Lila's House: Male Prostitution in Latin America (Haworth Gay & Lesbian Studies) [Hardcover]

John Dececco Phd (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 078900593X | ISBN-13: 978-0789005939 | Publication Date: September 21, 1998 | Edition: 1

Lila's House: Male Prostitution in Latin America presents insight into male prostitution in a truly global array of Latin American countries. This study focuses on a very specific sexual culture within the realm of male prostitution: the young men of a lower/middle-class brothel catering to a broad range of clients. You will explore the culture of juvenile prostitution and learn from the immediate intervention program that was implemented.

Twenty-five young men between the ages of 13 and 27 were interviewed for this study. They share with you their views on:

• sexual initiation
  
• sexual definition
  
• sexual orientation
  
• love
  
• drug use
  
• prostitution
  
• family relationships
  
• relationships with men and women
  
  The young men interviewed for this study are in serious danger of being exposed to the AIDS virus and of becoming addicted, if they are not already, to cocaine, crack, or alcohol. Those conducting the study initiated a campaign to supply condoms and raise the young men's awareness about AIDS and drugs and began an immediate support program. The project resulted in the establishment, in June 1997, of an alternative home for juvenile prostitutes, which offers various opportunities for education and work.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Despite the sweeping subtitle, this case study focuses narrowly on male prostitution in Lila's house, a squalid brothel in a lower-middle-class quarter of San Jose, Costa Rica, where the prostitutes are cacheros--young men who have sex with older men for money. Two gay-health advocates spent six months observing and interviewing 25 workers from the brothel, who were paid for participating. They found that how cacheros talk about sex contradicts their sexual behaviors. Defiantly, the cacheros disavow their supposed homosexuality and instead "compartmentalize" aspects of their sexuality to distinguish themselves from homosexuals. They ridicule gays, balk at passive sex acts that they refuse to (but probably do) perform and boast that prostitution supplies ample cash to support their families. With religious and cultural sanctions against homosexuality forever in their minds, they insist that they don't enjoy their work. All the while, they appear to get drawn deeper into it. Indeed, the well-translated and compelling transcripts of their reflections could easily support an expose of a sexual subculture in the making. Unfortunately, Schifter draws specious conclusions from a rather shallow reading of the cacheros' narratives, and his research methods are poorly elaborated. We ultimately can't tell whom the cacheros wished to distinguish themselves from: homosexuals or Schifter's interviewers. A sophomoric rehearsal of postmodern theory renders this failed case study all the more clumsy. Illustrations. (Sept.) FYI: In October, Harrington Park will publish Joseph Itiel's A Consumer's Guide to Male Hustlers, which purports to "acquaint readers who have a vigorous sexual appetite with a resource available in the gay community which is often shunned or used inappropriately."
Copyright 1998 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Spanish

Product Details

• Hardcover: 150 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (September 21, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078900593X
• ISBN-13: 978-0789005939
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,079,548 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Sociological Study of a Costan Rican House of Prostitution, June 27, 1999

By 

Matt Anderson, MD ([e-mail]) (Guatemala) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lila's House: Male Prostitution in Latin America (Paperback)

La Casa de Lila presents the results of a sociological study done in a Costa Rican house of prostitution for male homosexuals. Lila's house is a rather particular center. Most of the clients are older men who seek out young boys; some of the prostitutes are as young as 10. The prostitutes are "cacheros" a term describing men who provide sexual services for homosexuals but consider themselves as either straight or bisexual. They have girlfriends, wives and many of them have children. Most have problems with alcohol, crack cocaine and gambling. It is the necessity for money to support these activities that motivates their work.

The book's main focus is the question of sexual identity. How do a group of heterosexual men deal with the reality that their livelihood depends upon prostituting themselves with other men? Schifter concludes that sexual identity is determined by power relations and not by what one does and with whom. Men are dominant, women are submissive. One can be dominant (masculine) while sodomizing another man; the person sodomized becomes feminine. Sex expresses the social dynamic of male oppression.

Schifter's team interviewed 25 prostitutes (aged 13 to 27) during the first half of 1997. Lila, the (male) homosexual, who runs the house was also interviewed and the investigators obviously spent time observing the activities at the casa. Schifter is a prominent AIDS and gay rights activist in Central America. While I find that some of his other work is nearly impossible to read, this book is quite readable. [I should note that I read the Spanish edition of La Casa de Lila. ]

Clients were not interviewed in this book and this is a major weakness. Schifter recognizes that the stories told by the cacheros were not very accurate. I would have appreciated greater detail on exactly how the house functioned. What time did it open? How did clients come? How were the cacheros scheduled? What exactly did they do? It might have helped to describe in detail a few days in the life of one of the cacheros. There was no information on venereal diseases among the prostitutes, the relationship of the casa to the local police, government officials and a wealth of other topics that are of interest. This information might have served as a reality check on the interviews.

Despite these shortcomings, this book remains a well written and well researched study on the construction of a sexual identity among a very particular group of male prostitutes.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a wonderful book, April 5, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Vermont) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lila's House: Male Prostitution in Latin America (Paperback)

Jacobo Schifter spent months conducting interviews inside a house of male prostitution in San Jose, Costa Rica to research this book. The result is a fascinating and consciousness-raising report, not only about male protitution, but about the Latin American sexual discourse in general--attitudes towards homosexuality (all of the prostitutes claim that they're straight and many seem to fear homosexuality), realtions between the sexes, awareness and practice of AIDS and safe sex, etc. Some of the interviews are reprinted in their entirety. The owner of the brothel, Lila, has a story worthy of a book itself. The most informed and interesting book on Costa Rican culture I have read.