Rent Boys paints a vivid picture of the men who service men in an urban Western context. Using interviews with forty young male sex workers, Michel Dorais analyses their differences in terms of self-esteem, control over their lives, relations to their clients, and risk of HIV infection. He insightfully and usefully breaks down male sex workers into four different types: outcasts whose drug addiction and prostitution go hand-in-hand; part-timers for whom prostitution is an occasional means to make money; insiders for whom the world of prostitution has become a family ; and liberationists whose prostitution helps them actualize themselves. Dorais analyses the risks these young men are subject to and presents useful suggestions for professionals wanting to help them.

The original 2003 French version was praised for its depth of understanding and this English translation has been expanded to include a consideration of child prostitution, the involvement of organized crime, and the legalization of prostitution as well as references to the current international literature and additional contextualization for American, British, and Australian readers.