Evanna Kearins is running late today. Her book Rent, published this month by Marino, explores the world of male vice in Dublin. Within its pages she interviews the prostitutes themselves and highlights what s often a dangerous and self-destroying way of life.
The Sligo-born Today FM journalist is suddenly on the other end of the tape recorder. Newspapers and radio stations are queueing up to enquire as to why she chose to study a phenomenon that mainstream society would prefer to ignore?
While studying for my BA at Dublin City University, I happened to bump into a transvestite guy on my way home from a formal do, and I confess I was shocked and fascinated, Kearins says. This was what the people at home had warned me about (laughs), city-dwellers and their weird ways, it was obviously something I d never come across before in Sligo, though doubtless it exists there, too. I became interested in the way that these guys were stigmatised and victimised by society, for no reason whatever, and eventually did my thesis around the subject of gender identification and sexuality. When later I was studying for my MA, it took a while to identify the type of work I wanted to pursue, but with the encouragement of tutors and lecturers I decided to do something that hadn t been done before, and look at the, admittedly very different, issues surrounding male prostitution. It was later suggested to me to publish the report in the form of a book.
How difficult was it to enter a scene that is absolutely closed to women?
The sauna guys and the massage service guys were easy to contact since they advertise. Street guys were more difficult.
Initially I went to the most visible places. I d lived in Dublin for years, there d been political scandals in that time centred around the Phoenix Park, so basically I went initially with a male friend. I dressed as a guy, jeans, hooded top etc., really so as I could approach boys, and after the trials and hassles I describe in the book, I gained the confidence of several guys. I couldn t offer money, as I didn t need to be told what they thought I wanted to hear, but eventually I established a relationship I could work within.
Surely it was a dangerous undertaking? Attacks in public parks all over the world are commonplace,
and prostitutes are known to be wary of reporting such attacks to the Gardam.
(laughs), I was terrified! It is a dangerous business, but for these guys it is a business, and all business has an element of risk, that s how they see it. They need that tiny element of control. Ostensibly these guys say they are there by choice, they choose to provide a service for money, in reality, due to drug dependency, homelessness, hopelessness even. For all sorts of reasons, they ve no choice at all. Often kids would ask me What do you think I should do? , and the inability to offer any kind of real advice upset me and depressed me a great deal.
The book describes, sometimes quite graphically, the services provided by these young men. Did Kearins feel that this detail was a necessary inclusion?
I wasn t going to compromise the voices of those people who spoke to me. I didn t invent this stuff! The reason I wrote the book was to say to ordinary people this exists, this is going on under our noses and the only agencies who re looking out for these kids are underfunded groups like the Men s Health Project who just don t have the resources for outreach workers. Most street hustlers identify as heterosexual, many may well be, others come from backgrounds where it s extremely difficult to identify as gay, so the gay groups who re doing most of the work are doubly hobbled. Language is a problem. Many of the street guys in particular, have suffered great emotional and sexual abuse. Many seek comfort in the life or in drugs or both. The situation brings a poverty of hope in the person, and as I said, Jesus, I don t have the answers.
Does she keep in touch with her interviewees?
No, I don t, she admits, I see one guy still, in fact he s been interviewed with me for various media, but I don t call up to the Park anymore. It s not a pleasant place. I ve Garda contacts who tell me who s still about, who s sick, who s not around . . . I think about them often but I have to remain detached, objective. I m a journalist, I m not a social worker.
Was she tempted to speak to a punter ?
God I wish! I tried about twice, you approach the car, they see you re a girl, vroooom! Of course, I couldn t try it again because sex workers don t appreciate some girl chasing their money out of the Park! I couldn t allow myself to be bad for business. Most of these punters are married, thirty-plus and older: they may identify as closet gay or maybe identify as straight but go with a boy now and then . . . it s a murky world. Many of these guys could easily go to any gay bar in Dublin and score, but they can t take the risk of being seen. Many seem to prefer the secretive aspect of dealing exclusively with people they pay. That might be a control thing, I don t know. Even the working guys I became aquainted with would never ask their clients on my behalf to talk to me.
On the subject of married clients, the book details the services and prices provided by sex workers. Several report having accepted an increased fee for sex without protection. Since heroin use, and associated HIV/AIDS infection is widepread amongst male street prostitutes, why would punters take the risk?
I can t tell you that, apart from the obvious fact that barrier methods, while absolutely necessary in any form of casual sexual encounter in my lifetime, probably lessen the intimacy of sexual contact for some. I can speculate that men who have made the decision to step outside the social norm and use the services of a sex-worker have already embarked on a course of action that could conceivably devastate their lives . . . like I said, it s a murky world. The working guys themselves are doing this primarily for money. Plus these guys are in competition with each other if he won t do it, he will.
Kearins has come in for some criticism in that she had not told some of her interviewees that she had been approached by Marino, and planned to publish the report in book form. Also, several people have objected to the publication of photographs in the book, showing areas where prostitutes operate.
On the first point I can only say that I was not aware of the protocol involved, and had been under the impression that I had complete control over any material I had collected from interviewees. A couple of people, workers in the health and voluntary areas, expressed concern when they learned of the book, but I ve since explained my position and the waters have been oiled. I am profoundly grateful to all those people who help me with this project, and thank many of them in the book.
On the subject of location phographs, I don t think anyone even vaguely familiar with Dublin is unaware of the Wellington Monument in the Park, and since it was mentioned repeatedly in the book it seemed ridiculous to refuse to print a visual. I was quite adamant however that no pictures of working guys in any form were to be printed.
I notice that although the phrase is repeatedly used in the book, at no point has Kirwan used the word prostitute during our interview.
It s no big deal, she smiles, I just don t like the word. Anyway, the guys themselves never use it.