Houseboy
Encyclopedia
A Houseboy is typically a male servant or assistant who performs domestic
or personal chores. Examples of its usage include:
Domestic worker
A domestic worker is a man, woman or child who works within the employer's household. Domestic workers perform a variety of household services for an individual or a family, from providing care for children and elderly dependents to cleaning and household maintenance, known as housekeeping...
or personal chores. Examples of its usage include:
- An AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
slangSlangSlang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
term that originated in World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
for a native boy who helped a soldierSoldierA soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
perform basic responsibilities like cleaning, laundry, ironing, shoe-shining, running errands, and the like. However, unlike the American "bootleboy" or BritishUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
"batman", a houseboy was not employed by an officer or noncommissioned officer but by the entry-level soldier or private as a means to reduce a very heavy workload or to cut corners on a large amount of work. The employment was at first condoned but later, and especially during the Korean WarKorean WarThe Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, soldiers who were caught employing a houseboy faced stiff penalties because a lot of them became expert thieves and could be either bribed for information or have their relatives kidnapped or killed for helping Americans. By 1982, Korean houseboys were again permitted (as at Camp CaseyCamp Casey, South KoreaCamp Casey is an American military camp in Dongducheon , South Korea, north of Seoul, South Korea. Camp Casey was named in 1952 after Major Hugh Boyd Casey, who was killed in an airplane crash near Camp Casey during the Korean War. Camp Casey is one of several U.S. Army bases in South Korea near...
), and were generally middle-aged men conspicuously older than the young troops they served.
- A CommonwealthCommonwealth of NationsThe Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
term for a male housecleaner. He was usually a man of colour who worked for an English family living in a Commonwealth country. A female housecleaner is called a housegirl. Houseboys and housegirls often have to wear a uniform.
Cultural references
- The houseboy became a plot devicePlot deviceA plot device is an object or character in a story whose sole purpose is to advance the plot of the story, or alternatively to overcome some difficulty in the plot....
or stock characterStock characterA Stock character is a fictional character based on a common literary or social stereotype. Stock characters rely heavily on cultural types or names for their personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics. In their most general form, stock characters are related to literary archetypes,...
in literatureLiteratureLiterature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
and filmFilmA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
. The cartoon character Mr. MagooMr. MagooQuincy Magoo is a cartoon character created at the UPA animation studio in 1949. Voiced by Jim Backus, Quincy Magoo is a wealthy, short-statured retiree who gets into a series of sticky situations as a result of his nearsightedness, compounded by his stubborn refusal to admit the problem...
had a houseboy.
- The Houseboy, a 1973 stage play by Irving WardleIrving WardleJohn Irving Wardle is an English writer and theatre critic.He was born on 20 July 1929 in Manchester, Lancashire, the son of John Wardle and his wife Nellie . His father was drama critic on the Bolton Evening News, and a regular performer at the Bolton Little Theatre...
, filmed for ITV in 1982.
- The Houseboy, a 2007 LGBTLGBTLGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
film starring Nick May.
- Houseboy is the name of a diary-form novel written by Ferdinand OyonoFerdinand OyonoFerdinand Léopold Oyono was an author from Cameroon whose work is recognized for a sense of irony that reveals how easily people can be fooled...
that criticizes the morality of colonialism.
Other usages
- In the gay community, a "houseboy" is typically a younger gay male, while his host is an older, usually wealthy, gay man. While there may or may not be a romantic/physical relationship, an atmosphere of personal intimacy and mutual support is at the basis of the arrangement. Both houseboys and their single hosts often date and form romantic/physical relationships outside of the home. However, few houseboys have a significant other when assuming their position.
- In the BDSMBDSMBDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...
subculture, a houseboy performs domestic chores as part of a D/s relationship, for whom he handles all of the domestic chores. The top is usually, though not always, older than the houseboy and they may or may not have a sexual relationship.