Paradoxically, they are at the same time unique places where male friendship and complicity take place, allowing homosociability and the expression of a certain type of affection and feelings among men.
Probably, the proliferation of sexual venues is a manifestation of the changes in sexual commerce and adult entertainment. These venues are currently integrated in urban economies and they are making an increasingly significant contribution to the entertainment and leisure economy in Western countries.
Their location and visibility within the urban space is highly revealing of the sexual values that dominate in a particular context Hubbard et al. However, these venues are stigmatized, and for the inhabitants of Calama, these places are associated with commercial sex. Women who enter or frequently go to such places on their own do so only at the risk of their reputation.
The mining workers use an analogy of family to emphasize the close emotional bonds among their members. The nature of mining work, the comparative physical isolation, and work shifts are all involved in the formation of a relatively self-contained reference group whose members work and spend their leisure time together Collis In this type of work, individual safety depends on others, solidarity within work crews developing from the shared responsibility of working underground.
Workmates are also leisure companions. There is also considerable pressure from fellow-miners to conform to the norms of mateship, team spirit, and the macho image Collis They include various types of nudity, physical contact, and individual erotic services Frank In Chile, leisure and sex commerce are typical in places such as cafe and legs , saunas, and traditional night clubs set up in the late s, when the military government and its restrictions were coming to an end.
