Romance or sex tourism: How women buy sex on travel
Sex tourism is becoming more popular AMONG WOMEN: according to statistics, about 600 thousand women travel around the world every year just for the sake of sex. We understand what women's sex tourism differs from male sex tourism and why he still hasn’t been given a definite verdict.
Novel or sex service
Women's sex tourism card is not so different from men. It covers areas from coastal European countries like Greece and Cyprus and the Caribbean (especially Jamaica and the Dominican Republic) to the Middle East (for example, Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey) and Africa (usually Kenya, Gambia and Senegal). Anyway, tourists from countries with a higher standard of living come to the regions where the difference in income is in their favor.
Despite the geographical coincidence, female sex tourism works differently than male. Historically, women did not use the services of sex workers, did not visit brothels, and generally did not have access to a straightforward sex purchase, Erin Sanders-McDona wrote in his book Women and the Sex Tourism Industry. Some gender researchers, such as Jacqueline Sanchez-Taylor, even call female sex tourism "romantic tourism", meaning that, as a rule, these women "buy gifts and dinners to their partner (or partners) and enjoy" romance ", but do not "use sex services". " Instead of hourly payment, a more sophisticated exchange system is used here, designed to make the relationship less like buying and selling.
In 2001, Sanchez-Taylor interviewed 240 women who were vacationing on the Caribbean coast, and found that a third of them had sex with at least one local man. At the same time, 60% of them said that they gave money to their lovers or gifts. Interestingly, only two women called their connection “purely physical”, while all the others described even one-night sex as a “holiday romance”, and 16% of respondents considered such a relationship “real love”.
"Source of care"
Most sex tourists are wealthy middle-aged women, while their “boyfriend boyfriends” tend to be young men - the balance of power almost duplicates the situation in male sex tourism. True, women may be more interested in finding emotional intimacy, as they experience many restrictions due to the requirements of gender socialization.
Newstatesman tells the story of almost 60-year-old Barbara, who came to Jamaica, experiencing a difficult divorce, and met there one of the "beach boys" (so often referred to as men involved in sex tourism). She was sure that they were being tied up by a non-romantic romantic relationship until her partner told her “No money - no sex” after she refused to give him money for drugs.
Many sex tourists prefer to perceive themselves not as a power instance, but as a “source of care” - they “help” the young foreigner to live better
"Today, many travel to make sure they are feminine. Women who are rejected by Western men feel loved, cuddled and sexy again," Sanchez-Taylor explains in his book Tourism, Travel and Sex. In addition, the researcher notes that on vacation, women get the opportunity to quietly start a relationship for which they would be convicted at home. For example, for contacting a representative of a national minority or a man younger than himself.
Many of the tourists understand that this relationship has a clear financial implication. Dun, a regular visitor to Caribbean resorts, talks about his relationship with the Jamaican: “Derrek turned my head when we first met, but I'm not completely stupid. I knew that my money interests me, because he lives in poverty. That I I get from this? A lot of fun and a great body for sex at any moment. " Dun and Derek talked at a distance — once a month she sent him £ 20 for food, and when she returned to the resort, she bought him clothes and paid for all the entertainment. But since the content of a young man is a censured practice, many sex tourists prefer to perceive themselves not as an authority, but as a “source of care” - they “help” the young foreigner to live better.
Strong and weak
Such an “optical illusion” often leads to disappointment. “These guys often talk about white women as if we are old and disgusting. I thought that Derrek respects me and really loves, until I heard him laughing at me with other guys,” says Dun about the costs of his resort. the novel. " While some women do not understand or do not want to understand what local young men are pushing towards them, the latter are perfectly aware of their motives and among themselves call sex tourists “bottles of milk”. Clinton from Jamaica says: "If I invite a tourist somewhere and she wants to help me in a friendly way, for example, to give money, and offers to stay in her room, what is this about this? Of course, I have sex with them."
The image of a white middle-aged woman, who was turned into a foreigner, “Alfonso”, became quite commonplace: we are talking about a resort who helps a man to move to a prosperous country, marries him, and then remains alone - the man suddenly leaves, saying That couple relationship was a hoax. However, it is obvious that such situations are individual, occur in any gender configuration and can be assessed more from the point of view of ethics or violation of the law.
Sanchez-Taylor generally calls for not following stereotypes and not considering women as victims even where they are in a strong position. In the case of male sex tourism, the oppressed role of sex workers or the immorality of the practice itself is usually discussed (that is, the active role of men). The women inside female sex tourism are perceived as passive objects, the researcher explains: local men use them to get money or the opportunity to leave their home country.
Relationship by need
The emergence of female sex tourism is usually associated with almost emancipation. Women have become so independent and wealthy that they can pay for any services, including sexual ones. But there is a downside. "This is a matter of survival," describes the reasons for providing resort sex services to Moussa from Senegal. "If these women were not, it would be very hard for me."
In addition to economic inequality, which pushes men from poor countries into the sex industry, researchers also mention the legacy of colonialism - it is not by chance that the Gambia and Kenya remain the favorites of wealthy sex tourists. Deborah Pruitt and Susanne Lafont write that some men in Jamaica specifically grow dreadlocks, because the wealthy tourists are attracted by the image of the Rastafarian. What can we say about racially sexual stereotypes that are still supported by both women and men, purposefully going for sex or relationships in developing African countries.
Female sex tourism is still a gray area from the point of view of the law: for example, in 2010, 28 local guys were detained in Indonesia for offering sex to tourists. In addition, there is an unspoken belief that "beach boys are not masculine enough."
Many researchers believe that attempts to distinguish between romantic and sex tourism simply allow women not to consider themselves to be customers of sex services, and men not to associate themselves with stigmatized sex work.
Many researchers, such as Armin Günther, believe that attempts to distinguish between romantic and sex tourism on a gender basis are very doubtful: they simply allow women not to consider themselves customers of sex services, and men not to associate themselves with stigmatized sex work. At the same time, “resort boyfriends,” according to Joan Phillips, have all the characteristics of a person providing sex services. They often have no other job, and most of the time they spend on the beach in search of wealthy clients.
Sanchez-Taylor, in turn, suggests using the term "romantic tourism" regardless of gender - for example, men who instead of hourly pay in a brothel choose a "resort girl", do not pay her money directly for sex, but give gifts and help financially. At the same time, it is obvious that many of the "resort" girls and boys enter into sexual relations not out of pleasure, but out of need.
In other words, the arguments that make it possible to consider women's tourism exploitation, sound as convincing as in the case of men. However, a number of researchers, including Julia O'Connell Davidson, point out that the danger of sex work is significantly lower for men: having entered into commercial relationships with women, they are much less likely to face violence.
Photo: Ulrich Seidl Film Produktion, Haut et Court
