[BOOK][B] Sex work matters

MH Ditmore, A Levy, A Willman - 2010 - academia.edu
MH Ditmore, A Levy, A Willman
2010academia.edu
Robin is a fifteen-year-old boy living at Shakhari Bazaar, Old Dhaka, Bangladesh. His
mother is a homemaker and his father a small shopkeeper. Apart from his study, Robin loves
going to the cinemas and reading books. But what he likes most is getting up early in the
morning, only to stare in absorbed fascination at a neighbor, the main goalkeeper of a local
football team–how he flexes his biceps, how he curves his back for stretching–during
physical exercise on the roof of the house opposite theirs. Robin likes it because he feels it …
Robin is a fifteen-year-old boy living at Shakhari Bazaar, Old Dhaka, Bangladesh. His mother is a homemaker and his father a small shopkeeper. Apart from his study, Robin loves going to the cinemas and reading books. But what he likes most is getting up early in the morning, only to stare in absorbed fascination at a neighbor, the main goalkeeper of a local football team–how he flexes his biceps, how he curves his back for stretching–during physical exercise on the roof of the house opposite theirs. Robin likes it because he feels it like thunder throughout his body and it leaves him hard. But he likes not that he likes it; he does not understand why he a boy will feel attracted towards boys. He has heard of gays and managed to swallow a handful of gay-based films, but he dared not talk to anyone to clarify what ‘gay’actually stands for and–Hai’allah!–if he belongs to this group! He is further dispirited, ashamed and irritated by his own assumption that he lacks the macho in him and that he is ‘effeminate’–probably a hijra? So his feeling for the boys? The fact is: he has always been like this; when he was a kid he would stealthily watch his father rubbing soaps during bathing; at school recess or during adda, he gladly offers to massage his friends’ shoulders; the posters he collects, by saving from tiffin money, are mostly of hunks, of topless hunks, from Hollywoody Chris Evans to Bollywoody Hrithik Roshan. His mother must have smelt, but been ignoring, something unusual, something ‘diabolic,’in Robin, but now she feels threatened. It was reported that Robin recently told one of his friends that he’s not going to marry. The mother decides to stop anything ‘shameful’to happen and makes arrangement to marry Robin to one of his cousins within a couple of weeks with a conviction that marriage will re-channel Robin’s sexual drive. Robin is perplexed; he
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