Public sex has undergone a significant development in the past eight years, both in terms of the number and diversity of the participants and their sexual practices. In 1990, only the clients of the Beirut movie theater were divided up according to specific sexual preferences. Now, all the PSPs are divided into areas to cater for different sexual tastes. The purpose of this specialization is to reduce the time needed to make sexual contacts and to make it easier. In a globalized world, where time gets shorter, it makes sense for prostitutes to divide up the different benches or spaces between heterosexuals, gays, Nicaraguans, those who are active and those who are passive. In this way, clients can more easily select their merchandise. Integrated markets and the collapse of tariff barriers have finally reached the under-developed nations. One of the “Chicago boys” is now director of the Central Bank and in the Parque Principal, penises are exhibited according to size.
This is the only park in the capital that has not been remodeled or rebuilt in recent years. Public telephones have been installed on the north and south side of the park, and there are also bus stops and taxi stands on the north side. The most remarkable thing about this place is that it is still unlit. Although the alleyway is still used, the derelict house has been demolished and turned into a private parking lot.
One of the main changes that have taken place is that contacts now occur throughout the day. Another is that the park has become specialized. The south and west sides of the park are frequented by sex workers, whose ages range from approximately 17 to 25, and who offer their services at night. They position themselves strategically, according to their sexual orientation: those in the south eastern sector are predominantly gays who work as prostitutes, while those in the south western sector are bisexual or heterosexual prostitutes.
Another specific group that frequents the park are the “locusts”, young criminals and muggers who, among other things, make money from gay sex. These young street kids rob gays and sex workers alike. However, as we shall see, the division between mugger and sex worker is sometimes non-existent.
One of the points of greatest attraction is the metal gazebo located in the center of the park, and the trees around it. This is the scene of what is termed a “ballet”: male group sex. We see a young man of about 21 take out his penis and begin to masturbate. About twenty men, participants and spectators, take part in the orgy.
Another change has been the generalization of micturition. Urinating or pretending to do so is now a group affair. Occasionally, you can see up to ten men pretending to urinate, a phenomenon seldom seen before.
Prostitution has also become more common and more open. Given that sex workers have their own space, clients do not need to waste time trying to decipher who is who. They approach in their cars and after inspecting the available “goods”, they make contact with the prostitutes. The average fee is between ¢3.000 and ¢5.000 ($12 and $18), depending on whether or not they agree to penetrate or be penetrated.
Public phones have become instruments of public sex. Clients have memorized the phone numbers and often make calls to pick up contacts or to have phone sex. The ethnographer recorded one of the calls he received.
Hello, who’s calling?
Armando, at your service.
Do you really want to serve me? I’ve got a real hard-on.
That’s great, but I’m doing a study on public sex.
Quit fooling! Can you describe yourself?
Well, I’m 23, tall, not too heavy, black hair...
And what’s it look like?
What does what look like?
Your dick.
It’s where it should be, unless it’s dropped.
Are you going to fool around, or are you going to be serious?
I just want to ask a few things, that’s all. I’ll tell you about my dick if you answer
some questions.
Like what? (the voice sounds irritated)
How many times a week do you call this number?
I call every night.
And you always have phone sex?
Yes. Sometimes I meet people and we go someplace else.
How long have you been making calls here?
About two years. It’s very exciting. Well, are you going to tell me what it’s like?
My dick is very small, barely the size of a finger.
(The call ends abruptly as the caller slams the phone down).
The alleyway, meanwhile, continues in full swing. The number of participants has increased both in the park and in the alley.
Public sex has gradually spread to other public parks in San Jose. Right in the heart of the city, is the Parque Principal (Main Park), the most important park in the capital. Located in front of a church, it covers about an acre of land and was recently restored as part of the city council’s urban renewal program.
Contacts here are primarily between sex workers and their clients, though it is well known that the area around a nearby fast-food restaurant is a social meeting place for gays, especially young ones.
The area where the public phones are located, to the west of the square, is an important pick-up point. People pretend to call and begin to exchange glances either with other callers or those who stand in line pretending to wait to make a call. “You know I have a real hard-on” a young man is saying on the phone, and there’s a guy who’s waiting to make a call.” This is a way of coming on to the guy who is waiting. We notice how, when he hangs up and leaves, the man who was pretending to wait in line to make a call follows him and they make contact.
Special mention should be made of the public toilets in the fast food restaurant located just north of Parque Principal, where sexual encounters which have begun in the park are continued. The restrooms are located at the far end of the restaurant, which itself is a meeting place for the city’s gay community. The toilets offer a measure of privacy. One of the ethnographers witnessed a sexual encounter there. As he entered, he saw several individuals gathered around the washbasins and at the urinals by the wall. One of them, standing at the urinal, was showing his penis to a young man beside him, who proceeded to masturbate him. Though they appeared anxious at the possible arrival of a security guard, the presence of the ethnographer did not bother them in the least. Such encounters appear to be fairly common here.
To the west of Parque Principal is another square with similar characteristics, the Parque de La Misericordia. Located in front of the church after which it is named, this park has also been remodeled as part of the urban renewal plan, and has a similar structure to the previous park, though this place is much better maintained and cleaner that the first. It is also less crowded.
Here, sex workers of Nicaraguan origin are the absolute majority. The process of making contacts is the same as in the Parque Principal, but here the sex workers usually sit on the many benches around La Misericordia, where clients seek them out.
Just north of downtown San Jose are two other parks that form part of this geography of desire: Colombia Park and Pinochet Park.
Both are located in one of the capital’s most conservative and traditional districts, surrounded by buildings of primordial urban importance. They both contain numerous statues, such as one of “La Loba”, a female guerrilla fighter and feminist writer who wrote just one extraordinary story:“The story of a body which never published”.
On the south side of Pinochet Park is Thai Pei, one of the city’s main female brothels. Here there is a constant flow of men -- both locals and foreigners -- especially at night. During the past two years, Pinochet Park has become a meeting point for female sex workers and their clients, and more recently, transvestite prostitutes have begun to work this area. Both transvestites and prostitutes perform hurried oral sex and masturbation in the surrounding area. As for Colombia Park, some male sex workers mention it as a pick-up point. They usually gather around the edge of the park in the afternoon to wait for clients who arrive by car or on foot.
San Jose has recently seen a boom in the construction of US-style commercial centers or shopping malls. One of the most popular is the Saint Pamela Mall, located at the entrance to the capital’s eastern sector.
During the first months after the mall was opened, the public toilets became the preferred places for certain kinds of sexual contacts, especially masturbation and oral sex. For this reason, the management adopted restrictive measures, such as the closure of most of the bathrooms in the side corridors and strict controls in the men’s toilets near the eating areas. However, public sex continues in the bathrooms of the mall’s movie theaters, mainly after the movies have begun, as is also the case in other commercial centers.
University campuses have become very popular public sex places, both for heterosexuals and homosexuals. There is sexual activity in the toilets of private and public universities at all hours.
The University of the Republic, in San Pablo, is one of the country’s leading state universities. Those who come to the campus in search of sex start to arrive around noon, and stay for a few hours. Unlike other places, the action here takes place in broad daylight, for which reason the behavior codes vary considerably. People who frequent the campus for sex usually wear sports clothes or lycra which allows them to show off their genitals.
Some places are well known as pick-up points or to signal availability. One is the public telephone located just outside the School of Geometry (north western sector of the campus) which the university’s own security staff call the “gay phone”. This phone rings constantly and if the person who answers is willing, the caller will soon appear. As one of the security guards tells us, this is “telemarketing, because people can do their cruising from home.”
Other well known pick-up on the university campus are the men’s toilets. A visit is enough to see the sexual graffiti and slogans daubed on the walls as well as telephone numbers offering services that show these places are popular with the university’s gay population. This afternoon, however, something unusual is going on. A woman enters the toilets with two men. We follow behind them and as we enter, one of the occupants whispers to us: “Did you see how the broad went into one cubicle and the two guys into another?”. Our confidant stands there listening. Moans can be heard coming from both cubicles. “That broad is jerking off listening to the two gays”, he tells us. He heads towards her cubicle and says: “Honey, you want some help? Why don’t you open the door and I’ll keep you company?”. The woman does not reply and continues moaning. The young man returns to the urinal and begins to masturbate. He shouts at the woman: “What a waste, bitch! I have to do it alone!”. He looks at us hoping to get our sympathy. When the moans from all four (at very different rhythms) subside, the two gays come out of the cubicle and tell us: “Guys, please, leave so our friend can go without being seen.” We all leave the toilets.
The Balneario del Fuego, a public swimming pool and spa, is the only place on our map of desire that is located outside San Jose. The place is full of young people, adolescents and children as well as families and groups of friends, though there are also older people, all of them from the lower social strata.
The spa has become a popular meeting place for some sectors of the gay community, especially week days. The observers were able to identify a number of well known gays, including a male sex worker who is very popular in the capital’s gay bars. Among the information gathered at the spa was the fact that many hair stylists flock to the spa on Mondays, when they normally take the day off work.
One way to exhibit the genitals is by wearing tiny tangas or tight-fitting swimsuits. When two men are attracted to each other, they head for the showers and the dressing rooms. Some stand guard at the entrance so that others can have sex inside. In the showers, we notice a sex worker soaping himself with his penis totally erect. An effeminate man, a well-known hairdresser, bathes beside him and then makes a sign for him to follow him into the dressing room. Both enter while four others help to stand guard as they watch the sexual encounter. Amid all the action, two sportsmen enter the showers and watch the movement in the changing room from afar.“Don’t go near there, they’re fucking in there”, one of them shouts loudly, so that everyone will hear. More men gather to look.
If there is a new almost mythical place fixed in the minds of nearly the whole gay population of Costa Rica, it is La Llanura , nicknamed by many “La finca” (“The Farm”), a paradise of anonymous public sex in the country. The area is completely accessible. There are no obstacles around the perimeter to restrict access and it is easy to enter on foot and by car. There are five major entry points for cars and the entire place is crisscrossed by paved roads leading to four large parking areas inside the park. The lighting is conspicuous by its absence.
At night, La Llanura is taken over by men who come in search of sex. The visitors are of every age, from youngsters of 18 or 19 to older men aged 60 or 70. They are also of a visibly higher social class than the clients at most other places: many of the clients turn up in new cars that are known to be expensive (BMWs, Pathfinders, Toyotas).
Those who frequent the place report that sexual activity in La Llanura begins at nightfall. As soon as the sports players have left the soccer and baseball pitches located in the south western sector of the park, (around 5 or 6 p.m.), sexual encounters begin between people who arrive on foot and who use the cover from a dense line of trees to hide from prying eyes.
But it is at night, especially week-ends, when La Llanura - particularly the western sector -- becomes “the farm” where men come in search of impersonal sex with other men.
Visitors to La Llanura must become familiar with the behavior code. In the first place, it is almost indispensable to have a car. Clients drive along the streets at low speed with their lights on, while around them other cars circulate in the same way. This is how initial contacts are established.
The next step in the ritual is to facilitate a more direct contact. To do this, the client drives through the car parks to see who is there, or else leaves his own car in one of the parking lots. He immediately turns off his car lights: this is the first sign that he is looking for a sexual contact. Soon one or more cars will approach and follow the same conduct.
After getting out of their cars, two or three individuals hang around the changing rooms near the soccer pitch. A young man of about 20 is the center of attention of the other two. The car owners approach him. They do not say anything. The young man allows one of them to kiss him passionately. The other man stands behind, rubbing his erect penis against him without removing his pants. Then he gently takes off his belt and lowers his pants. The man who kisses him finishes taking off his underpants. He caresses his buttocks, grabs him by the waist and asks him to turn around. As the young man turns, the other man begins to fellate the one who has put on a condom, as if to lubricate it. The young man bends over and the other begins to penetrate him. By this time, another 15 cars have parked in the area and a circle of spectators surrounds the two men and the young man. Most of the onlookers masturbate as they watch the spectacle. Then, the man who is penetrating the guy asks him to walk around the circle. Each bystander can touch and kiss either of the two men. The third man ends up performing oral sex on one of the spectators.
Other new points in this tour of public sex places are the movie theaters, especially those showing movies which could be classified as pornographic, of which there are several in the capital. Eight years ago, the only movie theater used for public sex was the Beirut, which has now been closed down. However, the movies shown there were not pornographic and the place did not officially qualify as a “sex place”. The new movie theaters where public sex takes place do not hide their eroticism. Nor do they discriminate against sexual orientation. Heterosexuals and homosexuals have divided up the space between them to have their sexual encounters.
The Limon City movie theater is located in one of the capital’s red light districts, a few blocks south of Second Avenue, and is one of the oldest movie theaters in San Jose. The building, with its pale blue facade and pink doors, is hardly known for its decorative good taste. The decor is shabby, there are large posters of movies that one guesses to be appalling and others of old Mexican porn movies which have probably been stuck to the walls for forty years or more. The place is unlit, except for four orange-colored lamps inside and the glare from the movie screen itself. There is a black cube on which the present projection equipment stands -- a video machine (the movie theater no longer shows movies as such, but videos). On the night of our visit the movie titled “Insatiable” was being shown.
Aficionados of public sex also have Cinema 545 at their disposal, an establishment similar to the previous one but with a few notable differences. Although this theater shows pornographic movies from Europe, especially from Italy (such as “Flamenco Ecstasy” shown on the night of the observation), is in far better shape than the Limon City. It is clean, well managed and the ticket office at the entrance charges ¢ 700.
Unlike the Limon City, this movie house shows films. Though the material is equally pornographic, it is of superior quality with better scripts, more attractive actors and, in general, offers something more than simple, non-sequential sexual encounters.
These movie theaters are predominantly frequented by men. Among the fifty or so people at the Limon City, there was only one woman accompanied by her partner, while at the 545 Cinema there were three women, all with partners. The average age of the audience was 30 to 50 years, though we also observed a few younger people and some older people.
The division of the rooms, especially at the Limon City, is accompanied by an extreme polarization in accordance with practices and sexual orientation. The rear right-hand section is where the gays congregate to have different kinds of sex. The rest of the theater, however, is the territory of apparently heterosexual men.
When the movies get “hot” you can see a stream of men heading for the toilets. At the Limon City theater there are three cubicles with open doors. Men are sitting on the three toilet bowls. Soon others decide to enter. One stops and begins to take off his pants. He takes out his erect penis and looks at someone who is outside. The latter looks at the occupant of the next cubicle and compares the “goods”. The first man has a larger and thicker penis than the second, so he chooses his cubicle. He enters and takes down his pants. The man who was waiting for him decides to fellate him. However, they do not close the door. Other clients, including the man in the next cubicle, watch the scene. The protagonists enjoy the attention. When the man who is being fellated is on the point of ejaculating, he abruptly withdraws his penis and returns to his seat. Half an hour later he returns to the bathrooms to begin another encounter.
In the 545 Cinema, the main activity takes place in the seats. In the darkest area, one of the three women present is being passionately kissed by a man, apparently her boyfriend. However, he leaves her for a few minutes to go to the bathroom. Another man who is sitting two rows behind the woman leaves his seat and sits next to her. The woman looks at him and pretends to be uninterested. Then she turns to look at him and smiles. The man kisses her and puts his hand under her blouse. Since it is made of cotton and has buttons down the front, he takes it off completely and also removes her bra. The woman’s previous companion returns from the bathroom. Instead of being angry, he sits down without saying a word. While the other man kisses his girlfriend, he opens the man’s zipper and takes out his penis. He begins to suck it. A few seconds later, the woman says something that suggests she is going to leave. The man who has been kissing her allows the other man to continue giving him oral sex while she goes to the women’s rest room.
Special mention should be made of a pornographic video rental business that also doubles as a public sex place. Video Pop, as the place is called, is located in the heart of the capital, in an old house painted in loud colors (yellow, orange) with a large sign bearing its name. It is located in an area frequented by prostitutes, where there are many office and apartment buildings and large numbers of cars circulate.
Video Pop began as a place renting pornographic videos and eventually expanded its services to include video shows, live sex shows and private areas where different kinds of sexual activities are available. The establishment has many plastic seats and benches where clients sit. The main feature of this old house is that it constantly appears to be in the process of being remodeled and always looks half-finished: ever since it was opened, it has had unpainted walls, wooden divisions and unfinished floors. In general terms, it is a dirty place.
Video Pop opens at 2 p.m. and closes at 11 p.m., and its services are divided according to the population: homosexual or heterosexual. Video rentals cost ¢ 500 for heterosexuals and double for homosexuals. The owner justifies this difference saying that gay videos are “harder to come by and many clients steal them.” The cost of watching a video on the premises, without renting it, is ¢ 500.
On entering, clients are greeted by the owner at the reception desk. Beyond is a large room containing a video collection from which clients can make a selection. Along the corridor are two viewing rooms: the small room with a large TV, a videocassette machine and chairs, is for gays. Next to it is a dark room where all kinds of sexual activities take place and a small room which is used by a female prostitute to have sex with non-gay men. The larger room shows heterosexual videos and has a bathroom at the far end.
We walk into the gay room. About fifteen young men aged 18 to 25 are watching a porn movie. The owner walks in every so often, using sexual language to “warm up” the clients. “Okay, okay, let’s get our pants off, I want to see some dicks,” he tells the clients. Some giggle nervously and don’t know what to do. “Anyone who won’t show me his dick, I’ll take him to the whore in the straights’ room”, he says, pretending to be angry . “Come on, Carlos, I know you like people to see your hard-on, take your pants down”. The owner is heterosexual but he knows that the sooner his clients lose their inhibitions, the sooner others can come in and pay to watch. Only the young man called Carlos dares to take his pants down. The owner turns to a young effeminate kid, who looks around with frightened eyes. “You, come here! Don’t tell me that you don’t want all of this up inside you?”, he says as he pulls him out of his chair by the hand. “I decide what everyone does here, µcause you can’t fool me,” says the owner smiling. He hands a condom to Carlos. The young men laugh. “You, come here and suck him, he’s got a good tool”, the owner tells a young man who appears to be a student, and who, surprisingly, obeys him. He pushes three others who do not want to join in towards a curtain that separates the heterosexual area, in order to “ warm up by watching”, as he says. In this room, a female prostitute is having sex with four men who take turns to penetrate her. After watching for a while, the three young men return to the gay room and begin to masturbate. The owner encourages them. “Come on, boys! Don’t be shy, don’t be discouraged, just remember to wear a condom.”
The same saunas of previous years continue to operate. But number of clients and the prices have increased. Nowadays, the entrance fees range from 1100 and 1300 colones ($5 y $6). However, the most striking change has been the specialization of these establishments and the opening of new saunas.
One of these is called “Adonis”. It is located on the top floor of a narrow building and to enter you ring a bell on a black door leading to some stairs. At the end is an electric gate which is opened from inside. The opening hours are similar to the other saunas, from 2 to 10 p.m. Liquor, beer and soft drinks are sold on the premises, though there is no refrigerator to keep them cold. There is only a small icebox whose contents are quickly sold and must be replenished from a nearby store.
Adonis is the only sauna where sex does not take place among the clients, but rather with sex workers who are employed as masseurs. The masseurs gather in the sauna’s TV room, wearing short, tight-fitting lycra pants, swim suits or underpants. One of them, the most popular with clients, is a young man measuring almost 1.80 meters tall, dark-skinned, with well-defined muscles and very well endowed genitals. “How much do you charge?”, we ask. “Depends what we do,” he answers. “If you want me to stick it up you, it costs seven thousand colones, and with a condom. I don’t make exceptions. Three thousand for a rub”. “Why do you charge so much?” we ask. “Well, just imagine this all stiff ”, he says, showing me his penis.
Not only have public sex place diversified and specialized, but the number of clients has doubled. On an average day, nearly 600 people have sex and on the busiest days more than a thousand:
| Place | Minimum | Maximum |
| Parque Monumental | 80 | 150 |
| Alleyway | 40 | 80 |
| Parque Principal | 60 | 90 |
| Restaurant toilets | 30 | 50 |
| Misericordia Park | 40 | 80 |
| Parque Colombia | 20 | 40 |
| Parque Pinochet | 20 | 40 |
| Cine Limon City | 30 | 60 |
| Cine 545 | 25 | 50 |
| Sauna Laton | 30 | 70 |
| Sauna Decoro | 20 | 50 |
| Sauna Jolon | 30 | 60 |
| Sauna Adonis | 30 | 60 |
| Balneario El Fuego | 30 | 50 |
| La República University | 25 | 50 |
| Malls | 15 | 30 |
| Video Pop | 40 | 80 |
| Total | 565 | 1030 |