The boys in these houses were usually narcotics addicts and therefore easy to keep under control (through drugs) for as long a time as they remained desirable for sexual purposes.” They usually stayed in the peg-houses until they were 16 or 17. Boys were not sent to the regular $1.00 houses until they were twelve or quite large for their ages at 10 or 11. At first, the boys were sent to a farm or ‘camp’ where they were fattened up, beautified and trained. They were easily preyed on and seduced by wily agents who received anywhere from $100 to $500 for each boy they delivered to the brothel syndicate. “Most of the boys in coastal peg-houses were poor runaways who had gone west in search of adventure. Here is a description of an American version from the mid-19th century: The boys were anally impaled on pegs of various sizes abutting the rack, to help customers decide which boy would suit their needs. These establishments took their name from the Mediterranean tradition of displaying available boys on a long rack. Soon they were established as far as the west coast, and some, known as “peg-houses” featured young men as prostitutes. In the mid-1800s, brothels opened on the frontier to satisfy the needs of pioneers. I think the male prostitute was treated so much better than woman prostitute from the early 1700 to present. By 1941 the FBI closed them all down because of the war hysteria. The men who frequent these male brothels were very wealthy men, actors, poets, politicians and writers. In the 1930’s the price was $10.00, $5.00 to the male prostitute and $5.00 to the house (madam). Most lacking in education and refinement. They dressed in street clothing and the age ranged from eighteen to twenty-eight.
In one of the rooms you would find about ten male prostitutes entertaining themselves by playing cards, or reading. The typical male brothel was usually a three to five bedrooms. Male brothels were ran by a “madam” who owned and ran the establishment and was gay (homosexual). People used this term unaware of it’s origins. Between sex acts, the boys were kept sitting on benches studded with up right pegs for the purpose of keeping their anuses distended to a size large enough to accommodate penetration. The term came by way of British India and referred to brothels furnishing young boys to predictors. Peg houses catered to homosexual men who preferred virile, straight looking hustlers.
Yes, from the book I found in the digital library online, Departing from Deviance: A History of Homosexual Rights and Emancipatory Science in America, I found a lot about about “peg houses”.