Gigolos and madames bountiful

In Western societies the roles of male provider and female care-giver have formed a traditional base for intimate partnerships. Because gigolos and their partners appear to reverse the formula, their unions are considered deviant and often scandalous. In this book the authors uncover surprising similarities between the liaisons of gigolos with their Madames Bountiful and the more conventional relationships that most people form. This unique study of love, sex, gender, intimacy, and power offers a radical new view of the dynamics that inform all intimate partnerships. Based on over 600 case studies from Canada, the United States, and Europe, the book draws upon letters, personal accounts, and anecdotes. The authors explore the gigolo's means and methods, the motivations of the Madame Bountiful, and the emergence, maintenance, and dissolution of the gigolo-Madame Bountiful relationship. They also look at the changing social conditions which now allow gigolos to flourish. They consider both social and personal power in the context of changing gender roles and show how these changing roles influence intimate relationships in general and the gigolo-Madame Bountiful relationship in parti