| Sex work in a gay sauna |
"That is why I left there (from the apartment) ... once the client went to pay me... and I discovered that they paid € 150 an hour and... the owner paid me € 40 per hour, and when I discovered what the owner was charging, I saw that it was not fair" (Id6)
"I do a ritual of spiritual, emotional, and physical cleansing. I wake up, I pray, and I engage in physical activity, and in the end, I go to work and enter hell, that's what we, who do not like women, call the sauna." (Id8)
|
| Sex work: benefits and disadvantages |
""I stayed four years in jail... I had been there several times (for theft), I am very grateful to be living in Spain and for the opportunity to have a more honest job that generates money for me, such as prostitution" (Id3).
"You can earn money if you are clever. I have bought two apartments over two years" (Id6)
"People need the drug to stay awake, to fuck with people" (Id9)
"(With the tub) What I noticed sexually is that I began to have thoughts that seemed like they were not mine: from dirty talking or fetishes, you dare to do certain things that you would not do regularly, you break barriers." (Id 5)
|
| Dynamics and social relationships in the sauna |
"The client likes me, and he is not any client. He knows that there is a price and a special place for them... he will want a drug-and-sex party and have a good time..." (Id1)
"Poop, piss, vomiting... Complicated people, which I think are a little retarded. You can end up crazy if you are not mentally strong." (Id8)
"They like to pay because they get the idea that this is a product that it is a boy who is rented for specific practice and the customer likes that kind of idea or vice or morbidity..." (Id9)
"Many clients make you feel good, they treat you very well, and you feel loved and accepted..." (Id7)
|
| Sex work as a man |
"... I don't like to call myself a prostitute, nor do I like to be called hustler, because we are all promiscuous; men, in general, are promiscuous; they are promiscuous by nature" (Id 9)
"I started very early, with my cousins, with the female housekeeper who worked in my house. Nothing homosexual, I learned through experience. In Brazil, things are clear. I saw my aunt from my room, fucking ... I was 7 or 8 years old. Then I saw another aunt..." (Id 8)
"Most gays are very vicious and use many drugs, and don't think much about the risks." (Id2)
"... Normally they look for very unclean guys, very slender bodies, curved bodies: the fat ones would not enter there... for work no, as clients yes." (Id9)
"What is it to be a man? Be clear and make things clear. I seek life here" (Id1)
|
| Sexual practices by type of couple |
"With customers, it is colder than with the boy I am with. No kisses, always with a condom ..., sometimes, I don't use a condom with non-commercial partners." (Id2)
"Me and most of the guys use prevention with customers, but not with their partners." (Id5)
"With women, I use it (the condom) at first, but then not; why? Because I always trust... the clients... with women, I ask for the tests [and if they don't do it?] then I'm going to do them..." (Id3)
"Gays are more likely to catch a disease because they like what they do. As if I had to work with women." (Id8)
|
HIV / STI /
Prevention |
"Doing it without a condom ... gonorrhea, things like that ... because I have touched that girl you know and after a month you get these things... I get angry because I have not taken care of myself, and it could have been worse" (Id1)
"(HIV) That you can die, there are medications but I am very afraid" (Id2)
"I had some of these, syphilis, perhaps... I went to the pharmacy, they gave me an antibiotic and it disappeared" (Id7)
"Those who want everything... if a client asks you if you fuck without a condom, for me he is already showing that he has AIDS. If he sucks your semen... and you don't know that person, it means that he does it with everyone and is not healthy." (Id8)
"There's nothing you can do. It's all the same to them, they like what's behind ... boys are informed but don't want to take care of themselves." (Id 3)
|
Male sex workers: between safe sex and risk. Ethnography in a gay sauna in Barcelona, Spain