Many people have helped make this study possible. First of all, Dr. Peter Aggleton of the University of London, who convinced me to conduct a study on male prostitution for an anthology to be published in the United Kingdom by Taylor and Francis Publishers. Dr. Aggleton helped me translate an abstract of the study into English, and participated as editor and co-author. His suggestions were extremely helpful in improving the manuscript.
Antonio Bustamante, who coordinated the data collection phase, made the initial contacts, obtained permission to enter Lila's house, and served as a consultant on the topic of “cacherismo” in Central America.
Lidia Montero, who helped transcribe the interviews, an extremely tedious job because of the enormous volume of material gathered.
Without Lila and the young men, this project would never have been possible. Despite the risks for everyone involved, their collaboration has left me deeply indebted to them. ILPES’ launch of a prevention program and the opening of a clubhouse for sex workers are small tokens of my appreciation.
Hector Elizondo, coordinator of ILPES Group 2828, who works with groups of gay sex workers was, as always, the first to give me the “green light” for publication. His sixth sense for literature and his ability to tell me what he does not like is, for me, irreplaceable. Nevertheless, the responsibility for what is written in this book is mine and mine alone. My interpretations do not represent any official position of the institute, the donor, any of my co-workers who collaborated on this project, or the publisher.
Many thanks to all of you. And to the readers, I ask you to read this book with an open mind and an open heart.
Jacobo Schifter