Dubai is characterized by luxury and opulence. If you want to shoot an AK out of a Lamborghini or long for an orgy in the desert, there’s someone out there to give it to you. Here is such a man.
Everyone knows something about Dubai , for better or for worse. It’s a fabulous place, always characterized by luxury and excesses. In other words, Dubai is a Las Vegas of the Middle East, if Las Vegas wore the burka.
It is the party city of the United Arab Emirates, where the pious can taste the dead fruit of their most carnal appetites, among nightclubs, fake islands, as well as the tallest and strangest skyscrapers and seven-star hotels stars.
Somewhere at the intersection of these juxtapositions lies the true character of this dilemmatic Arab spirit: a polity that is said to be united under the banner of the Ummah, but finds itself caught in endless perverse contradictions, civil wars and sectarian violence.
And sex.
I was there, a few years ago, when I realized how many sex workers were working in one hotel, sheltered by obscure wording and disguised proposals. “You can’t just ask them for sex here, bro,” I remember an American soldier telling me. “It’s old school , you have to go home with them and negotiate prices discreetly.”
I wanted to dig into the underbelly of this strange industry, so after a series of phone calls, a Ukrainian “fish” living in Dubai agreed to talk about his lucrative career.
He was a pale guy in a black suit with a diamond studded Rolex and a Burberry polo shirt. Next I leave you with what I learned from Alex* about what it’s like to manage sex workers in a country where sex work is both illegal and unmentionable.
The sex industry in Dubai for the rich of the planet
VICE: How did you end up working in the sex industry in Dubai?
Alex : I was working as a consultant at an engineering firm in Jeddah. As I moved up the corporate ladder, my job became more about spending time with clients traveling to Saudi Arabia and taking them on weekends to Dubai. I made some great connections and eventually moved to Dubai where I was subcontracted by various companies and banks to entertain their clients.
Like some kind of professional partier?
You’re right, there’s more to my job than being a fish or working with prostitutes. I take care of all the needs of my clients. We have relationships at all major hotels and night clubs. Whenever they receive celebrity guests who want to throw a party or treat their guests to something special.
Everyone who connects us gets a share of the money, and we’ve built our reputation on protecting our customers’ identities. I threw parties for celebrities, politicians and gangsters. We are all different, not everyone is into blonde women with big breasts, some rappers come and want to smoke weed in an underwater hotel, business people sometimes want to shoot AKs from camels or a Lamborghini in the desert.
I can help them enjoy life and forget about them when in Dubai. It’s heaven here for the bad guys and they can forget about the real world baby.
What was the most dodgy party you ever had to throw?
Once upon a time there was an American businessman who wanted ten burka-wearing sex workers waiting for him in a tent in the desert. We decked out the tent with sound systems, a jacuzzi outside, and enormous beds under the open sky. He made it clear that he did not want women to remove the face-covering part of their burqa when undressing.
He was a very strange guy. He was watching the servants having sex with the women. He didn’t want alcohol or anything. Only Mercedes G-Classes full of women in burqas.
And more dodgy parties for the locals?
There was a sheikh in Yemen who wanted me to get him 30 African women and enough Viagra to kill an elephant, all within an hour. He also invited me to the orgy. I said, “No, please, have fun.” And then I sat in the lobby and drank brandy until sunrise and watched as the room service people kept bringing towels to the room.
When they were done, it was like a bomb had gone off in the hotel. I had to get steam cleaners. There were all kinds of stains in that room.
I take it he wasn’t a religious guy?
The Islamism phase shouldn’t interfere with the fun. We are all animals. We have desires. I’m like a hunter. Bringing the elements together. The sin is on our shoulders. Perhaps, in their eyes, I work for the devil. But these people are not children, and sometimes religion has its time and place in Dubai, behind closed doors. We all understand that.
In the light, in public, be religious, but if you have worked hard you should indulge your appetites at night. Sin is something very natural.
Aren’t you afraid of the authorities or the religious police?
We have our connections too and are smart enough to work discreetly. We can’t really talk about these things, because the subject is sensitive. We take care of who we need. We are not harming anyone.
I know men who were whipped for not being careful and had to pull up their pants. We try to keep our business away from locals and Saudis. Obviously, our goal is to sell our services to foreigners and big businessmen, but money talks. For the right price, you can get away with anything here, just like anywhere else in the world. You can control anyone with sex or money. All the rest is nothing.
What do you think about treating women this way? And live meat trafficking is a problem all over the world.
This is a big piece of shit. Ask any woman in this place if she is forced to be here. Where we come from, these women are paid a pittance – if they are paid at all. I admit they come from bad places, but they make their money. Some of the women I know came from the poorest villages near me in the country and now drive Ferraris and live in skyscrapers. Ask them if someone put them on and they’ll laugh in your face.
The girl I had sex with in high school lives in Biarritz, France, with a millionaire philanthropist. Of course, not all sex workers live like this, but we are not in this business to exploit others.
How much money are you asking for?
If you want sex, it ain’t cheap. We don’t do business with everyone and our reputation speaks for itself. It’s a service to which you only have access by recommendation. Prices start at $1,000 per hour. Guys are $500 and up.
the boys?
Yes, not necessarily for Arabs, generally for foreigners. And it’s very strange, I’ve had some violent incidents and it’s always been with guys doing sex work.
Foreigners with money often have mixed feelings. I have sex with guys, then beat them to shame and embarrassment. Like cowards, they cannot face their own sexuality. They think they’re tough, but they like sex with other men. I don’t understand.
How do you approach these guys?
I’d rather the gorillas beat them too. But sometimes in business you have to be civil first. Sex workers need money, there is no gain in violent revenge, so we take some money for them.
Beyond the money, why do you do this job?
I like to satisfy people. In a way, I’m like a sex worker. I know the secret desires of my clients and I love to deal with them and fulfill them. I love to greet them after and see their expression.
I’m human too, I like to impress. I’ve always liked to see how gangsters behave in American movies, everyone who comes from poverty dies according to the bad guy image. They like to be rebellious. I can do that, get paid for it, and everybody thanks me. On both sides. Don’t distribute kilos of drugs in poor neighborhoods. I could have done that and made a lot more money.
Do you think what you do is important?
Some immature people believe that you can only be good or bad. Why is this desire good? And the other bad? Who decides? And I believe in negotiation.
In my marriage, I negotiate a balance with my wife: I like some things about her, others I don’t, but we make it work because we’re adults and we negotiate. And our morality is still a negotiation, and as long as it is not unbalanced in any way, we remain healthy.
I provide some services that some people think are bad, but they are natural and should be experienced from time to time. In Dubai, this bad stuff is called harm, in the west we call it freedom or emancipation. Be that as it may, they are necessary and provide a luxury service for the people of the Arab world who have the freedom to fulfill these desires. Good or bad.
