Rodrigo Pérez Toledo

Students

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mexico

Master’s Student

Geography, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)

The aim of this project is to understand the dynamics of young male sex sellers working in Mexico City’s gay neighborhood. The majority of these sex sellers are young since this characteristic is a requirement of those who hire their services; moreover, they don’t recognize themselves as gays since they want to avoid the stigma linked to this word. This denial gives them the opportunity to identify themselves as men and justify his activities within a deeply conservative society. The area where they work has the gayest avenues in the city thus catering a lot of potential clients. During weekends, at night, these young men sprout from the streets and wait for potential clients. However, this is a risky activity since young sex sellers are usually harassed by the police who seize on the lack of specific laws regulating prostitution and, on the other hand, on the ignorance of the sex sellers who are unorganized and appear to be weak to police. In this situation, their strategy is to find shelter of these aggressions that diminish and forbid these activities while the whole society praises the body, the beauty and merchandise them.

Keywords: Homoeroticism among men; prostitution, public space.

Supervisors: Álvaro López López (UNAM)