Macunaima in Brazil

[Macunaima]

tom phillips
wednesday january 4, 2006
the guardian


friday night and in suite g of a dingy brothel in central rio de janeiro a revolution in brazilian carnival is springing to life. it's here - among soiled bed-sheets, x-rated porn movies and flickering light bulbs - that the city's night workers have dreamt up its newest carnival group: the bloco das putas.

part of a prostitutes' collective, which includes a fashion label and a modelling school, the bloco das putas or "*****s' carnival group" aims to strike back at prejudice against the city's call girls. the leader of the movement, gabriela leite, watches prostitutes, clients, curious onlookers and a smattering of gringos crowd into the narrow, cobbled streets outside suite g for the bloco's launch.


"this is one day that we *****s can be considered part of society," she says, on the verge of tears. "we were never part of brazil, and we have to be. we are specialists in sex and we are human beings," she says, seemingly oblivious to the naked bodies writhing about on the television above her.

over her shoulder a small grate looks out on to the street in praça tiradentes that will be the bloco's home each friday from now until february's carnival. nothing, not even a soiled pair of knickers that has been abandoned on the windowsill, can stop the group's unique blend of samba, techno and brazilian funk pouring remorselessly into the cramped boudoir.

the bloco de rua (street party) has been at the heart of carnival since the 1920s. while high society traditionally spends the four days of carnival holed up in glamorous ballrooms, brazil's povão (or hoi polloi) hit the streets in the form of alcohol-soaked blocos, with deafening drum sections, whistles and extravagant costumes.

these days, hundreds of thousands of themed blocos are rep001tered across the country. there's the bloco das piranhas, in which cachaça-fuelled men rampage across são gonçalo wearing high-heels and florid mini-skirts and the world-famous banda de ipanema which unites thousands of gyrating drag queens in ipanema each year. bloco is a way of asserting your identity.

"finally we are starting to show that we exist. we are a little different - we work with sex - but we exist," says leite from sao paulo, who is spearheading the "puta pride" movement as the president of the brazilian prostitutes network.

"sex professional?" she scoffs, as her colleagues touch up their makeup on the huge mirror behind the bed. "what a stupid name. we are putas. if we don't assume the name that we have, then how can we go forwards? we have to accept that our sons are sons of bitches. if we don't accept this, we'll never be happy."

unsurprisingly, the collective is no stranger to controversy. following the foundation of its sister-fashion label (called daspu, a tongue in cheek reference to the chic sao paulo clothing outlet daslu and a play on the words "of the *****s") the prostitutes are being threatened with legal action unless they change their name.

but at the merest mention of daslu - a shopping centre for south america's super-rich which opened its new £30m store in june - the putas erupt into laughter. the owner of the sao paulo boutique is currently being investigated for fraud, they point out, and they want to sue us?

besides, the putas themselves seem to relish the battle for visibility. and all daslu's lawyers have done, they say, is helped give them that.

[Sunset Strip]

A Blue nose Democrat??? What is that?

I have to go for a couple of days. But have a Happy New Year all.

And MACU needs to get to work on his DAMN DISSERTATION NOW!


peace,
TJ

[Macunaima]

Well, yes, I didn't say that price was the ONLY factor, I just said it was the MAIN factor.

The fact of the matter is that there are plenty of places in this world where right-wing republicans and blue-nose democrats AREN'T in control and those are the places Brazil competes with, not NYC. Argentina, the DR, Cuba, Thailand... hell, even the FKs in Germany are what we need to compare Rio with. And it seems to me that there's a basica technology involved in customer service in this industry and that's now international. Any place that ISN'T having a witch hunt this decade is simply going to use it, provided they have the capital to provide it.

(Note by "technology" here I mean something wider than just machines and equipment, something closer to the original meaning of the word which could perhaps be glossed as "know how".)

[Bango Cheito]

Macu, one might think that on the surface, but look at for example how many NYC mongers go down to the DR and end up paying just about what they pay here for services, when obviously the local market doesnt bear such high rates! You have several classes of mongers in that regard, I think. Some are price conscious to the exclusion of everything, which I think is silly, and some overpay by a double digit factor at times, which is equally silly!

[Bango Cheito]

Well, I had some free time (or actually just didn't feel like doing any more fucking work) and checked out the NYC and the Thailand sections, which I had not done for months now. It is even worse than I thought here. They are busting everybody left right and center. And there is some pig troll on there boasting about it pretending to be a monger too and 'warning' people away from the UG parties. SOO fucking sad.

Thailand certainly seems to be a happening place, but NONE of the photos there did anything for me. I like big asses, what can I say? :P

Also, none of the places I read about there are even close to being set up the way a therma is, they are set up more like the NYC parties, with a main bar area and sometimes a stage for shows, and then little cubicles off to the side with curtains. Sometimes not even individual privacy at all, just a separate room where the orgy takes place :P No individual bathrooms, showers etc, certainly no sauna and mini-wateralls! For me privacy isn't such a huge necessity but it does make a difference in what a girl will or won't do sometimes, as other girls will look down on her if she gets too freaky!

I think NYC up until the mid 90s or so was in many ways the best destination for mongering. Despite it being an expensive city, the girls used to be relatively cheap, especially if you knew what time it was. I kinda witnessed the tail end of the good stuff, I came here for the first time in 1994 and lived here full time by 1997. Within a year of my getting here, the action was drastically reduced. Many of the Roosevelt Av joints used to operate 24/7 and you could find 4-5 places with 15-20 girls each on a good block. Just in terms of sheer numbers and variety, NYC took the cake too. I'm still wondering how the fuck could it all disappear within 10 years or so?

[Macunaima]

I don't think someone would turn up dead. That seems to me to be an excessively dramatic reading of the extent of crime and corruption here. One doesn't need to hire killers when one's brother-in-law is the chief of the fire inspection division of the city government...

It also seems to me that more than anything else, monger tastes in the matter are geared to expenses. In the last year, for example, the dollar dropped by 1/3rd in Brazil and monger complaints on this board that Brazil was now "ruined" increased by some 300%.

[Bango Cheito]

I wouldn't even be surprised if someone started to open up a new therma as a complete outsider and simply turned up dead right off the bat!

TJ, we are referring to the 'casual encounters' or 'erotic services' sections of CL. I'd imagine LA has them too!

Macu, usually when experienced travellers talk about the world's top sex destinations, one hears about Rio, Thailand, DR, and Amsterdam more than anywhere else. At least in my experience.

[Macunaima]

Regarding your last questions, I think this "expansion" could in fact be a simple reshuffling of assets - i.e. one place opens and another closes. From what I understand, I really doubt that Rio will ever rival Bangkoc.

[Macunaima]

Regarding Ezinho's post...

It's actually not too hard to start up a new termas, from what I understand. What IS hard is keeping it operating at a profit.

One would need to have pay-offs in the local and city police force. Some termas owners apparently help short circuit this requirement by having cops as part of their "director's board". But then it's a question of knowing which cops actually have the power to keep one from being harassed and which will just suck money out of you until you eventually collapse.

This is the problem with corruption in Brazil: it is NOT like most gringos imagine it to be. For a border-line legal place like a termas, some arrangement with local authorities must obviously be made, but... a) not all cops are corrupt, b) not all corrupt cops have the power to give you what you want, but all will act like they do and c) corrupt cops don't stay bought, ESPECIALLY if the local citizenry or residents union starts bringing their elected officials into the game after your ass. Then it becomes a case of "whose legal dick is bigger?" and gringos will almost always lose that sort of battle unless they have good local partners with great contacts, deep pockets and a lot of patience.

The first question is: are these two new termas built on an old sex-industry venue? If so, changing ownership and etc. is a relatively easy process. DIFFICULT is building a new termas in a neighborhood which does not want sex work going on within its borders.

So the upshot of this, Ezinho, is that it's easier and safer to buy into a going concern than it is to start your own business. After you learn Portuguese and the legal ins and outs after a few years and make the necessary contacts, then you could possibly think about striking out on your own. But trying to get something like this started from nothing is probably a great recipe for disaster if one is a gringo.

Market protectionism works VERY much in favor of the established Brazilian interests in the sex industry down here. Just ask the gringo who's now been busted twice for organizing boat tours in Guanabara Bay...

[Wandering Fool]

tj,

i'm not sure what you're asking about cl in terms of explaining further, but its pretty straight forward: online classifieds with photos (many fake, but its up to you to filter them). the fact that its free and very easy to use for both the browser and the person posting, and that its totally anonymous (if you desire) is making it increasingly popular with the low to mid priced crowd. its got the "bargain basement" reputation so there is pressure for the girls to keep their prices down -even girls who might ask more on eros.com or through an agency might drum up some of their own indy work on cl. this ease of use has also brought in girls who are just "experimenting" with being pros -some of whom at first will only offer massage. i've seen some "massage only" girls graduate over time to advertising full service and some full service graduate to offering greek.

since there's no regulation, it's the wild west and i'm sure many inexperienced guys are getting taken so the cl rep isn't always good. because i've been at this game long enough to have a pretty good eye for fake photos and have a "take no sh*t from the girl" attitude (despite being a nice guy) i have had some great experiences.

another thing i'll mention is that i find things with the cl girls much more relaxed than say 10 years ago with the incall places in terms of gfe, greek, bbbj etc. the incall places i went to in the mid 90's had decent girls but the menu always seemed to be somewhat limited. cl girls, often indies, don't have the pressure of the "rules of the house" and the peer pressure of the girls they work beside all day to toe the line so they're more apt to do, well, whatever you can talk them into

[Ezinho]

I was going to post this in the Rio section, but I'm putting it here because I think I'll get some better responses.

I was always under the impression that opening up a terma in Rio is VERY difficult to do, and that it doesn't happen often. If this is the case, how in the hell have two new termas opened up in the last month or so? And what exactly must be done in order to open up (and keep open) a terma, in terms of government regulations, bribes, etc. So, what I'm really asking is, what needs to be done in order for there to be a "Terma Ezinho" lol!

Also, does anyone think that this terma expansion in Rio is a result of increasing sex tourism to Brasil? Does anyone think that it is possible sex tourism in Rio will be greater than in, say, Bangkok or San Jose CR?

[Sunset Strip]

BC Said,"I think NYC coulda possibly competed with Rio back in the 80s and early 90s, when you had plenty of 24 hour incall off of places like Roosevelt Av."

Wasn't this where they filmed parts of Hookers at the Point?

TJ

[Sunset Strip]

BC said,

"TJ, I cannot speak for your particular neck of the woods, because my main area of experience is in NYC. BUT in NYC even the underground shit has been almost totally and completely shut out at all but maybe the highest levels."

I do not disgree with you. Where I live they started craking down about 20 years ago. And since we live near the border with Mexico judges have NO SYMPATHY for you ass! You get totally worked over in court for soliciting prostitution in Southern California.

What I was saying jibes with your experience. In Southen Cali and many other regions only the rich can still pay-to-play without problems.

Can you all explain Criag's List further?

TJ

[Bango Cheito]

I think NYC coulda possibly competed with Rio back in the 80s and early 90s, when you had plenty of 24 hour incall off of places like Roosevelt Av. The spot was cool but there was nothing before 7pm really and by 11pm they were winding down. That's a pretty narrow window! Although I don't think too many of the NYC incalls ever had showers like the thermas do. That is the thing that makes the best difference, that and the willingness of the girls to experiment!

[Wandering Fool]

Bango,

I'm hip to what you're saying, I've done the underground thing here and also was a member of the "spot" before it got closed. Yes, in that case, you can get those girls at the parties for around $60 (not counting the entrance fee and room fee) but for me that's below the threshold of enjoyment. I don't like doing the act in common rooms with several other couples only feet away, or rooms that close with just a curtain like a dressing room.

I've done CL extensively and really enjoy the variety and finding the occasional needle in the haystack, and since I have no problem turning girls away (and do it quite often) I only stay with the ones I want to.

Regarding the Termas, I would never put anything up against that! I would certainly rather monger in Brazil given the choice because of the selection and options, but my point is that CL has brought in the real indies and newbies and with that a certain casualness that reminds me at times of the Rio experience right here in the US.

I'll take this over to the local boards, I think I can stir things up a bit over there.