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 unfriendly. “At that time, the saunas in Copacabana didn’t want me to unlock here. I received several threats over the cell. I had to saunter around with six bodyguards and [had] an armoured car,” recalls the muscular businessman when we assemble 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 hurt either Barbosa or to cause his business to fail.

However, the intimidation didn’t frighten Barbosa, who would go on to reinvent Copacabana’s gay nightlife. He is proud of his achievements: he lives in a spa