Photos from Facebook
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(CR!S) Last Tango in San Jose is the third and final volume in the “Dances with Prostitutes” series from Thomas Ray O’Brien, the author of the “Clueless Clyde” trilogy.
Like the first two books, the subject matter is life in Costa Rica for an older gringo who enjoys the company of the local women and is willing to pay for it. Some of the episodes are weirdly funny, some are just weird, some are about the gringos who make up the whoremonger community and others are about the chicas they love, for a price.
There are a few essays about the subculture and lifestyle and some about living the life of an expatriate, but mostly it’s about gringo male and local female interactions, with money changing hands more often than not.
There is minimal explicit sex and not a great deal of “adult” language. Anyone who is revolted by the idea of prostitution or sex tourism should probably avoid this book, though anyone willing to pay for it is welcome to do so.
The book is available at Smashwords. Click here.
Published: June 16, 2016
Words: 17,800
Language: English
ISBN: 9781311452115
Cost: US$3.99
Available formats: epub mobi pdf lrf pdb txt html
More on Smashwords:
- Fiction » Erotica » Contemporary
- Fiction » Erotica » General
- Fiction » Erotica » Men’s Erotica
- Fiction » Erotica » General
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About Thomas Ray O’Brien
Thomas Ray O’Brien has lived in San Jose, Costa Rica since June of 2004. He is a retired musician and computer programmer. He is a native of Northern California and spent much of his life shuffling between the SF Bay area and the Central Valley. He attended both Cal Berkeley and CSU San Jose (California) and was able to leave without the stigma of a degree. To pass the time, he writes, dabbles in photography and video as well as music. Oh, and he likes to hang out with friends, several of whom are prostitutes.
He has sworn off golf, forever, as a public service. He has never been married and has no children, also as a public service.
]]>Most crimes involve a victim and a perpetrator. The perpetrator typically looks for his victim and the victim avoids the perpetrator as much as he can. The crime of prostitution, however, is quite different.There are two parties involved but it isn’t clear who the perpetrator is and who the victim is. Moreover, it is in the interest of both the prostitute and the client to do their best to find one another. As a result, prostitution operates just like a market: it is populated by buyers and sellers who mutually benefit when they come together to perform a transaction.
Interesting questions emerge when one thinks of prostitution as a market, but there is surprisingly little research on the economics of this particular profession. How do prostitutes and their customers, or “johns,” find one another? How much do prostitutes charge for a service, or “trick,” and how is that price negotiated? If a john prefers not to use a condom, how much more does he have to pay? How does a prostitute’s wage compare to what she earns for doing other jobs? What happens when there’s a sudden surge in demand for prostitutes, and how do prostitutes meet this demand? The difficulty of obtaining reliable data is partly to blame for the dearth of empirical analysis on the subject.
In a recent study, “An Empirical Analysis of Street-Level Prostitution,” University of Chicago professor Steven D. Levitt and Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh of Columbia University uncover intriguing answers to these questions by using publicly available information from the Chicago Police Department and, more importantly, detailed and real-time transaction data for over 2,200 tricks performed by about 160 prostitutes in three Chicago neighborhoods that the authors collected with the help of pimps and prostitutes.
The bulk of this massive data undertaking was done by trackers who were hired to follow prostitutes for two years. The trackers are mostly former prostitutes. They stood on street corners and sat in brothels, recording valuable information on every trick performed immediately after a customer left. Embedding data trackers in the daily activities of prostitutes and collecting data in real time has the potential to generate more accurate information than standard survey methods. “The prostitutes know the data collectors, trust the data collectors, and hopefully will be honest with the data collectors,” Levitt says.
Location and Organization
Prostitutes want to be where their customers can easily find them, so they tend to cluster in areas well-known to their clients much like stores do in shopping malls. Traditional marketing channels, however, are not open to them. Thus, plying their trade along stretches of major roads is an easy way for customers to survey the market without appearing suspicious. Statistics on official arrests from the Chicago Police Department from August 19, 2005, to May 1, 2007, suggest that prostitution activity is highly concentrated. Nearly half of all prostitution arrests occur in a tiny one-third of one percent of all blocks in the entire city of Chicago.
Drug selling incidents–another market-based crime– likewise occur in far fewer blocks compared with other crimes such as assault, burglary, and theft. However, drug selling is not as concentrated as prostitution. Drug dealers have to be mobile because the law on illegal drugs is more heavily enforced. Moreover, a typical drug buyer will purchase drugs more frequently than a typical john will visit a prostitute. As a result, dealers tend to know their clients better and have other ways of communicating where they will be and how to make a transaction. Prostitutes, on the other hand, deal mostly with strangers.
Looking beyond official statistics, Levitt and Venkatesh gathered and analyzed their own data, beginning with the Roseland and Pullman neighborhoods on the far South Side of Chicago. Although these neighborhoods are adjacent to one another and share similar economic and demographic characteristics, prostitutes in Roseland work without pimps while all street prostitutes in Pullman work with one of four pimps in the area. After approximately 16 months, the authors decided to include the Washington Park neighborhood when a local police campaign drove prostitution in Roseland down by a third and two pimps in Pullman were forced to close shop. Some of the women who were part of the study moved their business to Washington Park.
Prostitutes who work for pimps appear to do better than those who do not, typically working fewer hours and performing fewer tricks but still earning more money. Levitt and Venkatesh found that clients pay about $16 more per trick for women working with pimps, although some of that extra revenue goes to the pimp in return for setting up clients and protecting them against abusive customers. But even after subtracting fees for these services, a prostitute managed by a pimp receives a much higher hourly wage than if she had to fend for herself. Comparing the earnings of a subset of Roseland and Pullman prostitutes, the authors estimated that women who work without pimps earn about $25 per hour while those working with pimps earn 50 percent more.
It isn’t clear why pimps would be willing to pay a rate that is above the minimum required, or what economists call an “efficiency wage.” One possible explanation is that it’s hard for pimps to always keep an eye on the women they manage. Pimps want repeat customers, so they have to make sure that the prostitutes are serving their clients the way the pimps would want them to. By paying more, pimps effectively raise the penalty associated with being fired, which will hopefully induce better behavior on the part of the prostitutes.
The Price of a Trick
The fee for a trick varies with the type of sex act, and prostitutes seem to discriminate across clients in order to maximize profit. White men pay $8 to $9 more per trick than black customers, with Hispanic clients paying some amount in between. When bargaining, prostitutes will usually offer a price to a black customer but will make a white man throw out a number first. Repeat customers pay slightly less than new customers.
The overall price of a trick goes up by $2 if a condom is not used. Although the price premium increases with the risk associated with a particular sex act, it is much smaller than the 24 percent premium that another study reports in a survey of Mexican prostitutes. One possible way to understand this disparity is to look at where the point of bargaining begins. Using a condom is the norm in Mexico, unless a client bargains away from it, which can potentially induce large price increases. In contrast, no condom is the default in Chicago unless the customer bargains toward it, which might make it harder for the prostitute to credibly argue for a higher price.
Still, a $2 premium may seem paltry considering the enormous risk that comes with unprotected sex, not to mention that condom use is shockingly low. Levitt and Venkatesh found that condoms are used in only one of every four tricks, making the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection very high. These women face other perils as well. Prostitutes report that they are violently assaulted about once every month. Compared with jobs outside of prostitution, such as a daycare or babysitting job, prostitutes earn far more at about $25 to $30 per hour, or, roughly four times what they would take home otherwise. But because prostitution is such a dangerous, unpleasant, and stigmatizing job, are these women really earning enough to compensate them for the risks they bear?
From an outsider’s perspective, an $18 per hour wage premium doesn’t seem like a very generous enticement to do such a seemingly rotten job. However, Levitt says that from the prostitutes’ point of view and given the menu of options they have, they must believe that it is a fair compensation because they have chosen this profession. Many of them will do other work as well and prostitution is just part of a portfolio of ways that women get by in these communities. “Prostitution doesn’t seem to be a stark moral choice,” says Levitt. “It’s like a job. When it pays better, women will quit other jobs to do it.”
For example, Levitt and Venkatesh found that during the Fourth of July holiday, demand for prostitution in the Washington Park neighborhood shot up because of a large number of people who came to join the festivities in the park. As a result, the price for a trick increased by about 30 percent. To absorb this rise in demand, regular neighborhood prostitutes worked more hours while prostitutes from outside provided additional tricks. But there were other recruits, too. Women who were typically not prostitutes were willing to supply tricks at the higher price that accompanied the holiday spike in demand.
Crime and Punishment
In contrast to selling illegal drugs, there doesn’t seem to be much public will to punish prostitutes and even less to punish the men who frequent the prostitutes. “I think society has decided that prostitution is not a very grave offense, and it is treated accordingly,” says Levitt.
As a result, the risk of incarceration is low. Combining data on police arrests from the Chicago Police Department and the results of the authors’ own survey, the study estimates that prostitutes are arrested only once in every 450 tricks, but only one in ten of these arrests will lead to a prison sentence. Johns are arrested even less frequently, with only one john arrested for every 1,200 tricks.
But perhaps more striking is the rate at which a police officer can extort free sex from a prostitute. Levitt and Venkatesh found that about one in 30 tricks performed by a prostitute is a freebie to the police in return for avoiding arrest. In other words, a prostitute is more likely to have sex with an on-duty police officer than to be arrested by one.
“That is a statement about prostitution, and at its heart, it’s a statement about how confusing and topsy-turvy life in the inner city is when the police who are there to enforce the law end up being some of the lawbreakers,” Levitt says. The knowledge gained from the study on how the inner city works may be useful in understanding which avenues are available when forming public policy. “If the police are busier having sex with prostitutes than arresting them, then it gives more realism about what one can and cannot expect when designing policies for the inner city,” says Levitt.
The situation has caused havoc among Costa Rica sex workers, who are calling for government action to protect their business.
In a report by the Diario Extra, the ‘Las Caribeñas’ (Cubans), in shelters on the Panama side of the border, manage to cross the border into the country, this after Costa Rica immigration on December 18, 2015 closed the border to Cuban migrants.
Unconfirmed reports say last week there was a physical confrontation between a Tica (Costa Rican), whose husband left her for a Cubana, who offered a “better price for her sexual favours”.
“Ana”, who told the Diario Extra typically has sex with four customers a day, is lucky now to net two.
“As soon as they arrived at the border they caused problems, ravaging all that offers them good money, in fact they are cheaper than us. The men prefer them for their wide hips and for being foreign, truckers go mad for them, we have had a big drop in intimate encounters,” Ana, who has been working as a prostitute for the last five years, told the newspaper.
“They are bankrupting us, but we are fighting back. We are offering a half hour for ¢15.000 colones (US$28) and an hour for ¢25.000, the man pays the for the room. We know they (Cubans) are in transit and hope that soon they will continue their way north,” said Ana.
Sex work in Costa Rica is legal as long as it does not involve minors.
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FO·MO ˈfōmō/ anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on a social media website.
Fear of missing out or FOMO is “a pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent”. This social angst is characterized by “a desire to stay continually connected with what others are doing”.
FOMO is also defined as a fear of regret,which may lead to a compulsive concern that one might miss an opportunity for social interaction, a novel experience, profitable investment or other satisfying event. In other words, FOMO perpetuates the fear of having made the wrong decision on how to spend time, as “you can imagine how things could be different”.
That is the definition of FOMO bouncing around.
So are you are FOMO? Well, you are if this happens to you a lot, while sitting or standing in the Del Rey or Key Largo or other joint, eyeing the parade of women, looking for the right one for tonight. “Is she the one or do I wait to see what is coming in next?”
It’s not a surprise you can’t decide, choose. Most of us have a pretty bad case of FOMO, if we’re willing to admit it.
It’s normal to feel this anticipatory regret from time to time. FOMO makes us lose perspective, driving us, often blindly, to decisions we don’t want to make.
Recent studies have shown that FOMO is often linked to feelings of disconnection and dissatisfaction, and that social media fuels it. Think how many people constantly scan email or Facebook or forums to keep up with updates. Some people don’t just want to keep up – they start to compare and evaluate their lives based on how they see others portraying their own.
As an article from Psychologies Magazine points out, FOMO is a phenomenon that predates the trendy abbreviation; it’s a “modern take on the grass being greener on the other side.”
You might be a FOMO if you …constantly scan the room for every girl …can’t choose one over the other over another …regret the decision after making it ..wish you had chosen her over her …had just waited a minute more and you would have taken what just came in …
My guess is you’re reading this because FOMO feels familiar to you.
Whatever choice we make, there’s always a chance a different choice might have been more fun. Especially if things go wrong.
The good news? FOMO, like most things, is a choice. When you know what’s going on, you can name it and claim it. There is no problem coming out, telling your best friend you’re a FOMO.
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Canada’s Conservative government is attempting abolish the sex trade by targeting “johns” (customers) who purchase sex and anyone else who profits from or advertises the sexual services of others.
A bill tabled Wednesday by Justice Minister Peter McKay aims to overhaul Canada’s prostitution laws that views the sex trade as an illicit activity practiced by women who have no options. “The bill . . . recognizes that the vast majority of those that sell sexual services do not do so by choice. We view the vast majority of those involved in selling sexual services as victims,” said Justice Minister Peter MacKay.
Up to five years in jail or ten years if a minor (under the age of 18) is involved. Fines can up be up to CA$4.000 dollars, with more severe penalties if the exchange occurs in public places, likes parkes or near schools.
Despite the government’s claim it wants to protect vulnerable women and target only at those who profit from victimizing them, the Conservative bill takes aim at prostitutes, too, depending on where and how they practice their trade. The bill criminalizes the act of selling sex in public places or places “where children could reasonably be expected to be present,” in MacKay’s words. It bans the advertisement of sex for sale online, as well as targeting anyone who receives a “material benefit” as a result of an “exploitive relationship” with prostitutes, he said.
He said the aim is not to arrest physicians or cab drivers who might interact with prostitutes. However, when asked about drivers or bodyguards hired by prostitutes for personal security reasons, MacKay said the test for a court would be the existence of an exploitative relationship.
The Supreme Court of Canada had overturned the law against “living on the avails” of prostitution because it was too broad and did not allow prostitutes to voluntarily hire bodyguards, drivers or receptionists who could help them in setting safe working conditions.
In Canada, right now, prostitutes are criminalized, but johns are not – something the Supreme Court gave the feds a year to change after concluding the current system makes the already risky lives of hookers even more dangerous.
IN COSTA RICA prostitution is not illegal, though pimping (proxenetismo) is. Women (and men) of legal age (18 years of age and over) can solicit sex in exchange for payment and prostitutes can live off the avails of their trade.
Under the Codigo Penal (Criminal Code), it is illegal for anyone “to promotes, induce, force or recruit for prostitution persons of either sex”. The penalty is from two and fives years in prison. The penalty can be double – up to ten years – when minors involved. The double penalty can also be applied in cases where deceit, violence or other form of intimidation or coercion takes place.
Related: A Journey Into the World of Prostitution in Costa Rica
Typically, in Costa Rica, the solicitation of sex occurs indoors in bars, massage parlours, spas, even the local supermarket. It is not common, though there are instances of, prostitutes offering up their services on the street. Though not all bars allow or desire prostitutes in their establishments, some however look forward to it, as it increases customers and sales.
Street walkers in Costa Rica can generally fall into two categories: women who are problems with entering a bar, mostly underage who cannot present their “cedula” or other form of ID, and men (transvestites). In the case of the latter, there have been numerous reports that sex is not on the menu, but rather robbery.
Prostitutes in Costa Rica come in many forms, from the hard core prostitute to the mom around the corner earning a few colones to buy formula for their babies.
The check out girl at the local supermarket who offers to help you home with your groceries, to the hot (or not so hot) girl at the end of the bar making googly eyes at you. Either way, you will be paying for sex, the former cheaper (as in less expensive) to the latter. Sorry to burst the bubble, but it isn’t your good looks or charms, but rather you ability to pay.
Massage parlours in and around San José are abundant, more than 100 at last count. They can range from the upscale in Barrio Amón to the dives around the Mercado Borbón, where ¢5.000 colones (US$9.25) OR LESS you can buy a roll in the sack. In the Borbón, the ladies (at least I think they are ladies) will stand on the street, at the entrance of the second floor room where you can have – for a price – your way with her.
Outside San José the massage parlours and “hooker” bars are less. In tourist areas like Jacó, Quepos, Tamarindo and Playas del Coco, where there is (was) an abundance of foreign tourists, sex for hire is openly available. In other areas, you will have to seek out “local” watering holes.
Unlike in the “norte” (the U.S. and Canada), in Costa Rica the majority sex social workers (prostitutes) are women looking to supplement their family income, in many cases are heads of households and even support the extended family. Some are hooking to pay for their tuition, others to buy a new smartphone or travel.
Whatever the case, in Costa Rica, most women use prostitution to feed their families or better themselves and not their drug habit or other nasty addictions.
It is not unusual for a prostitute in Costa Rica to deny you service. I have been in the famous bar with the pink exterior and listened in on conversations where, either the customer is not wanting to pay the going rate or demanding kinky extras or just grosses out the woman and she says “no”. Well, not really a no, but “OK baby, I will be right back”.
Back to the Canadians. MacKay’s department has pointed to the results of online consultations that elicited more than 30,000 responses. It suggests 56 per cent of respondents supported criminal penalties for the purchase of sex, while 66 per cent believed the sellers of sexual services should not be subject to the criminal law
If the law passes, we are sure to see many Canadian men facing a jail term and fine that can lead to a nasty and expensive divorce, look to Costa Rica for their sex-for-pay habit.
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It’s been a few weeks since the “Beatles” bar re-opened in Jacó. Thought I would give them some time to remake a name for themselves, regain the impact it once had on the mongering scene in Costa Rica’s famous (or infamous) Central Pacific town.
Walking in was like a throw back in time. Gone are barrier doors and the bouncers harassing the girls and customers alike, that “new” owners had placed between the horny guys outside and the money hungry girls inside.
Gone is also the cover charge.
Back at the helm is once again Jack, the creator of the original concept of the Beatles bar. Back, however, is the atmosphere. But it still lacks the girls and the customers.
Monger bars depend on the guys coming in, that in turn attracts the women, that in turn attracts more guys, that in turn attracts more women, that in turn…well you get the picture.
It was a Saturday night, around 10pm when I visited the bar that is no called “The (picture of the Beatles) bar” and can sum up my experience as disappointing.
I am sure that it will take some time for the bar to get its lustre back. I am many certainly hope so.
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