectious. https://www.hivplusmag.com/undetectable/2017/9/27/breaking-cdc-officially-recognizes-undetectableuntransmittable-hiv-prevention So, as an example, if I had condomless anal sex with someone who was HIV-positive but undetectable, my odds of contracting HIV would actually be less than if I used a condom with someone whose status I did not know, who could potentially be positive. (Remember, condoms have a failure rate significantly greater than zero and some studies suggest that in the real world, where people don't necessarily use them perfectly, they may only be about 80% effective. http://www.thebodypro.com/content/70694/condoms-tried-tested-and-true.html). Of course, I can't know if someone is really undetectable any more than I can know if he is really HIV-negative. A few people lie, and many people have gaps between tests and are simply unaware. Plus, there are many other STIs to worry about, some incurable, and condoms can provide some protection again these risks. So, my answer to the original question would be that I would have sex with someone who told me he was HIV-positive but undetectable, but I would still use condoms for anal sex, just as I would with someone who told me he was HIV-negative.

One should be particularly careful if staying in a hotel in the City of Seattle. We have a new law, intended to address the problem of sexual harassment of hotel staff by guests, which requires hotels to create a “blacklist” of guests when hotel workers accuse them of sexual harassment. The law further requires hotels to share the names of guests so accused with the city and with other hotel workers and to deny them lodging for the next three years. One wouldn’t want to misperceive interest by the bellboy, make a pass, and end up on the blacklist. Also, no police report need be filed and there is no mechanism to challenge the allegations, so even if the bellboy is clearly coming onto you, it could just be a set-up for blackmail. Incidentally, the law has been challenged in court, but so far, it has been upheld. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/hotel-trade-groups-sue-over-seattle-initiative-that-gives-new-rights-to-workers/

I appreciate the importance of sharing information, especially to avoid scams of various kinds and certainly to avoid physically dangerous situations. At the same time, one concern I have about inviting people to critique escorts on an anonymous forum is that there is no vetting process and in most cases no opportunity to hear “the other side of the story.” This really does not seem fair when someone’s livelihood is on the line and his reputation can be sullied by gossip or innuendo. I believe there have been incidents in the past where clients and/or escorts have joined the forum simply to cause trouble, making false claims to hurt someone’s business, whether out of a rivalry with a competitor or a misguided attempt to “get back” at someone who rejected their requests or offended them in some minor way. I know it’s not your intent to create some kind of “all out bitch fest,” but I think we need to tread carefully here. Having said all that, I don’t mind saying that I would personally avoid “Sexy Mega Pornstar Brodie Sinclair” who claims to be “Rentmensfinest.” IMHO, discretion is the number one rule in this business, and he has demonstrably transgressed it. https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/escort-outs-conde-nasts-cfo.106197/ In addition, he is reputed to be “batshit crazy.” https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/does-rm-have-a-responsibility-to-block-ads-from-people-like-brodie-sinclair.110665/#post-1041585 So yeah, he’s probably one to avoid.

While Hollinghurst’s novels are fundamentally literary rather than pornographic, there are certainly explicit sections, and I've really enjoyed everything I've read of his; most recently, The Spell and The Line of Beauty. I can also recommend Reinaldo Arenas. Before Night Falls gives a frank assessment of gay life in Castro’s Cuba, including a fair amount of gay sex.