Explore the risks and rewards of seeking and having sex in public places Public Sex in a Latin Society is one of the first books to explore the lives of people who look for sex in public places and the dangers involved--from murder to HIV infection. The book examines why many gay men have been murdered by sex workers who frequent public sex places, such as the parks, bathhouses, or saunas, and suggests some basic safety rules. Containing interviews with police officials, murderers, and sex workers, Public Sex in a Latin Society explores the motivations for seeking public sex, why gay men who have sex in public are sometimes murdered, and how these killings could be prevented. This eye-opening book contains studies that examine mechanisms for assault and crime and examines data on the roles that sexual and physical abuse play in sex workers and their clients. Public Sex in a Latin Society explores Latin society's Catholic church-influenced negative view of homosexuality, explaining why gay men are seen as the equivalent of murderers and thieves, why the topic is censored in the media, and why client murders are rarely investigated.Public Sex in a Latin Society discusses the dangers facing public sex seekers and suggests guidelines, such as: refrain from flaunting wealth or wearing fine jewelry or clothes when looking for public sex to decrease the chances of getting mugged or physically assaulted never try to negotiate changes to the agreement or method of payment after sex--this can bring on physical harm or even death do not make advances or ask for sexual acts that were not agreed upon and be especially careful about everything relating to anal sex never take drugs or drink alcohol while seeking sex in order to be alert if you are attackedPublic Sex in a Latin Society provides you with a shocking analysis of how public sex in Latin America has become part of the Latin economy without advancing sexual liberation or social equality. This provocative and intelligent book will give you a better understanding of Latin American sexual culture.

Macho Love: Sex Behind Bars in Central America is the first in-depth study of sexual culture and AIDS in Latin prisons. Psychologists, social workers, criminologists, and AIDS specialists will discover how the interplay of sexual ideals, prostitution, manipulation, resistance, and power relationships among prisoners and some staff are based on money, sex, drugs, and violence. Macho Love gives you a stirring and emotional look at the various risks and dangers lurking in the Latin American prison culture and discusses how Costa Rican and Central American prisons are improving the situation with new intervention programs. Fascinating and informative, Macho Love explores the dangerous Latin prison culture as it discusses: new HIV/AIDS prevention programs implemented in some Costa Rican and Central American prisons the frequency and types of prostitution and rape in prison drug and alcohol addiction and their effects on the spread of HIV/AIDS an understanding of why rehabilitation programs fail or succeed the lack of opportunities to work or to study that leaves the inmates vulnerable to the only freedom they have left--sex why a "cachero," or a man who penetrates another man, is not considered a homosexual and often refuses to wear a condom, which tremendously increases the risk of HIV/AIDS Macho Love explores the life-threatening sexual culture in prisons to bring you the realities of the Latin prison culture. This revealing book examines the different types of relationships which occur in prisons and the factors that place inmates at risk for contracting the HIV virus, such as not wearing a condom because of intoxication due to drugs and alcohol. Macho Love also shows you how the new HIV/AIDS intervention programs in Costa Rica are combatting these serious problems to lower HIV infection rates and avoid the spread of this deadly and dangerous disease.

Mongers in Heaven is an exploration of "Monger Culture." Mongers, as defined by the author in relation to sexual tourism to Costa Rica, are tourists and expatriates who have developed a unique culture of simulation, lying, marriages, gender games, and sexual liberation. Schifter-Sikora analyzes the relatively new phenomenon of American senior citizens mass-traveling to Central America in search of sex and love from prostitutes. The social and economic impact of their travel, as well as the increase in new HIV infections in the U.S. and the Central American countries, is at the core of Schifter-Sikora's analysis. The author also makes a unique psychological analysis that includes both the sex worker and her American client and their mutual aspirations and disappointments. The study features unique quantitative data on this population of sex workers and clients and the group's reasons for and expectations of sexual tourism. Also under analysis by Schifter-Sikora, is Jean Baudrillard's theory of simulation and simulacra, here in relation to the disappearance of the "real" in sexual tourism. American sex tourists are creating a sexual culture where truth is no longer relevant or desired. Costa Rican sex workers, for their part, hope for the traditional "real" that the Americans are escaping from. Both groups are turning a former Banana Republic into a sexualized fantasy land where women who charge are lovers and prospective wives, and those who do not are seen as the real prostitutes.

Macho Love: Sex Behind Bars in Central America is the first in-depth study of sexual culture and AIDS in Latin prisons. Psychologists, social workers, criminologists, and AIDS specialists will discover how the interplay of sexual ideals, prostitution, manipulation, resistance, and power relationships among prisoners and some staff are based on money, sex, drugs, and violence. Macho Love gives you a stirring and emotional look at the various risks and dangers lurking in the Latin American prison culture and discusses how Costa Rican and Central American prisons are improving the situation with new intervention programs. Fascinating and informative, Macho Love explores the dangerous Latin prison culture as it discusses: new HIV/AIDS prevention programs implemented in some Costa Rican and Central American prisons the frequency and types of prostitution and rape in prison drug and alcohol addiction and their effects on the spread of HIV/AIDS an understanding of why rehabilitation programs fail or succeed the lack of opportunities to work or to study that leaves the inmates vulnerable to the only freedom they have left--sex why a "cachero," or a man who penetrates another man, is not considered a homosexual and often refuses to wear a condom, which tremendously increases the risk of HIV/AIDS Macho Love explores the life-threatening sexual culture in prisons to bring you the realities of the Latin prison culture. This revealing book examines the different types of relationships which occur in prisons and the factors that place inmates at risk for contracting the HIV virus, such as not wearing a condom because of intoxication due to drugs and alcohol. Macho Love also shows you how the new HIV/AIDS intervention programs in Costa Rica are combatting these serious problems to lower HIV infection rates and avoid the spread of this deadly and dangerous disease.

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 womenThe 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.

The information in From Toads to Queens: Transvestism in a Latin American Setting (a 2000 Lammy Nominee) is crucial to understanding Latin American culture and its relation to HIV prevention. You?ll find research findings that offer insights into and analysis of the sexual culture and risk factors that place transvestites in the sex trade and their customers at risk of contracting HIV. This information could prove valuable to developing preventions and interventions for similar populations in countries all over the world.In From Toads to Queens, transvestites in the sex trade and their customers share fascinating personal accounts from their daily lives, including details of their sexual encounters. Specifically you will gain insight into: sexual practices pay rates in the sex trade types of lovers and sexual partners locations of "work" conceptions of fashion and beauty among transvestites relations between transvestites, the police, and gay bashers clients who are heterosexual men drug consumption and unsafe sexFrom this book, you will gain a comprehensive analysis of Latin transvestites, how this population questions assumptions about sexual orientation and practice, and how they are affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Most importantly, From Toads to Queens documents boundry-crossing individuals'existence and subverts the simplistic division of people into traditional psychiatric categories, a crucial first step in devising ways to decrease the rates of HIV infection among specific populations.