The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan
Hey there, HoBro buddies,
The PBS series Frontline has produced what looks to be an interesting documentary looking at male prostitution in Afghanistan called the “The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan.” I haven’t watched the full documentary, but from the clip I saw on Huffington Post, I can’t say that I find this all that shocking. And my reaction to most of the posts that readers made to the clip, make me wonder if the writers realize that you can find 15, 16yo guys and girls in sex work in virtually every major city in America. As an advocate for sex worker rights, and as a escort myself, I’ve talked to many guys in sex work who started their careers in their teens. I’ve also traveled fairly extensively in the Middle East/North Africa and have know guys “in the business” in Lebanon, Egypty, Tunisia and Turkey.
Often they turned to sex work and a life on the streets because they were fleeing something worse at home (an alcoholic parent who beat the crap out of them; a predatory step father who raped them; homophobic parents that kicked them out of the house because they were queer), and then they were on the streets to fend for themselves. And let’s face it, how else is a kid with no high school diploma, no college degree, prolly no other marketable skills, supposed to survive? We all know, the answer is there aren’t any good options for these kids. If people are disgusted by this ugly reality, then they should be advocating for more supportive services for at-risk youth.
I hope to see the whole documentary, but I’ve seen enough wretched media representations of sex work to be wary of stock narratives about sex work as necessarily exploitive, and how people in the sex industry are consistently represented as powerless victims, which is rarely helpful even when a sex worker is looking to get out of the business. Also, Americans always get their puritian shackles riled up by anything sexual — I wonder if some of those commenting with such passion about this documentary spoke as forcefully about the gay teens who were hanged in Iran for the “crime” of homosexuality.
It sometimes seems people are more freaked out by the idea of that young people in other countries are making a living selling sexual services, than by the fact that they are being executed for gay consensual sex — or that they are living amid extreme crushing, inescapable poverty and hunger. I’m in no way suggesting that the systematic trafficking of young people for sexual exploitation doesn’t happen, or that that isn’t an awful thing. I do, however, think that a) there are lots of really, really horrible situations confronting children and young adults all around the world and here at home; and b) the whole topic of young people involved in the sex industry as explored in this clip is very complex and nuanced. I also feel strongly that before we wag our fingers in dismay at youth prostitution in other countries, we should examine more closely the thread-bare support systems that exist in our own country for at risk youth.
There are a lot of things that a young person should never have to deal with, and sex work is definitely one of them. But so is hunger, violence, malaria, HIV… I think the first step is to address the underlying issue of poverty and the lack of supportive services for youth and children living in poverty, either abroad or here at home.
What do you boys think? I’d love to other perspectives on this from guys in escort work. As always, best wishes and big love to all my HookerBoy brothers out there. Wishing you quick shooters and big tippers!
xo BH
