The discourse that we refer to as cacherismo includes a series of requirements which mark the difference between homosexuality and heterosexuality. These requirements are defined in different ways by the local community, by the brothel owner, by co-workers, by the young men's lovers, by their families, and even by the police who look the other way. According to this discourse, cacherismo is an easy way of making money by having sex with homosexuals.
To ensure that cacheros are not seen as homosexual or bisexual, there are certain discourse practices which are aimed at distinguishing them from their clients. This is done by creating divisions in behavior, practices, and lifestyles. These polarities are not neutral: one has more value than the other. The cachero is, in theory, focal, temporary, masculine, heterosexual, one who controls and exploits clients. The clients are associated with passivity, homosexuality, old age, permanence, multifariousness, and are the ones who yield to the desires of the "cachero". According to this discourse, a "cachero" is worth more than a homosexual.
Cacheros have sex for money. José tells us that money is all I'minterested in which seems to be the general feeling. "Cacheros" are not interested in having emotional relationships with men, because That'swhat women are for, says Arnoldo. None of them would have sex with men if it were not for the money says Mono. None of them admits to having felt any attraction for a man, even when very young. All began their sex lives with women and are sexually and emotionally involved with women, rather than men. Clients, on the other hand, want you to tell them they're attractive and interesting and I just don`t give a shit, confesses Alberto. Miguel cannot conceive of how two men can love each other: “I don`t know what they can share if they're the same – it is not logical.”
Lila confirms that the workers at the house are naturally heterosexual, but that desire for money and material things has made them bisexual.
| 1st interviewer: | Tell me something -I've heard you use the word "homosexual" a lot. What do you consider these guys sexually? How would you define them? |
| Lila: | I'd say they're bisexual, both ways. |
| 1st interviewer: | Bisexual? And how do they see themselves? |
| Lila: | Militant bisexuals. They don't care about homosexuality -- they say they aren't, but they have sex with men, so... what are they? |
| 1st interviewer: | But they say they're not. |
| Lila: | They say they're not because they have women, but they're willing to go with men for money. |
| 1st interviewer: | Are they looking for money or for something more than money? |
| Lila: | Well, if a very rich guy came along, they would be willing to give themselves up in exchange for living very well, which happens sometimes. |
| 1st interviewer: | But are they looking for something more than money in their relationships with men? |
| Lila: | Well, a good life. |
| 1st interviewer: | Stability? |
| Lila: | Stability, which means money. |
Andrés, a gay sex worker, does not regard his co-workers as homosexuals, and tells us that most of them are in it for the money.
| 2nd interviewer: | Deep down, do you consider your co-workers to be homosexuals? |
| Andrés: | I think generally they're not, they just think about the money. |
Finally, the owner believes that sexual tourism and wealthy foreigners who come looking for Costa Rican boys has lured thousands of young men into prostitution.
| 1st interviewer: | Do you think that money is the motivating factor here? |
| Lila: | Absolutely, 100 percent. |
| 1st interviewer: | So, if they had money, they wouldn't be going to bed with men? |
| Lila: | If they weren't being paid it would be less likely. |
| 1st interviewer: | No, no. If the guys had enough money, they wouldn't go to bed with men? |
| Lila: | Maybe not, but their ambition to always have more makes them do it. In all these seaside towns that are in the tourist guides, it's very common to find rich homosexuals from Europe or the U.S. who come looking for the rugged "macho man" that you don't find in the city. They also come to escape the fear of AIDS, so they go for peasants instead of the gays you find in the bars of big cities. The homosexual makes the trip and brings the money he's saved to spend on the guys he's going to pick up. And it's all very easy: he invites them out for drinks or to eat, comes prepared with watches, not expensive ones, but he brings cheap watches or gold-plated chains -- not real, but gold-plated -- and then the guy remarks what a nice chain it is, and he says, "If you like it, it's yours. Here, take it." The guys are fascinated, they end up having a drink with the guy, and they follow him wherever he wants... |
Masculinity, then, is not an obstacle to all types of men becoming cacheros Where money is involved, anything is possible:
| Lila: | I'm familiar with the San Carlos area and I'm really amazed when you go through Zarcero or Ciudad Quesada or you get to La Fortuna de San Carlos and any guy accepts a pick-up. You see a car go by in Ciudad Quesada, and there can be four to six guys on the corner, the driver goes by and smiles, you know, like an offer. But why's this happening? Because of tourism and foreigners -- they're being seduced by tourism. There's a lot of gay tourism all over the world. |
| 1st interviewer: | Do a lot of people come? |
| Lila: | A lot, there's no end to it. In 1964, I was working in a house, a rooming house, and once a group of 22 or 24 boxers came from Golfito, about 24 people in all, and the most brazen one asked me if I knew a homosexual -- but he used a more vulgar word, a faggot -- that a rich guy could spend the night with. So I told him I knew several. I asked him, "You want me to bring you one?" No, he said. I want 20. We're 20 gay boxers. I was stunned. I couldn't believe that in this group of 22 boxers from Golfito, 20 of them, all macho, were gay. So I asked him, "How come there's so much homosexuality in Golfito?" He answered, "Ah, it's because of the banana company bosses. They pay guys very well for sex, so half of the people in town are into it. |
| 1st interviewer: | For money? |
| Lila: | For money. |
When asked to describe a typical homosexual, one of the responses was, as Luis said, someone who "looks for company and pays." Jorge also associates homosexuality with payment of money. For him, the typical homosexual is a man who "throws away his money and doesn't care." Pedro writes them off as "fools", easily deceived by others.
Homosexuals, thus, are those who pay, while cacheros are those who charge: "I never do this if it's not for money. The ones who do it for pleasure are the gays, says Mario.
"Cacheros" are not part of Costa Rica's gay community. They stay away from gay bars, clubs, activities, organizations, or hang-outs. José, for example, emphatically denies having set foot in a gay bar. Mono has been only once in his whole life, and says he does not like gay bars:
I'll say it again, the type of homosexual and the type of scene I like is very limited... I'm not prepared to go to certain bars or clubs where there are a bunch of homosexuals who, after two, three, or four drinks are already falling apart and who think they can come and grab and squeeze you, and I don't like that.
Mario feels much the same about the main gay bars in San José:
Well, I tell you, that shithead bar owner is becoming a multimillionaire. Besides, it's a very dangerous place -- dangerous in terms of disease, especially AIDS. And I tell you, these people show up all nicely dressed and talking fancy, they have a few drinks, they pick up anyone who walks by, they grab anybody. Not that I have a lot of experience, 'cause I've only been once, but I've heard comments, and besides I know all those places are dangerous because people get drunk, they grope each other and snort drugs in the bathroom. For them it's a fun place just like a straight club would be for anybody else, you can see that anywhere...
Jonás does not go to gay dance clubs because he is afraid of turning into a homosexual:
I have gay friends I do business with. But they've told me that they started out like I did, for money, and later they began doing it for pleasure. What they did was go to clubs and hang out with gay friends... they began to change, they ended up liking it and staying. I try to avoid getting stuck in homosexuality.
Luis does not like to see, recognize, or meet clients outside of the brothel. If he walks by a client on the street and recognizes him, he tries to ignore him. Vernol explains that I never say hi to a gay on the street. Miguel thinks it’s better not to be seen at any homosexual places because gays start gossiping in front of everybody. Leo confesses that when he sees a client, “I cross the street and act like I „ve never seen him before.” For them, socializing outside the brothel means becoming homosexual. “My mother knows I work in this whorehouse, but she doesn’t want me to go to gay parties because then I’ll end up like them”, says Rodrigo. Some "cacheros" make visits to apartments or private houses. Once the client gives them his phone number, they can make dates. But it is always understood as a visit to a private place for prostitution.
Since cacheros shun gay hang-outs, they must look for other neutral places where they can pick up clients when they are not at Lila’s house. One of the favorite spots is a city park where thousands of people wander by. It is not considered a gay park, although certain sections are known as gay pick-up points. Other spots are pool halls, mixed bars, urinals, movie theaters, and certain streets. However, cacheros do not have any contact with gay venues such as bars or clubs. There are some like Carlos who tend to frequent houses of prostitution:
| 2nd interviewer: | I want you to think back to the past, to the very recent past and recall what you did on a typical day. Maybe not right now, because you'rein the process of moving out, but before when you lived here. |
| Carlos: | Well, when I lived here, I used to get up around two or three in the afternoon, take a bath, drink some coffee and stuff, and if there was nobody here -- a client, that is -- I would head out for the street. |
| 2nd interviewer: | Slow down, we`re going too fast here. You would get up at two in the afternoon -- so what time did you go to bed? |
| Carlos: | Around three or four in the morning. |
| 2nd interviewer: | You got up at two, and let's imagine that there were clients. |
| Carlos: | I'd stay there working and then after I'd go and see what was going on outside. |
| 2nd interviewer: | You went out onto the street, and what did you do on the street? |
| Carlos: | I'd walk around, go to a video arcade, where I knew someone would show up. |
| 2nd interviewer: | A client, you mean. |
| Carlos: | Yeah. Because sometimes I didn't have enough money on me to do what I was going to do. |
| 2nd interviewer: | And what were you going to do? |
| Carlos: | I was going to have a beer, buy drugs and all that stuff. |
| 2nd interviewer: | After that, where did you go? |
| Carlos: | To the brothel. |
| 2nd interviewer: | And what was happening there? |
| Carlos: | There were guys watching porno movies, snorting drugs, and drinking. That was the most typical, because that's what we did every day. |
| 2nd interviewer: | What time did you leave the house? |
| Carlos: | No, sometimes we stayed overnight there. |
Pana, a soccer player who only works at Lila's house, is a very different case. Pana is a family man and an athlete who is a real homebody.
| 2nd interviewer: | Now we're going to talk about this place. How many hours of your time do you spend here? |
| Pana: | Eight hours. |
| 2nd interviewer: | And from here do you go anywhere else to do the same kind of work? |
| Pana: | No, from here I go home. |
| 2nd interviewer: | So you don't go to bars or clubs? |
| Pana: | No, I don't even drink -- well, I can drink two, three, or four beers at the most. |
| 2nd interviewer: | Where? |
| Pana: | Here, though I'mnot a drinker. |
| 2nd interviewer: | Okay, well, what are your favorite fun places? |
| Pana: | The soccer field, the Parque de la Paz (a park) and the Casa Juvenil. |
| 2nd interviewer: | Pana, if you play soccer for a national team, how do you divide your time? |
| Pana: | The practice matches before the qualifying rounds are in the morning, until noon, and here we start at two in the afternoon, so I told the owner that if there was a game on Tuesday nights I wouldn't come to work. |
| 2nd interviewer: | So let s divide up the day. What time do you get up, and then what do you do? |
| Pana: | I go jogging at six in the morning and get back at 7.15. I take a shower at eight, have breakfast, and I stay in bed until noon, doing whatever at home. |
| 2nd interviewer: | And what time do you train? |
| Pana: | When I have a game, I leave the house at six or seven in the morning, I get to the stadium at eight, we exercise and then we kick a ball around until eleven-thirty. |
| 2nd interviewer: | Do you work here on weekends? |
| Pana: | Yeah, from two to ten at night, but with a Sunday off in between. |
| 2nd interviewer: | And do you stay here later than ten o'clock? |
| Pana: | No, I try not to stay later than ten. |
| 2nd interviewer: | Outside of here, what kind of people do you like to spend time with? |
| Pana: | Just my wife, because I've never liked going out in groups, I've never liked it. |
Cacherismo in this house is a young person's activity and ends early in life. With just one exception, there are no prostitutes over 25 in Lila's brothel. These young men are expected to spend only a few years in this job. Thousands of adult men have practiced this profession without arousing the slightest suspicion. Mono feels that, t 25, “I'm already considered a veteran”. Arnoldo believes that you only practice this profession for a while. “It's a passing thing. You'll never reach old age as a whore”. Carlos knows a lot of men who spent some time at the house but then left this profession completely.
To prove that this is a temporary job, the "cacheros" have girlfriends, become engaged, or already live with women. The majority have more than one child. Only one admitted to not being in a stable relationship with a woman, but said he did have sex with women. Many of these women know about their work, or at least suspect. Noé admits to having told her [his wife] what I do for work to prevent her hearing it from someone else. Rodrigo's mother knows that her son is a cachero and laughs about it, but she wants him to marry a woman. Mono's girlfriend waits for him in the pool hall next to the brothel. “She knows that I do this for money and that I'm not being unfaithful.” Whether or not the women know, the interviewees make it clear to others that they have female companions. “I grab my girlfriend near the pool hall so my friends will see -- then they know that I'm not queer”, says Tomás.
Two factors influence the temporary nature of prostitution. One is that Lila's clients are pederasts and want young men (without facial hair). The other has to do with moral perceptions of prostitution. Cacheros consider their work to be a sin. There is no cultural discourse that allows them to look at their activities as a profession. There is a general consensus in the country that prostitution is negative and sinful. Thus, many of these young men feel dirty working in an easy, and corrupt profession. As Fernando puts it:
| 2nd interviewer: | So, you to work in prostitution to provide a good life for your family? |
| Fernando: | For the moment, yes. |
| 2nd interviewer: | Why haven't you tried to look for a different job? |
| Fernando: | I'm looking, but it's very hard for me to find a job. |
| 2nd interviewer: | Why? |
| Fernando: | Because I don't have my papers. |
| 2nd interviewer: | You're illegal? |
| Fernando: | Yes, I'm illegal. |
| 2nd interviewer: | Does being illegal have much to do with your job? |
| Fernando: | Of course. In this country you even need papers to be a janitor. |
| 2nd interviewer: | Tell me something - can you see a time in the future when you'll be able to leave this profession? |
| Fernando: | Sure. When I get my documents, I'll find a good job, and won't have to do this -- instead I'll have a real job. This work is very dirty. |
| 2nd interviewer: | You see it as dirty? |
| Fernando | Sure. |
| 2nd interviewer: | Why? |
| Fernando | Because, I don't know... sex is something very intimate. You should only do it with someone you love or someone you'remarried to. |
Some, like Jonás, do not see it as a crime:
| 2nd interviewer: | Do you think that money can be good or bad? |
| Jonás: | Depends on how you want to use it. |
| 2nd interviewer: | Do you think money can be badly-earned? |
| Jonás: | The money I earn? |
| 2nd interviewer: | No, any kind of money earned. Are there bad jobs and good jobs? |
| Jonás: | Well, in my case, the money is well-earned because I earn it by making people happy, I'mnot stealing or anything. Badly-earned money would be from selling drugs or doing things you shouldn't. |
| 2nd interviewer: | You think that money earned from prostitution is badly-earned money? |
| Jonás: | No, it's not badly-earned. |
However, even he does not regard prostitution as a long-term job, nor does he consider it a respectable profession:
| 2nd interviewer: | Now, why did you choose this job? |
| Jonás: | Well, I got into it about a year, year and a half ago, something like that -- well, a while ago -just because I was lazy and didn't want to work, and this was easy money. That's why I'm doing this, but there's a limit to everything. Now I'm looking for work. I want to settle down, and when I do, I want to get out of this scene. |
| 2nd interviewer: | What do you mean by “settke down”? |
| Jonás: | Get my thoughts in order, because at the moment I've got like a blindfold and I can't think. I'm doing it all out of necessity, because by working you achieve lots of goals. |
Cacherismo accepts prostitution as a necessary social evil, as long as it is temporary. There is a way to wash away the sin: by having wives and children. Children help to excuse prostitution because it`s to feed my family, as Erick says. When a person stops for good, on the other hand, he can be redeemed and his past erased. Most "cacheros" want to leave the profession when they get married. In theory, for a cachero not to end up as a whore, as Luis says, he must retire on his wedding day. It should come as no surprise then, that they have children so young. Not only do they show the world that they are heterosexual, but they cleanse their souls of any sin.
Another factor that contributes to the temporary nature of the profession is the Christian notion of forgiveness. Cacheros believe that their sins are forgiven when they stop their work and repent. By stpopping work, they mean not prostituting themselves anymore and not having sex with men. Ernesto believes that God forgives your mistakes when you stop making them He believes that if he were to die at this moment, he would go straight to Hell. But if he left the profession, God would understand that I had to do it and he would forgive my sins. The other requirement is repenting for your actions. When we asked him how a person repents for something, his answer was, by feeling bad for what you do. But how do you know if you feel bad about something? we insisted. Well, by knowing that you aren't doing things because you want to, he responded. Doing things unwillingly, then, is proof of repentance. This probably means that cacheros' manifestation of heterosexuality is evidence of their repentance. “Queers, on the other hand, can't repent because they like sodomy”, concludes Erick.
Upon entering Lila's brothel, the guys sit down to chat and casually greet clients. They show no signs of preference towards any client (with few exceptions to be discussed later). When we asked Tío if he felt attracted to any particular client, his answer was a definitive no . Erick tells us that it is the client who decides, I don't choose. Rodrigo agrees, adding that he feels there are clients who promise things and don't deliver, and that bothers him. But as far as having sex with guys who are old, fat, bald, or ugly –it's all the same to me. Noé likes to perform anal penetration on his clients: “ I'll give it to anyone who wants it.” Tomás does not mind them performing oral sex on him: “As long as they don't bite me, any oral sex is good”. Arnoldo tells us that he doesn't turn down any client: “money is money.”
When we persisted with the question and asked them to choose between a handsome man and an ugly one, these were their responses:
| 2nd interviewer: | Let's say two clients show up: one is a young man of 25 or 30, very good-looking, with a nice body, and the other is an older man of about 60, fat, ugly, bald, hairy and you had to choose between them. Who would you choose? |
| Pana: | No, I don't make any distinctions based on race, or looks, or anything. I have to do my job because that's s why I'm here, and I have to get known among the clients because that'show you get popular. I have big, long penis and I'm a good masseur. If I have to penetrate a client, I do, but I don`t let them touch me, I don't care if it's Bill Clinton. They are the ones who choose, not me, so it doesn't matter to me what they're like, as long as they're clean. A young client might have a nicer butt, but I'm not concerned about that. The old guys are sometimes less passionate and more affectionate so each one has its advantages. |
Carlos thinks that cacheros actually discriminate against younger clients, though that has nothing to do with their looks:
| 2nd interviewer: | Let's talk a little about clients. Is there a certain age beyond which you think they should pay more, or less? |
| Carlos: | No, actually I think that the young ones should pay more. |
| 2nd interviewer: | Why? |
| Carlos: | Well, because the're the most difficult. They're more demanding and they ask for more. |
| 2nd interviewer: | What do you mean by young? |
| Carlos: | From 20 to 30, 35. |
| 2nd interviewer: | You've had people like that? |
| Carlos: | Sure, but they're never satisfied, they always want more, and it makes you uncomfortable. The older guys are faster. |
| 2nd interviewer: | So you don't charge them more for being old? |
| Carlos: | No, the same... that is, I tell them the price, and if they're happy, fine, and if not, fine. |
When they start to feel a preference for a particular client, they repress their feelings. Luis tells us that there are times when I like one client more than another... but I try to avoid that. When asked why, he answered that I'm afraid I would end up liking him. The same happened to Miguel, who admits that he has never liked men, but with his lifestyle, he is afraid of becoming homosexual, “as prostitution is progressive and you can end up liking it.”
Sex workers are, theoretically, only looking for money in their relations with clients. Almost all had their first sexual experience with a woman (usually much older than themselves) and their childhood sexual fantasies were about women. In order to have an erection with a man, most of them admit to closing their eyes and fantasizing that they are with a woman. At the same time, "cacheros" believe that if they did not fantasize, they would not be cacheros. According to Eduardo, “if I didn't hink about women when I have sex, I'd be a queer”. The imagination confirms that you don't like men, says Luis. The fantasy, in theory, should last for the entire sex act, and at no time should it be interrupted to enjoy sex with the client, a man.To be men, "cacheros" must think about women when they are with men, and when they are with a woman, they should not think of anyone else.
One of the main indications that cacheros like neither their jobs nor men, are their sexu