--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: despite having a thriving gay…" description: "\"“despite having a thriving gay prostitution scene, Damascus is unlike just about every other Middle Eastern city I have visited in not having any adole..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec1/john-r-bradley-7263_damascus_despite-having-a-thriving-gay-prostituti_274670.jpg" --- # despite having a thriving gay prostitution scene, Damascus… ![“despite having a thriving gay prostitution scene, Damascus is unlike just about every other Middle Eastern city I have visited in not having any adolescent rent boys.” quote by John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec1/john-r-bradley-7263_damascus_despite-having-a-thriving-gay-prostituti_274670.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec1/john-r-bradley-7263_damascus_despite-having-a-thriving-gay-prostituti_274670.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec1/john-r-bradley-7263_damascus_despite-having-a-thriving-gay-prostituti_274670.jpg) > ““despite having a thriving gay prostitution scene, Damascus is unlike just about every other Middle Eastern city I have visited in not having any adolescent rent boys.”” [John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Observes that Damascus has a notable gay prostitution scene but lacks adolescent rent boys, unlike other regional cities. **In simple terms:** Damascus differs in its sex work demographics. Key Takeaway Recognize unique local social dynamics. Themes culture sex work regional differences Mood analytical critical Type observational reportage When to use this quote - travel research - human rights advocacy - policy analysis Key Concepts sociology urban studies Questions to Reflect On - How do cultural attitudes shape visible sex work? - What factors protect or suppress youth exploitation? A Different Perspective May overlook hidden or unreported practices. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Damascus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/damascus/) ## Related quotes > [Las Vegas does have its fair share of males in the business. But the male sex trade is often more underground. There are escort…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-lobert/las-vegas-does-have-its-fair-share-of-males-in-the-business-but-the/) [Annie Lobert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-lobert/) > [I went with my love all over Damascus, he said. The memory is tied to the place.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/new-york-times/i-went-with-my-love-all-over-damascus-he-said-the-memory-is-tied-to/) New York Times > [“The inscription of King Mar'alqais , found south of Damascus and dated at 328 CE, is usually said to be the first document in Arabic.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angel-s-enz-badillos/the-inscription-of-king-mar-alqais-found-south-of-damascus-and-dated/) [Angel Sáenz-Badillos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angel-s-enz-badillos/) > [And it's true, you hear things in Damascus and, after a few hours, the human double-take stops operating.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-fisk/and-it-s-true-you-hear-things-in-damascus-and-after-a-few-hours-the/) [Robert Fisk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-fisk/) > [For me, a journey to Damascus is an amazing hunt from beginning to end, a slice through layers of history in search of treasure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tahir-shah/for-me-a-journey-to-damascus-is-an-amazing-hunt-from-beginning-to-end/) [Tahir Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tahir-shah/) > [“Rolf Ekeus came round to my apartment one day and showed me the name of the Iraqi diplomat who had visited the little West…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/rolf-ekeus-came-round-to-my-apartment-one-day-and-showed-me-the-name/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“Attempts to locate oneself within history are as natural, and as absurd, as attempts to locate oneself within astronomy. On the day that I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/attempts-to-locate-oneself-within-history-are-as-natural-and-as/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [In one way, I fear all Damascus is a dungeon. Or do you have to live here to appreciate that?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-fisk/in-one-way-i-fear-all-damascus-is-a-dungeon-or-do-you-have-to-live/) [Robert Fisk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-fisk/) > [True, when you behold Damascus from the Salahiyeh, the last slope of the Anti-Lebanon, it is the realization of all that you have dreamed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bayard-taylor/true-when-you-behold-damascus-from-the-salahiyeh-the-last-slope-of/) [Bayard Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bayard-taylor/) > [Damascus was the seat of the Ummayad Caliphate in the 7th and 8th centuries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-engel/damascus-was-the-seat-of-the-ummayad-caliphate-in-the-7th-and-8th/) [Richard Engel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-engel/) > [“So I close this long reflection on what I hope is a not-too-quaveringly semi-Semitic note. When I am at home, I will only enter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/so-i-close-this-long-reflection-on-what-i-hope-is-a-not-too/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“We shall remember … Damascus, the "Pearl of the East", the pride of Syria, the fabled garden of Eden, the home of princes and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/we-shall-remember-damascus-the-pearl-of-the-east-the-pride-of-syria/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Although Damascus is considered the oldest city in the world, the date of its foundation going beyond tradition, there are very few relics of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bayard-taylor/although-damascus-is-considered-the-oldest-city-in-the-world-the-date/) [Bayard Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bayard-taylor/) > [“Damascus, is simply an oasis, that is what it is. For four thousand years its waters have not gone dry or its fertility failed.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/damascus-is-simply-an-oasis-that-is-what-it-is-for-four-thousand/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) ## More by John R. Bradley > [“But if Nasser's gift to the Egyptians was their sense of pride, Mubarak's curse is to have created a cultural climate where the only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-bradley/but-if-nasser-s-gift-to-the-egyptians-was-their-sense-of-pride/) [John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) > [“However, since the Syrian regime is even less transparent than the NGOs, we have no way of knowing that, either.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-bradley/however-since-the-syrian-regime-is-even-less-transparent-than-the/) [John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) > [“After the attack, it was again the image of the country, rather than the well-being of those who had been caught up in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-bradley/after-the-attack-it-was-again-the-image-of-the-country-rather-than/) [John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) > [“Because Islam is so tightly bound up with Acehnese exceptionalism, it has since the introduction of Islamic law become the territory’s version of political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-bradley/because-islam-is-so-tightly-bound-up-with-acehnese-exceptionalism-it/) [John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) > [“After all, there is in more stable, developed countries like the United States and Britain a quantifiably more vicious culture of child abuse. A…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-bradley/after-all-there-is-in-more-stable-developed-countries-like-the-united/) [John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) > [“After that fateful day of July 23, 1952, the "Paris Along the Nile," as Cairo was lovingly renamed by the foreigners who flocked to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-bradley/after-that-fateful-day-of-july-23-1952-the-paris-along-the-nile-as/) [John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) > [“Mansour earned the nickname "Al-Turbiny," from the air-conditioned express trains linking Cairo with Egypt's second city Alexandria, whose roofs were the favored location for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-bradley/mansour-earned-the-nickname-al-turbiny-from-the-air-conditioned/) [John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) > [“The situation is complicated, though, in a country like Tunisia, where sudden and dramatic change in favor of Western-style democracy at this juncture does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-bradley/the-situation-is-complicated-though-in-a-country-like-tunisia-where/) [John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) > [“Nothing gives your average bored Sunni bigot surfing the web more instant gratification than zooming in on sigeh to condemn the Shia as debauched…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-bradley/nothing-gives-your-average-bored-sunni-bigot-surfing-the-web-more/) [John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) > [“The Arab Spring has been a dismal failure. All indications are that what comes next will be significantly worse than what existed before, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-bradley/the-arab-spring-has-been-a-dismal-failure-all-indications-are-that/) [John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) > [“An investigative report by the BBC in July 2007 found that thousands of young Egyptian men try to enter Europe illegally every year. Sometimes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-bradley/an-investigative-report-by-the-bbc-in-july-2007-found-that-thousands/) [John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) > [“A secularist but not an atheist, he used the example of the Prophet, who according to tradition did not fast in Ramadan during wartime,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-bradley/a-secularist-but-not-an-atheist-he-used-the-example-of-the-prophet/) [John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) > [“Malaysia, then, offers an example of what happens when socalled moderate Islamists are appeased by the liberal elite. They provide cover for their more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-bradley/malaysia-then-offers-an-example-of-what-happens-when-socalled/) [John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) > [“Saudi Arabia’s media and schools spew constant anti-Semitic venom, but the Al-Saud regime loathes Tehran much more than Tel Aviv. In Egypt, for all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-bradley/saudi-arabia-s-media-and-schools-spew-constant-anti-semitic-venom-but/) [John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) > [“George Orwell wrote in Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) that the sex instinct, more than any other, must be repressed if ruling elites are to maintain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-r-bradley/george-orwell-wrote-in-nineteen-eighty-four-1949-that-the-sex/) [John R. Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) [Explore all 92 John R. Bradley quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-r-bradley/) ## More Damascus quotes > [I went with my love all over Damascus, he said. The memory is tied to the place.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/new-york-times/i-went-with-my-love-all-over-damascus-he-said-the-memory-is-tied-to/) New York Times > [Although Damascus is considered the oldest city in the world, the date of its foundation going beyond tradition, there are very few relics of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bayard-taylor/although-damascus-is-considered-the-oldest-city-in-the-world-the-date/) [Bayard Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bayard-taylor/) > [“We shall remember … Damascus, the "Pearl of the East", the pride of Syria, the fabled garden of Eden, the home of princes and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/we-shall-remember-damascus-the-pearl-of-the-east-the-pride-of-syria/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“So I close this long reflection on what I hope is a not-too-quaveringly semi-Semitic note. When I am at home, I will only enter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/so-i-close-this-long-reflection-on-what-i-hope-is-a-not-too/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [Damascus was the seat of the Ummayad Caliphate in the 7th and 8th centuries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-engel/damascus-was-the-seat-of-the-ummayad-caliphate-in-the-7th-and-8th/) [Richard Engel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-engel/) > [True, when you behold Damascus from the Salahiyeh, the last slope of the Anti-Lebanon, it is the realization of all that you have dreamed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bayard-taylor/true-when-you-behold-damascus-from-the-salahiyeh-the-last-slope-of/) [Bayard Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bayard-taylor/) > [In one way, I fear all Damascus is a dungeon. Or do you have to live here to appreciate that?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-fisk/in-one-way-i-fear-all-damascus-is-a-dungeon-or-do-you-have-to-live/) [Robert Fisk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-fisk/) > [“Attempts to locate oneself within history are as natural, and as absurd, as attempts to locate oneself within astronomy. On the day that I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/attempts-to-locate-oneself-within-history-are-as-natural-and-as/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“Rolf Ekeus came round to my apartment one day and showed me the name of the Iraqi diplomat who had visited the little West…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/rolf-ekeus-came-round-to-my-apartment-one-day-and-showed-me-the-name/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [For me, a journey to Damascus is an amazing hunt from beginning to end, a slice through layers of history in search of treasure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tahir-shah/for-me-a-journey-to-damascus-is-an-amazing-hunt-from-beginning-to-end/) [Tahir Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tahir-shah/) > [And it's true, you hear things in Damascus and, after a few hours, the human double-take stops operating.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-fisk/and-it-s-true-you-hear-things-in-damascus-and-after-a-few-hours-the/) [Robert Fisk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-fisk/) > [“The inscription of King Mar'alqais , found south of Damascus and dated at 328 CE, is usually said to be the first document in Arabic.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angel-s-enz-badillos/the-inscription-of-king-mar-alqais-found-south-of-damascus-and-dated/) [Angel Sáenz-Badillos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angel-s-enz-badillos/) > [“Damascus, is simply an oasis, that is what it is. For four thousand years its waters have not gone dry or its fertility failed.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/damascus-is-simply-an-oasis-that-is-what-it-is-for-four-thousand/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) [Browse all 14 Damascus quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/damascus/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“despite having a thriving gay prostitution scene, Damascus is unlike just about every other Middle Eastern city I have visited in not having any adolescent rent boys.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John R. 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