He waits for the sun to set over Grand-Baie before he puts his flawless young hand around her wrinkled white shoulders. It’s an insider’s trick. In the dark, the contrast between old and young skin isn’t as apparent. Discretion. Over 10 years that he spent selling himself to middle-aged western women on vacation, it’s one of the skills that Dario has perfected. On the beaches of Péreybère, Trou-aux-Biches and Mon-Choisy, these women are referred to as manzé (“meals”). If the young men find that a meal is particularly well-preserved, they might call her a deer. Because it’s more polite. What they don’t know is that in academic research, the women are called sex tourists – and they are, male prostitutes.

We first met Dario four years ago. He was convinced that he had struck a jackpot since an Italian in her 50s had almost agreed to marry him. Putting a wedding ring on a western woman’s finger is the equivalent of being promoted to a managerial position, in that world. But Dario’s deal by the looks of it didn’t go through because last Saturday, there he was. Whispering soft words into the ears of another white woman with wrinkles around her eyes, in an upmarket seaside restaurant where she picked up the bill. It would be unfair to pass a moral judgment upon the Darios of this island, or the women who use their services. Mainly because it’s difficult to establish who is exploiting who, if anyone.

The young men don’t see themselves as prostitutes. When asked, Dario claimed not to be suffering psychologically from making himself sleep with old white women for whom he feels no physical attraction. The young men don’t explicitly ask for cash payments after sex, but accept gifts, meals and “help” with settling debts. As for the women, they rarely see themselves as sex buyers. Studies show that many of them label the experience a love story of a different kind, not an outright business deal. It might not be an exploitation issue and yet, it would be detrimental to allow female sex tourism to continue undisturbed on our northern beaches.

Not a disease in itself, it’s merely a symptom of an underlying, more serious condition. To become a male prostitute, a “beach boy”, is no one’s childhood dream. Dario once wanted to study marine biology. But, coming from a low-income family, he always knew that university would not be an option. And so, he made a calculated decision. He could opt for a low-paid job, bearing in mind that non-graduates in Mauritius get salaries that barely cover their basic costs of living. Or, he could get a job on the beach, selling necklaces or stand in a boat house, where it would be easy to meet middle-aged western women who would be the source of a better income. The fact that too many young men view inexplicit prostitution as a safer bet, a more reliable path financial security than hard work is a sign that we have failed as a society. Think of all the wasted talent, what the young men could have achieved if all their energy hadn’t been poured into calculating the perfect moment to put an arm around a white woman four times their age.

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