They can be rented for long periods or even by the hour, but any client needs to be aware that security forces raid many of the houses and arrest their visitors. The sex industry in Tunis is growing, with an increasing number of apartments, massage parlours, cafes and cinemas being converted into sex shops.

They can be rented for long periods or even by the hour, but any client needs to be aware that security forces raid many of the houses and arrest their visitors. The sex industry in Tunis is growing, with an increasing number of apartments, massage parlours, cafes and cinemas being converted into sex shops.

Last year, 118 members of prostitution networks were arrested in 24 apartments.  The Nasr neighborhood in particular is an affluent area in the center of the capital where Tunisians and Libyans rent furnished apartments for prostitution. Finding the addresses of these apartments is not difficult – newspapers and Internet sites feature adverts for them.

Porn industry

The price of these basic apartments often exceeds 70 USD per day, yet there is little luxury. Such apartments can be found in rich and poor neighborhoods and often also sell drugs and pornography. Article 231 of the Tunisian Criminal Law states that prostitution can be punished with custodial sentences (six months to two years) and/or financial fines.

According to data released by the Ministry of Interior this year, a 25-year-old man was arrested recently for having sex with a 15-year-old girl in an apartment in Tunis. Video cameras and videos showing multiparty, homosexual pornography were found, featuring the same man in the apartment. Rawda Bayodh, head of the Social Prevention Department at the MoI, says that security forces often find video cameras and drugs in apartments they raid.

Coffee and sex

Massage centers have also been charged and closed for selling sexual services. Fifteen were shut down in 2015 after it was proven that they offered sex to customers for hefty fees.

Habib Rashidi, a security official, says that even cafes have turned into low-cost locations where prostitutes work. Rashidi says these cafes started in Sfax. “They provide hideaways for low-cost sex  at 2 USD for half an hour,” Rashidi told Correspondents. He says such cafes have started to appear even in Tunis’ richer districts, and are often located in dark and secluded areas so that visitors feel safe. Sex can also be bought in cinemas. For an extra fee the cinema hostesses guide customers to hidden places in the dark hall.

“Forbidden fruit is sweet”

Fathiya Sa’eedi, an expert in sociology, says that people visiting brothels seek  joy, ecstasy and satisfaction. However, the ‘joy’ concept, she explains, is relative and varies from one person to another, stressing that the motive behind seeking sexual pleasure is ” to discover, since the forbidden fruit is sweet.” Amidst the local taboos, sex and drug addiction are linked and fuelled by the experience of many young men who pay for sex, says Sa’eedi.

Addiction

Mohsen, a university student, went as a fresher with his friends to a brothel. It was the first time he had sex  in his life. During his studying years and afterwards, he became addicted to frequenting restaurants and night clubs and paying for sex. “I went to night clubs regularly. Finding a female escort to spend the night with was not that difficult especially after I became a professional, frequent visitor,” he says. “When I sit on a table and order a bottle of wine, girls start coming to me and I choose the one I fancy, strike a deal with her and go to an apartment which I rent for the night.” He says he stopped paying for sex when he heard one the girls he used to frequent was arrested, “sensing danger.”

Two-faced law

Mohsen left this world untouched, but Amani was not so lucky. Her neighbor relates how the police arrested her for having sex with a married man. Amani’s destiny is no different from the many who sought pleasure in furnished apartments and found themselves involved in prostitution cases and behind bars.