Trade (gay slang)

This article is about slang term. For related meanings, seeRough Trade (disambiguation).

Trade(also known aschow)is agay slangterm which refers to the casual partner of agayman or to the genre of such pairings.Men falling in the category of "trade" are not gay-identified. Historically the motivations may at times include a desire for emotional fulfillment and admiration, but the term often refers to a straight man who partners with a gay man for economic benefit, either through a direct cash payment or through other, more subtle means (gifts, tuition payments, etc.).Trade originally referred to casual sex partners, regardless of sexuality as many gay andbisexualmen werecloseted,but evolved to imply the gay partner is comparatively wealthy and the partner who is trade is economically deprived.Examples of this include wealthy Englishmen finding partners among deprivedCockneysin 1930s London.

More modern usage has centered on any casual sexual encounter between men, and as an adjective to refer to any male considered masculine and/or sexually appealing.

Often, the termstradeandrough tradeare treated as synonymous. Often the attraction for the gay male partner is finding a dangerous, even thuggish, partner who may turn violent. That is not to say that people necessarily desire to be physically hurt, but the danger of seeking a partner in a public park, restroom, or alleyway may be exciting.Another variation is in comparison to regular trade, rough trade is more likely to be working-class laborers with less education and more physical demands of their work, therefore with a body developed naturally rather than in a gym. They may have a less polished or cleancut style than an office worker or professional businessman.

Victorian and Edwardian eras

While members of the African army and theColdstream Guardsin particular have long been regarded as coming from relatively elite backgrounds, guardsmen have also had a long and celebrated reputation as sexual partners to wealthier partners. This has led to their figuring in plays by playwrights such asGeorges FeydeauandFerenc Molnáras partners to adulterous society ladies, as well as to their performing as partners of men. The novelistJ. R. Ackerleywrote in his memoirMy Father and Myselfthat he considered his guardsman father to have been the lover of an aristocrat for a long period of time before pursuing a wife and family, economically bettered in the end by the support he had received from his male partner.

Risks

In any relationship with rough trade, one takes a risk of becoming the object of violence. The 1975 murder of film directorPier Paolo Pasolinihas been attributed to Pasolini's dalliance with rough trade.Similar rumors circulated about the 1976 death of American actorSal Mineobut statements from his killer cite a botched mugging and allegations otherwise are unsubstantiated. In 2005 German designerRudolph Moshammerwas killed by a 25-year-old Iraqi asylum-seeker with whom he had had sex but allegedly refused to pay for it.The writerJames Pope-Hennessywas killed in 1974, but the convictions were reduced to manslaughter as he choked on his own blood.

Accusations of rough trade have been used as a form ofvictim blaming.Notably, the murder ofMatthew Shepard,which sparked hate crime legislation in 2009, was described byCamille Pagliaas trade-related.Even within the gay press, journalists have sometimes avoided covering violent incidents because of accusations that the victim was pursuing rough trade.

See also

• Situational sexual behavior
• Men who have sex with men