Gay saunas in rio

Behind the doors of a large, three-storey house in the gay epicentre of Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana, five blocks from the famous beach, lies a sexual playground. In the square-metre Point sauna, half-naked men walk around wearing only towels. On the first floor, sofas and tables and around 30 screens are arranged in front of a stage where drag queens and go-go boys perform for an audience of male locals and tourists.

When owner Júnior Barbosa, 49, opened Point sauna in , his competitors were aggressive. “At that time, the saunas in Copacabana didn’t want me to unlock here. I received several threats over the cell. I had to stroll around with six bodyguards and [had] an armoured car,” recalls the muscular businessman when we join at Point

On one occasion, a West African offering — these often take the form of a clay pot containing an animal sacrifice such as a chicken which is surrounded by red or black candles — was left on the sauna doorstep to seek the deities to injure either Barbosa or to cause his business to fail.

However, the intimidation didn’t frighten Barbosa, who wo