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three pairs of lovers with space


BOYS FOR SALE
BY DENNIS DREW AND JONATHAN DRAKE

 

Boys for Sale: A Study of the Prostitution of Young Boys for Sexual Purposes by Dennis Drew and Jonathan Drake was published by Brown Book Company in New York in 1969.

Of the authors, Dennis Drew was the nom de plume of Western Michigan University Sociology Professor Dennison W. Nichols and Jonathan Drake was the nom de plume of Yale Divinity Professor George Parker Rossman (1919-2013), “whose contribution was largely in supplying the information for the book.”[1] Under his real name, Rossman was author of one of the three only book-length general studies of Greek love in English, Sexual Experience Between Men and Boys (1976),[2] and a novel, Pirate Slave (1977)

 

[DEDICATION]

To those boys who have contributed

great quantities of their time and energy

so that this book could be written

 

CONTENTS

Foreword by Andrew Bradbury, Ph.D.......11 to 15

Authors’ Preface.......................17 to 20

Ancient Times .............................21

Boy Prostitution in Roman Times..........22 to 29

Emperor Hadrian — boy slaves — boy prostitutes at the Colosseum — a 48-hour-long intercourse? — aphrodisiacs

Modern Italy..........................29 to 32

Peyrefitte’s description of Naples in more recent times — Nazi influence on boy prostitution — Moroccan soldiers renting boys from their mothers

France ..............................33 to 37

France up to World War II — boy-lovers among the Crusaders — Gilles de Rais — 10,000 boy prostitutes in Paris alone! — the “young martyrs” — Hector Malot’s SansFamille” — souteneurs and petit jesus

Modern France........................37 to 40

Strong puritan reaction — clean-up of French cities? — “flower boys” sell more than flowers — “en garde” against today’s little Parisian hustlers

Germany ............................41 to 45

Hamburg in 1879 — “just one bit of sausage” — “boys’ smoking rooms” — boy brothels with Greek motifs — export of German boys for sex — available bellboys

Spain ............................ 47 to 53

Arabs & Moors — boy brothels in Spanish ports — pre-teen boys in Barcelona bathrooms — Why Germans love Spanish beaches — backseat fellators

Egypt............................ 54 to 58

1600 naked boys in one parade — the boys do the dancing — fun among the pyramids

Sudan and Eritrea[3] ............................ 59 to 60

North Africa ............................ 61 to 67

Algeria and its 24-hour-a-day nude boy brothels — boys at 10 cents an hour — Morocco — Fez — having a boy on the sidewalk — swinging Marrakech — what its schoolboys do during summer vacation — Tangiers, where boy business is revived by tourists

Africa, South of the Sahara ..............68 to 69

The Middle East ...................... 71 to 88

What’s a ’69 boys’ brothel really like? — children used as “travellers’ cheques” — Damascus drivers supply young nephews — Beirut’s double-sexed brothels — the pimp with the flaming red convertible — a brothel lived 400 years — Turkish police have fun too — “auto—boys”“child tax” victims

Russia ...............................89 to 91

Upper class men and ballet boys — what happened to Jewish schoolboys at diploma time

Afghanistan ..........................93 to 95

“Batshas” — the Emir of Bukhara — copulation not confidential — what Kabul boys think of Westerners

Iran ................................95 to 96

The boys of Shiraz are as beautiful as its girls — are Persians really sexier than the rest of the world?

China..............................98 to 107

Where life is cheap, so are boys — the disappearing blond brothel boy — actors beware! — bruiseless whippings — “Stinking Flower Unloved” changes his name — “A Chinese boy is as good as a European woman...but different” — China is anal not oral — feigning pain — dilatatory methods

Japan.............................109 to 116

Leaving a catamite for care and instruction — boy trainers — the wiggly finger in the bottom does the trick — relations are formal but fun — tea-house boy prices — hasty but refreshing fellatio

The Philippines........ 117 to 124

Boy prostitution in the Philippines has ancient roots — “bini boys” — the Englishman’s 13-year-old maid was not really a maid!

Ceylon and Singapore.................125 to 126

Ceylon’s boys are docile and obedientSingapore’s are getting scarce but still worth looking for

India and Pakistan ...................127 to 134

Ancient temple sculptures raise eyebrows — Lahore boy whores — my uncle is a white slaver — pinching an expensive bottom in old Agra

Other interesting parts in the Far East .... 135 to 139

Thailand & tea for two with a topless trouserless totBali dances where you can’t tell when the dance ends and the intercourse beginsVietnam in the days of the Frenchslim pickings in Australia

United States.......................141 to 219

Including in order:  Peg-houses and why they existed — $1 houses in the old Wild West — Los Angeles hitch-hikers - who goes up the back stairs in resort hotels — “Companion Service” — very high camp — the history of Henry and “Hoss” (page 150) — Mike the bootblackContemporary New York(153) — where the “scene is” — little boys hit the street to buy cars with their bodies — Case Histories starting on page 158  — how boys in New York City turn prostitute (page 169 ff.) — more Case Histories starting on page 172 — how much hustlers earn — the customers (page 182 ff.)biography of Len, the friendly pimpportrait of George C., a frequently satisfied customer (page 193ff.)the future of boy prostitution — Authors’ conclusions (page 217 ff.)

Afterthoughts............................220

 

FOREWORD

This is a book about boy prostitution. It was compiled and written by an historian with sociological orientation and a journalist who has skill as a social scientist. Their presentation of the subject will be of interest to professionals and laymen alike.

Among the many fascinating observations detailed in this work are those dealing with the difference between an outright homosexual and a paederast or “boy-lover. ” I agree thoroughly with the authors in their conclusion that the paederast has many different reasons for consorting with boys rather than women (or adult males.) Some men, for example, may find women a threat, and others are inordinately shy in female company, or find girls difficult to get along with, or find boys easier to obtain, or less demanding. There is also in many men the fear of causing a pregnancy, with all the attendant consequences. Some cultivate paederasty as an amusing sport, while others find rich emotional depth and poetic meaning in Greek Love, as it is often called. In every case, I assert, the man who seeks young boys for sexual relations is seeking something feminine. It is significant that such a high percentage of men who patronize boy prostitutes — especially among travelling businessmen or tourists overseas — are married men. Because they are loyal to their wives, and do not want to associate with other women, they turn to the pretty young boys who are so often available, thinking “If others enjoy it so, perhaps I should at least give it a try. ”

                       Frontispiece

From the days of the ancient world, boy prostitution has been associated with entertainment and pleasure. Whether the boy prostitutes were singers, dancers, young actors, companions in a box at a Chinese theatre or simply a pleasant diversion at a rest stop while on a long trip, they have long furnished amusement for wealthy and privileged males. As Mary McCarthy has pointed out in The Stones of Florence, paederasty has always been common in virile and wealthy societies. I would further add that boy prostitution is a special province of tourists. Europeans who come to America, and Americans who go to Europe, for example, are continually on the prowl for “variety” and “diversions” in quest of sexual satisfaction. Not surprisingly, they often turn to boys. A large number of men arrested in compromising situations with boy prostitutes are respectable family men with children of their own. Not only homosexuals, who are seeking men for love, but all kinds of men search out the young boy prostitute because of the sweetness of his skin, the charm of his body shape and its softness, the honey taste of his lips and his winsome manner.

G.W. Henry and others have continually pointed out that the traffic in young boys is much larger than society has dared to admit, even privately. The authors of this volume give impressive evidence of the fact that this is true today, that it has always been true throughout recorded history, and that not only will it most likely continue to be true, but that it may well increase in intensity.

We cannot expect the authors of such a definitive work as this volume to deal with every multiple facet of the all-encompassing subject of paederasty. However, they develop ideas such as how ironic it is that boy prostitutes themselves are considered all too often to be the guilty party and consequently punished inhumanely for nothing more than being helpless, exploited children. Surely society ought to see that a young boy prostitute needs to be loved, helped, and understood...not punished!

Similarly, when (through the authors of this book) you meet the pimps who profit from the trade in boy prostitutes, you will be astonished that you can easily also have compassion for these outcast men, who are, in most cases, themselves victims of a misspent youth. They are often the only people who really love and help boy prostitutes. You would be astonished, upon getting to know them personally, to find out that they, too, are victims of society. Yes, if we were to seek out a culprit, a guilty party, it should be society itself — society which allows young children to go hungry and to be neglected. The guilty ones are the hypocrites who pass laws against sexual activities which they themselves enjoy and practice. Prostitution is the inevitable concomitant of a society which is based upon an “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die”philosophy, accompanied by the wealth and privilege which make possible selfish indulgence and luxury, and a constant quest for new and unusual and ever more decadent amusements.

In this near-pagan era, the Playboy philosophy — for the man with few interests except his own comfort and amusements — leads inevitably to all kinds of carousing. He searches for thrills in drugs, sexual exploration, and other adventures to stimulate his jaded appetites. By the Playboy philosophy then, why shouldn’t a man who is titillated by a pretty boy’s young body seek to experience the unique new pleasure which that body might provide?

If Christianity is indeed declining, and for many people God is dead, then one would not be surprised to find the world returning to the pursuit of exciting sensuous pleasures which characterized the pre-Christian Greek and Roman worlds. Sexual involvements with prepubescent children of both sexes was a major pastime in that era.

The callous lack of concern that the Nazis showed for other people’s young innocents was a foretaste of what a truly non-religious culture could be like. From Communist China, there is a recent report of how the Chinese Communists can deal with the problem of boy prostitution. A boy was found in a hotel room with a foreigner. The police invaded the hotel room, shot the little youngster before the eyes of the tourist, and went off leaving the shocked visitor unmolested. This is certainly not the love and understanding that a religious culture should propose for the exploited child.

The answer, therefore, may be a return to the Bible where we can read:

“Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. ”

“Every one that loveth is born of God.”

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear. ”

“Let brotherly love continue.”

Boy prostitution will disappear from human society only when such precepts are written clear upon the heart of every man.

Meanwhile, I congratulate the authors of this important book for bringing before us the facts which should be known by every intelligent person who seeks to understand the truth of the world we live in. Every responsible citizen who wishes to help end exploitation and injustice by giving society new motivations, will obtain many valid ideas from this book.

Andrew Bradbury, Ph.D.

 

AUTHORS’ PREFACE

A study such as this requires the co-operation of many people, for so much of the essential data is not available in published sources. At the same time, the names of these persons cannot be revealed in acknowledgements of appreciation, because many of them have supplied information at some risk. For this reason, we omit the usual listing of our helpful friends, while thanking them as an anonymous whole for their most valuable contributions and assistance, without which this book could not have been written.

Dr. Parker Rossman, main author

The only accurate sources, ultimately, for a study of prostitution, are interviews with prostitutes and their patrons, pimps and prosecutors. The aim of this survey is to be clinically descriptive and scientific within the framework of the methods of behavioural science. Naturally, matters which involve emotions and lawbreaking, pains and joys, sorrows and moments of happiness, are difficult to treat with complete objectivity. And, we are not essentially interested in the question of morality — right and wrong are proper subjects for ethical discussions but have no place in a work of descriptive behavioural science.

Inevitably, however, as human beings are involved, we cannot avoid some subjective reactions, which lead, in turn, to compassionate observation and, as a consequence, to occasional recommendations and judgements. We have tried to separate them from our scientific findings to the best of our ability.

As Samir Khalaf has written in Prostitution in a Changing Society, (Beirut, A. Khayats, 1965), “Like almost all other social problems, prostitution has been undergoing a change. ” However, this is inevitable, for as manners and morals in any society change, so does its prostitution, although in lagging fashion. The shifting moral and social standards, particularly noticeable in large urban areas, the increasing secularism and greater sexual freedom; these have all had a definite impact upon the socio-economic status of the professional sex dispenser. This resulted in a shift from the older and cruder system of prostitution, with its open brothels and notorious streetwalkers, to a more clandestine type of assignation... there exists today an unregulated and organized traffic of free-lance hustlers.” Khalaf goes on to point out that in the West, the appearance of the free-lance hustler has tended to eliminate the brothel, while in the Middle East, the two continue, at points, to be competitive.

Khalaf is also helpful at the point of defining prostitution: "... which is not to be confused with illicit sex unions of lovers for there is no affection in prostitution." Another useful definition comes from M.A. Elliot and F.S. Merrill who, in their work Social Disorganization, (Harper, New York, 1951), define prostitution as “sex union on a promiscuous and monetary basis with accompanying emotional indifference.”

Khalaf says that prostitution changes radically if any one of three factors change — if the need for money is eliminated, if a prostitute becomes emotionally involved, or, if promiscuity disappears because of a permanent liaison. Therefore, much of paederasty is not prostitution. The “marriage” of a boy to a man, or the “adoption” of a boy by a man for sexual purposes, cannot be considered prostitution per se.

We begin by pointing out that much of the historical and geographical evidence that we cite is proof that prostitution of boys is a universal and inevitable phenomenon. We may say, with Khalaf, that “in the language of sociologists, it has a functional role in society...licensed or not, . some form or degree of prostitution is inevitable. No society is yet known — civilized or barbaric — that is free of it.” Although he is speaking here of female prostitution, the quotation obviously is equally applicable to all forms of prostitution. The fact of its universality proves that the prostitution of boys meets needs so basic that laws, even the death penalty, have done almost nothing towards eliminating it.

The question, then, is not whether the prostitution of boys should be unobtrusively condoned, or whether it should be expressly prohibited. Whatever laws are passed, whatever moral attitudes are taken, and whatever speeches are made to denounce it, the fact remains that it will continue to exist, as long as there are buyers and sellers. This will certainly be forever.

The question before us now is what may be done to deal responsibly and creatively with the situation — not as a criminal problem but a social situation. How can we adjust to the inevitable, and, at the same time, eliminate as much as possible of the evil involved?

The Authors.

 

[1] D.W. Nichols interviewed by D. Tsang in Midwest Gay Academic Journal I, issues 1-3 (1977), p. 11.

[2] The other two were Greek Love by J.Z. Eglinton (1964) and Loving Boys by Dr. Eduard Brongersma (2 vols., 1986).

[3] The two paragraphs on these countries have not been presented on this website as they are merely brief summaries of a little of what is to be found in Sean O’Callaghan’s The Slave Trade Today (1961), qv.

 

 

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