Because of social barriers to homosexual 'marriages' and other factors which work against lasting homosexual relationships, many male homosexuals become promiscuous and find contact with male prostitutes easier than searching out a less mercenary partner. The need for secrecy in homosexuality encourages prostitution. Male prostitutes are less frequently used by women. Male prostitution is closely connected with crime, since the prostitutes are mainly from impoverished backgrounds and it is easy for them to intimidate and blackmail their clients and also rob them. The difference in wealth of client and prostitute adds to resentment, equally the social stigma.
Male prostitution flourishes in large cosmopolitan cities all over the world where money is plentiful and the population is fluid. A Danish report found a particularly high incidence of male prostitutions around the Mediterranean coast among unemployed and unsettled youths and tourists, and where girls were highly chaperoned. A large proportion of male prostitutes are heterosexual, and they are mostly young.