This post is not about Ari, or, the documentary report
I feel that I have a pretty good handle on the sex industry in this country. I mean, there's not much to understand: men pay women or other men for sex, or to dance provocatively, or whatever. Sometimes women are the clients, but I gather that's relatively rare. There are pimps, who are the exploitative businessmen behind it all, sometimes there's a thin veneer of credibility to disguise it from the law, and so forth. I know it's actually quite complicated (please don't ream me out, certain Doctor of Philosophy on my friends list!) and I'm eliding a lot, but the basic outline is pretty straightforward.
This weekend, though, I saw a documentary that convinced me that I will never understand the sex industry in Japan. The film is "The Great Happiness Space" and it's about host boys in Japan.
Host boys are young pretty boys
who are paid, by the hour, to spend time with women in clubs, and show them a good time. I had previously heard of this phenomenon in a travel documentary, but it was presented in kind of a cursory, almost insulting way. (In Soviet Japan, sex worker pays for you!) In actuality, there are many, many points on which I am deeply, deeply confused.
* First of all, are host boys sex workers in the first place? The documentary tackles that question head-on, and the answer turns out to be no, but kinda yes, but really no, but also sometimes yes, but let's go with no. They're pretty clearly not being paid for sex, but sometimes they wind up having sex with clients anyway, but generally that's incidental to what they're being paid for. In fact, one of them points out in an interview that once he has sex with a girl, she often doesn't come back, so he pretty much never does.
* One would assume that host boys' clients are lonely middle-aged women, possibly loney businesswomen or businessmen's wives. One would be wrong, though. In fact, one would make an ass out of you and me, if one were to assume that. Most clients in the host boy club are actually provocatively dressed young women. So why do these girls need to pay for companionship? And where are they getting the money to do so? (It can be very expensive.) Well, the documentary presents an answer for this, an answer that is bourne out in interviews. It turns out, 80-90% of the host club's clients are prostitutes. Women who have sex with men for money. WELL THAT JUST ANSWERS EVERYTHING.
* The host boys speak with this amazing mix of blatant lies ("we never pressure women. We just provide an atmosphere in which she is comfortable buying more.") and blatant truths ("on an average day I'll drink ten of these bottles. I drink one, throw up, drink another, throw up, and so on. Sometimes I see blood.") One of them mentions that he doesn't even know anymore when he's lying and when he's telling the truth. I guess that's not confusing, but it's amazing nonetheless.
* These clubs are holes. Why would someone pay that much money to be entertained in such a cheesy, grungy, depressing atmosphere? I mean, I can understand hanging out in such a place, but damn, why pay that much money for the privilege?
* Where is the money going? These services are expensive, but it's impossible to tell how expensive, because of the lying. Whenever someone mentions a number, it doesn't fit with all the other numbers and seems just plain random. I don't know if any of these people have any idea how much money actually passes through their hands.
* Does the money go to drugs? Drugs are never, ever mentioned, and I would guess that they're not used. After all, host boys, as part of their jobs, must down fantastic quantities of alcohol. So, doing cocaine on top of that is probably not so appealing.
* Undoubtedly much of the money goes to hair-care product and flashy accessories. I wonder how much of Dolce & Gabana and Clairol's global sales are due to host boys.
This weekend, though, I saw a documentary that convinced me that I will never understand the sex industry in Japan. The film is "The Great Happiness Space" and it's about host boys in Japan.
Host boys are young pretty boys
who are paid, by the hour, to spend time with women in clubs, and show them a good time. I had previously heard of this phenomenon in a travel documentary, but it was presented in kind of a cursory, almost insulting way. (In Soviet Japan, sex worker pays for you!) In actuality, there are many, many points on which I am deeply, deeply confused.
* First of all, are host boys sex workers in the first place? The documentary tackles that question head-on, and the answer turns out to be no, but kinda yes, but really no, but also sometimes yes, but let's go with no. They're pretty clearly not being paid for sex, but sometimes they wind up having sex with clients anyway, but generally that's incidental to what they're being paid for. In fact, one of them points out in an interview that once he has sex with a girl, she often doesn't come back, so he pretty much never does.
* One would assume that host boys' clients are lonely middle-aged women, possibly loney businesswomen or businessmen's wives. One would be wrong, though. In fact, one would make an ass out of you and me, if one were to assume that. Most clients in the host boy club are actually provocatively dressed young women. So why do these girls need to pay for companionship? And where are they getting the money to do so? (It can be very expensive.) Well, the documentary presents an answer for this, an answer that is bourne out in interviews. It turns out, 80-90% of the host club's clients are prostitutes. Women who have sex with men for money. WELL THAT JUST ANSWERS EVERYTHING.
* The host boys speak with this amazing mix of blatant lies ("we never pressure women. We just provide an atmosphere in which she is comfortable buying more.") and blatant truths ("on an average day I'll drink ten of these bottles. I drink one, throw up, drink another, throw up, and so on. Sometimes I see blood.") One of them mentions that he doesn't even know anymore when he's lying and when he's telling the truth. I guess that's not confusing, but it's amazing nonetheless.
* These clubs are holes. Why would someone pay that much money to be entertained in such a cheesy, grungy, depressing atmosphere? I mean, I can understand hanging out in such a place, but damn, why pay that much money for the privilege?
* Where is the money going? These services are expensive, but it's impossible to tell how expensive, because of the lying. Whenever someone mentions a number, it doesn't fit with all the other numbers and seems just plain random. I don't know if any of these people have any idea how much money actually passes through their hands.
* Does the money go to drugs? Drugs are never, ever mentioned, and I would guess that they're not used. After all, host boys, as part of their jobs, must down fantastic quantities of alcohol. So, doing cocaine on top of that is probably not so appealing.
* Undoubtedly much of the money goes to hair-care product and flashy accessories. I wonder how much of Dolce & Gabana and Clairol's global sales are due to host boys.