The word ‘gigolo’ can be traced back to the 1920s as an English back-translation of ‘gigolette’, the French word for a woman hired as a dancing partner. Both gigolo and gigolette first appeared in France during the mid 19th century, referring to dance club denizens in Montmartre paid to dance, and sometimes have sex with, male visitors. In the latter part of the 19th century, the term gigolo took to mean men whose company and affections could be purchased by well-to-do French women, just like this particular gigolo who had a rather particular taste for infected arses.