Gentleman's Club

Gentleman's Club
by Cristina de Middel

Prostitution has traditionally been presented and explained focusing on those who sell their body. Whether it is to open the debate around the boundaries of women ́s rights or to insist on the condescending attribution of prostitution as the oldest profession (when there are doubts that it is even a profession and certainty that it is not the oldest), the truth is that it is a reality that is still half understood because the other half, the clients, has hardly been explained.

After decades of photographic documentation of brothels around the world, we know all the details of the crime involved and the sweating pores and nipples of the girls trapped in dirty rooms, but the faces and motivations of the clients are still a mystery. The logics of the sacred law of supply and demand seems to vanish for this specific business, like a miracle nobody cares about.

In 2015, in order to reach a better visual balance in the representation of sex work, Cristina De Middel put an advert in a newspaper in Rio de Janeiro looking for clients who were willing to pose for me in exchange of money. Many men responded and these portraits and interviews became the first chapter of Gentlemen ́s Club: a visual index of sex work users around the world.

For 7 years Cristina traveled to the cities that have a link with the business to collect a total of 100 images and interviews in which the men share their motivations and opinions about paying for sex. The cities are Havana, Mexico City, Paris, Bangkok, Los Angeles, Lagos, Kabul, Amsterdam and Mumbai, some are well known for their sex tourism industry, others for their contribution to the romanticization of sex work or to show the cultural differences that impregnate this big global secret.

All the men were asked about their first experience, their motivations, their feelings and their opinions, and all the men were paid for their time and for sharing their privacy with an unknown person that is Cristina De Middel.

Image Credits: This Book is True

Specification

Format: Hardcover book
Pages: 224
Images: 100 photographs
Printing: Offset 4/4 on Omega 120gsm 
Size: Book 16,5cm x 24cm
Limited edition to 500 copies