Sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, are extremely prevalent among those in Mexico City's male sex work industry. According to a new study, a lack of protective measures and widespread risky sexual behaviors can be blamed for Mexico City's male sex workers' contraction of diseases.
Carmen Munoz, a retired sex worker, opened Casa Xochiquetzal in 2006. The erection of the new shelter drew Desrus to Mexico City, as Desrus was tasked to photograph Munoz for a magazine. Upon arriving there, Bénédicte Desrus discovered the 26 women who dwelled within and became fascinated with them, and their lives.
The New York City sex industry isn't glamorous. It's dark, seedy, lurid, and the sex work that the women and, to a lesser degree, men engage in carries the risk of danger, disease, sexual violence, and abduction. There aren't many tools that the sexually exploited demographic can use, but one tool that is at their disposal is condoms. With 50 percent of streetwalkers being African American and 25 percent being Latino, and the average age of prostitute in the United States being between the ages of 12-14 years old; it's ethic teenagers who continue to suffer HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases at a high rate -particularly when police confiscate their condoms, a form harassment that's orchestrated in order to prevent sex workers from turning tricks.
