For Israeli male prostitutes, escape can be a small dream

Most offer their services in hidden apartments and massage parlors, while only a fifth are on the streets.

Nearly half of the men involved in street sex work started before turning 18 and have only an average of nine years of schooling. And half of them are Muslim.

Most men who provide sex services in a secret apartment started offering their services after the age of 25 and have an average of 12 school years. Most of them are Jewish.

Campaigners working in the field argue that some of the data presented in this five-year study are different from the situation on the ground and may be different. depending on where a place is.

One fact remains unquestioned: prostitution begins at an early age for both men and women.

“Some even start at 12 or 13,” says Maya Baron, ELEM’s program director for high-risk youth.

“At first, it’s not like the prostitution we might be familiar with. It has other forms – the teenager giving up a sexual act in exchange for something – and that something can be a box of cigarettes, a place to put the head down or anything else, “she says.

“At this stage, teenagers usually do not feel exploited and do not see themselves as part of the sex industry. By the age of 20 to 21, it is already in shape clear commercial prostitution. “

According to Baron, the majority of buyers who use male prostitutes are men and do not necessarily identify themselves as gay.

Male prostitutes are also not part of the gay community; they just sell their bodies to those who are willing to pay.

The study shows that more than two-thirds of male prostitutes provide sexual services to other men only, nearly a quarter of them provide sexual services to women only and around one tenth some provide services to both sexes.

The reasons for young men going into prostitution are many and varied, just as their female peers are, but in all sexes, sexual abuse plays a major role during childhood.

“We tend to think that girls are more abused, but that’s not true,” Baron says.

“By the age of 12, and maybe even 16, estimates show that abuse rates are close to the same level. However, there are more girls than boys in prostitution,” she says.

“I believe the reasons behind this are cultural and social and relate to the fact that girls are more likely to hurt themselves, while boys are more likely to develop criminal tendencies.”

While Baron says sex workers almost always experience some form of sexual abuse during childhood, the reasons for engaging in prostitution never come. down to abuse on their own – it’s always a combination of several factors.

“In boys, we usually see a mixture of sexual abuse and some form of social condemnation. Many of them come from closed and conservative populations, such as the Arab and religious regions,” she says.

“In these societies, questions of gender identity are often opposed to social criticism, and many end up on the streets where prostitution is going to be one of the means of survival.”

Inbal Faran-Perach, which studies the treatment of bisexual prostitutes in the healthcare system, says that male prostitutes are more likely to catch sexually transmitted infections than their counterparts. female ages.

“This population has higher levels of drug and alcohol abuse, greater involvement in anal sex and less use of condoms, so you will see more sexually transmitted diseases,” says Faran-Perach.

Faran-Perach and a colleague set up an organization to help raise awareness and provide health education to male sex workers.

The group included 73 male prostitutes from northern Israel who were taught about safe sex, nutrition and more, but had to stop activity because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Male prostitutes who want to leave the profession find that they have much narrower options than females.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare offers a program for young people of all faiths, genders and genders who work in prostitution.

The program provides access to a wide range of support services such as housing, psychosocial support, educational or employment guidance, family therapy and more.

But only two of the 13 centers scattered across the country accept men.

One center in Tel Aviv accepts men and women up to the age of 21, while another center in Haifa offers its services up to the age of 26. Both venues are open 24/7 and actively try to reach out to young people in distress.

While there are many programs and organizations aimed at supporting female prostitutes over 26, male prostitutes do not have such a choice.

To make matters worse, the ministry recently announced that its base in Haifa would no longer provide services to men.

In other words, there will be only one place left in Israel that is willing to open its doors to men who want to leave sex work – and that too just until the age of 21.

The decision came shortly after the ministry published a report last week on the state’s actions on prostitution, which show there were no plans for specific services for male sex workers.

The ministry issued a statement stating that “some boys and teenagers who work in prostitution also suffer from slavery and other conflicts and are treated in other welfare programs which specifically handles such cases. “