Female gigolo?
gigolo /ˈʒɪɡəˌləʊ/
n ( pl -los)- a man who is kept by a woman, esp an older woman
- a man who is paid to dance with or escort women
In the 1920s the word gigolo came into a vogue to describe a paid (male) escort. The gig (!) did not necessarily imply sexual services though there was a raffish undertone (see Boulevard of Broken Dreams and the most famous song associated with the occupation, Just a Gigolo.
At that point the term was cheerfully sexist - gigolettes need not apply. But in fact the etymology tracks back to gigolette - a French slang term coined in the mid Nineteenth Century. A gigolette was a small boned cut of meat - the unflattering association was with the feminine form. The word also displayed reverse discrimination, only applying to females.
Just Gigolos?
The emergence of gigolo did not result in a revival of gigolette. There was a 1935 Hollywood feature film with the name on the posters - but that did box office business no favours. The influential film journal described the whole concept as 'sordid'.
Gigolette did soldier on in one popular art form. As that encyclopedia of song, Mark Steyn points out, it is there in the refrain of a 1930s song, The Boulevard of Broken Dreams, a staple of Tony Bennett's repertoire,
The boulevard of broken dreams
Where gigolo and gigolette
Can take a kiss without regret
On this occasion, the great Mr Bennett is joined by Sting: