Josephine Bingler - Global Sex Tourism

            I think we can all agree that traveling to new places is a way for us to immerse ourselves in new cultures, have new experiences, and indulge in pleasures. For example, nice massages or in the case of this article Bodies, Borders, and Sex Tourism in a Globalized World: A Tale of Two Cities - Amsterdam and Havana, a plethora of options to fulfill sexual ideals and desires. Wonders and Michalowski write that when we travel, we shed much of our identities and adopt new ones as we "feel free to experience the identity of "others" by sampling cultural products, experiences, bodies, and identities" (552). The article explores why sex tourism has grown to be the large industry it is today while connecting it directly to globalization. 

            With the global sex industry being worth at least $20 billion a year, there is obviously a large demand for sex workers and factors such as migration and tourism are leading factors to the growth and success of the sex tourism industry. The article focuses on Havana and Amsterdam, two very different cities. In Havana, increased globalization lead to acceptance of US currency. Therefore, the sex tourism industry became larger, more stable, and accepted. In Amsterdam, due to the liberal culture and global forces, the government had to become involved and help stabilize the business of prostitution. Now, prostitution is legalized and taxed making it safer for prostitutes. Due to the changes and adjustments due to global forces in both cities, sex tourism was able to flourish. 

            The popularity of sex tourism, all links back to men (mostly western) being more the more dominant gender in society. Typically, men have the better and higher paying jobs. Therefore, they have the money to afford these pleasures and are often sent on business trips where they can easily take part in fulfilling their sexual desires. While reading this article, I wondered if it made men feel pathetic and "unmanly" that they were paying for sex. But as Wonders and Michalowski write, "For advantaged men from the developed world, sex tourism provides an opportunity, not only to experience fantasized sexual freedom with imagined uninhibited women, but also the opportunity to experience- in their bodies- their own privilege" (550). The male consumers find that buying these women reinforces their superiority, dominance, and privilege. What I found most interesting was Americans seem to think sex tourism is so foreign and travel to other cultures almost expecting it, while criticizing it. I believe this a large part of why Americans feel that we are better and more superior or even civilized than other cultures. Yet, many Americans take full advantage of sex tourism when traveling to "exotic" places.

            I loved that the last post tied in the movie "Taken". While reading this article, I could not help but think of this movie. In fact, this is the first thing that pops into my head when someone mentions sex tourism. The movie is about an American girl who studies abroad, is kidnapped, and is forced into sex tourism. In fact, this movie instilled a sense of fear that this could very well happen to me when I study abroad. But it seems that sex tourism is a last resort for young women (mainly of color) who cannot find a job and need money to support. It is sad and disturbing that women must feed into the primarily male desires and sell their bodies to the market of sex tourism. 

Carly Jensen- Sex Tourism

The article Bodies, Borders, and Sex Tourism in a Globalized World: A Tale of Two Cities- Amsterdam and Havana, discusses the connection between globalization and sex tourism.  The article opens with a broad definition of globalization; “ Globalization is characterized by unprecedented movement of material, information, finance, and bodies across borders.” This definition offers a picture of how migration and tourism have impacted different locales, especially through the concept of tourism. Tourism can be extremely important to the international economy and the prosperity of each destination. The article defines a tourist as somebody who both wants to experience a foreign culture but at the same time continuously passes judgment on the foreign culture. I find this idea as interesting especially after reading the article. It is apparent that many of the practices within the sex tourist industries, in Havana and Amsterdam, were influenced by global forces and are not direct reflections on the native cultures. With this in mind I find it hypocritical that tourists who venture to such destinations pass judgment on the sex industry as if it an isolated cultural practice. When analyzing the different industries it is apparent that the global influence that comes with globalization and tourism heavily influence the culture of the sex trade industry.

In the analysis of Havana and the lack of organization and governmental control it becomes apparent that the relationship between sex tourism and the global market is critical to the industry itself. In Havana the increased globalization lead to currency laws that allowed for US currency to be accepted.  This ultimately led to a more stable sex tourism industry and a bigger market, in addition to meeting the demand of foreign consumers in Havana. In particular the opening of “dollar stores” meant that prostitutes were given a way to contribute to the local economy and escape the “black market”. This made it so that they were no longer second-class citizens working in an illegal market and the industry was legitimized. This shift towards a more globalized economy reflected the fact that Havana was becoming more tourists friendly and started to meet the desires of its visitors over the natives. Personally I see this evidence that the global forces of migration and travel had infiltrated the local market, and Havana was officially globalized. In comparison Amsterdam is also a huge tourist destination and its market and economy is dominated by foreign desires. As stated in the article much of the reason behind travel to Amsterdam is because of its “culture of sexual liberation”. This demand meant that the government had to become involved and prostitution needed to become a business. The idea of a professional prostitute was a byproduct of the demand for sexual tourism in Amsterdam. Global forces made the culture what is it. After reading the article I find it obvious that the sex tourism industry has been influenced by the recent surge in globalization as well as the increase in migration to sex tourist hot spots, like Havana and Amsterdam. 

Keith Veronesi's response to Sex Tourism

After reading this article I could not help but wonder the reasoning for the rise in the idea of sex tourism over the past years. The authors do a great job in giving what their interpretations are for the rise in sex tourism and it is directly related to globalization. The fact of the matter is that countries are no longer made up of just the people that have been born on piece of land, but have vastly been diversified over the years, and thus has resulted and many different cultural changes as well. With migration and tourism, which is directly talked about in the article, the opportunity for sex consumers and sex workers is greatly increased. I think the authors bring up a great point in saying whether a person is traveling for tourism or migration, both scenarios are justified as a person is looking for something better than what their current location can offer. However, with that being said, the idea of tourism and migration can be a direct result of sex consumers and sex workers. These tourists are able to afford to travel to exotic places in which they can experience different sexual pleasures, yet, as the authors talk about, employment is at an all time high for people, let alone immigrants, and unfortunately this is a direct connection to the increase in sex workers. I am not sure if this is an accurate statement or question, but is it safe to assume that with these tourists traveling to exoctic places has directly resulted in the increase of sex workers? I personally believe that it does because if there was not a demand for sex workers, then there would not be a need for them.

            I think it is important to understand that not all tourism is taken with the idea of sexual pleasures, but at the same time, as I mentioned earlier if tourist were not seeking sexual pleasures than there would not be a demand for these sex workers. The article quotes, “prostituion has become a big business, and the traffic in persons has taken on new and more sophisticated and extended on an unforeseen scale to become an international trade…” (pg. 549) Meanwhile “The Economist” estimates that the global sex industry is worth atleast $20 billion a year. So obviously there is a demand for this industry or numbers this mind boggling would cease to exist.

            I was not surprised to see that men are the ones seeking these sex workers, while the sex workers are typically made up of women, usually poor women of color. Unfortunately our society has continued with the idea that men are the ones with the power and women are the ones who are supposed to succomb to that power. There is not a better portrayal of this then the idea of sex. Last year in Professor Harris’ class we talked about how sex is directly related to our society in terms of when the male orgasm’s sex is typically over, whether the women has been satisfied or not. Going back to the previous point in which researchers have discover that the sex tourists are typically made up of men and the workers are typically made up of females, the article does a great job in raising the point that this is mainly because men are usually the ones that can afford these types of pleasures. Being able to go on vacation alone is a lot of money, but men can afford to pay for their sexual desires, while women are typically what these males are seeking. This idea that males are the ones with the ability to do these things will not change because as we have seen over the course of this semester, men are not willing to give up any power to the female class, and despite the rise in power by the female population, men are still the ones in control.

            After reading this article I couldn’t help but think of the movie “Taken”, which is about an American girl who travels to a foreign country, but is taken by a group who is known for capturing American women and selling their bodies to rich males as sex slaves. This movie directly connects to the idea that these white, American women are more valuable than the other women who are on the sex worker market. I thought this was a good connection to the article as it portrayed the extremely negative ideas that are associated with sex tourism. 

Response to the Adonis Complex - Brooke Dinsmore

When reading this article I was reminded of something that always comes up when you have a conversation with someone about the ill effects of media on women’s body image. Someone always says, well now that happens to men too. My response has always been that that is not the kind of equality I want. And that is really why this article is so disturbing and powerful. It’s not just women who are suffering because of unattainable gender ideals perpetuated by the media, driven by capitalism. It’s all of us. This article is really proof that men need feminism too.

The article is at its best when it identifies two larger trends. The first is the rise of industries fueling and profiting off of men’s insecurities such as Pro Wrestling, the gym and fitness complexes and men’s “health” magazines. The second is the article’s main argument which ties the change in ideals about men’s bodies to men’s perceived loss of power due to the feminist and civil rights arguments. This is the same argument that Katz makes so well in Tough Guise and it was excellent to see it here.

Why I believe these two pieces are the most important parts of the article is that they identify how this Adonis complex is not individual but systematic and societal. This is something big, this is about capitalism and about power, who holds it and who believes they hold it. Men’s bodies, like women’s bodies have always been, are becoming sites of cultural focus as objects that are judged. Men’s bodies, like women’s bodies, are having false power assigned to them. And the power of strength in this world is ultimately as false of a power as women are told being thin is.

The hours men spend at the gym, the hours women spend shopping ultimately do not profit themselves but corporations and their owners. As we focus on our bodies we do not develop our minds. The article addresses how men’s worry over their bodies has been largely invisible until now, not a subject of scrutiny or discussion. Just like we have done with women’s worry, we must do with men’s. We must make it visible as something that is done to us, something that we are socialized to believe. That is the true solution for the Adonis Complex.

Molly Bienstock-Adonis Complex

This article explaining the Adonis Complex truly opened my mind to our destructively corrupt and worsening society.  It is upsetting to know that these articles come out in the first place, claiming to be oddly similar to articles regarding women's bodies.  The article begins with research describing a shattering change in men's thoughts about their bodies.  "Men's dissatisfaction with body appearance has nearly tripled in the past thirty years- from 15 percent in 1972 to 34 percent in 1985 to 43 percent in 1997.  And dissatisfaction with nearly every individual body area has risen steadily,” (27).  This problem is happening so rapidly in this lifetime and was not occurring several decades ago.  Now, though, we live in a distinct period of time controlled by advanced technology paired with a desire to share these thoughts globally.  The little boys playing with G.I. Joe in the 50’s did not know about facebook or barstool, yet at least the former site is one of the highest grossing social networking sites in the world used by virtually all citizens with access to a computer.  The Rise of the Adonis Complex is directly connected to our industrial and technological boom that has become only about growth, no matter who it hurts in the process.  Our entire country functions on a technological grid.  If you are not on that grid, you are marginalized by society, whether it be intentional or somehow eerily fluid.   

         I began to think about my own body as I continued to read this article and kept being reminded of how pervasive something like facebook is in our current moment of civilization.  The statistics mentioned in this article are only rising as we, too, continue our addiction to technology and endless bodily critique.  If you’re not commenting on how jealous you are of someone’s picture on facebook, you probably just move on to the next one or begin to criticize the person’s appearance in the photo.  In my experience with looking at a girl’s album of pictures on facebook, my girlfriends and I will either say “Oh, she’s hot” or “That’s embarrassing.”  I don’t mean to paint this condescending picture of myself, but I know we all go through several facebook pictures a day and think whatever we want about them, even if it seems really judgmental.  We look at half naked people in bikinis all the time on facebook or any other site and make a note of that person’s body.  It seems odd that there is such a taboo around sex, yet we prance around in the nude all the time.  If we are all so ashamed of our bodies, why are we trying to show everyone more and more of it?  My question is how has the increase in technology also coincided with a rise in insecurity and judgment?

         The article touches on aspects of the increasing dissatisfaction of men’s bodies by also talking about going to the gym.  I personally think it is very healthy to go to thy gym once a day as it increases brain activity and releases endorphins, but I know this can get unhealthy fast.  Like anything you do everyday, you become accustomed to the routine.  If the habitual nature of going to the gym is done for a reasonable amount of time each day while also eating well, the person will feel great.  But if a person has a skewed thought pattern regarding their body, working out, and eating, then that person will unfortunately become extremely unhappy.  Both boys and girls growing up will soon learn that our society expects certain things from them and they will either accept that fact and ultimately suffer a cruel future or understand the reality of our worsening situation and learn to reach for happiness and not disillusionment.              

 

Response to The Rise of the Adonis Complex, John Gallagher

This was a very intriguing article that had many surprising facts.  The article talks about how research shows that men care more and more about their body image and appearance.   The article also gives many alarming and interesting statistics and facts about men and their relationship with gyms and products.  To be honest, I never would have imagined that men came close to “caring as much” as women did about their own appearance. All that aside, I was most surprised to see that boys as young as 5 and 6 are now taking an interest in the ideal size that they want to achieve.  I am confident in saying that the general perception in our society today is that it is the female who ‘needs’ to care more about her looks.  However after reading this, that seems not to be true.  The article pointed out that men were more dissatisfied with their chest then women are.  At the beginning of the article, the author drew comparisons to the 1950’s and 1960’s when men didn’t care at all about their muscularity, and there was no such thing as a “personal trainer.”  Things have changed.

The infatuation with muscle tone for men wasn’t the portion of the article that stood out to me the most.  The fact that men spend thousands of dollars on cosmetic procedures each year came out of nowhere! It also turns out that recent advertising for cosmetic surgery is being targeted towards the male gender.  Again, this is something that I never would have thought of or imagined.  The fact that steroid use grew largely in the 1980’s as they emerged in Hollywood wasn’t so much of a surprise to me.  I have heard of kids through my later years in high school and into college that have used steroids as a way to bulk up their bodies.  Of the very few cases that I have heard of, one was for better performance in football, the others were just for general increase in size.  I think the reason why we have seen this increase in care of muscle size over the past 50 years comes in large part to how the media and figures such as G.I. Joe and Star Wars have emerged and grown. 

I have been playing sports and been around athletes my whole life.  That being said I have been exposed to all different body types, and with the competitive nature of sport it is almost impossible to say that I haven’t cared about my size.  Being on the lacrosse team here at Conn, we have standards in the weight room that must be met, forcing you to take up weight lifting essentially as a hobby.  I wasn’t a weight lifter in high school and never was that muscular of a kid.  However during my post-graduate year of high school, which was geared around 3 sports, and my freshman year at Conn, I was forced into getting into the gym and keeping up with my workouts.  I felt the need to go to GNC and buy “supplements” and protein powders to help me bulk up.  My mother hated that aspect. The pressure was definitely there.  I saw other kids with different body types doing their own thing in order to achieve their personal success.  In my case, I was always trying to gain weight, as I never felt like I could, no matter how hard I would try.  After reading this article and thinking about my peers, and myself I realized it isn’t far fetched and this is definitely a cause for concern going forward.  

The Rise of the Adonis Complex- Tina Seretta

The article The Rise of the Adonis Complex: Roots of Male Body Obsession presented many interesting facts and statistics relating to Men’s growing obsessions with their bodies and physical appearance. Forty-three percent of men were found to be dissatisfied with their bodies, and it was interesting that many men are unhappier with their chests than women. These statistics were shocking to me.  “Muscularity in particular has become increasingly important, because it symbolizes masculinity”(51). We know this is true because women with large defined muscles are frowned upon; they are seen as very hyper masculine. Before reading this article I didn’t know how much men actually care about their bodies. However, I was not surprised to see that these percentages have grown over the years. As a society the push to have a “perfect” body is becoming more important. This is perpetuated through the media; both women and men feel almost an equal amount of pressure trying to look good, and obtain the perfect body. However, as we all know the percent of people that actually have that idealized perfect body is so small. I also thought it was interesting that the article didn’t talk about the influence of sports as it relates to steroids.  I personally feel like many men and boys take steroids because of the pressure to be an athletic monster on the field.

My little brother is 6’3 and he has a very athletic toned body. However, since he is only 16 and grew at a relatively fast pace, and does not weigh as much as he’d like. I know he always feels a lot of pressure to gain weight and “get bigger” so he can perform at a high level of athletics. He works out several times a day and consumes a ridiculous amount of food. So in his case, his drive to be strong and obtain a hyper masculine body comes from the pressures and growing competition he is presented with on the athletic fields. His quest for the “perfect body” is not because he wants to look good, but more about wanting to thrive in athletics. However, through the pressures of sports he still is trying to achieve this desired muscular male body. I just thought it was interesting that the article didn’t touch on the influence of sports and athletic icons in relation to men’s ideal body images.

The Rise of the Adonis Complex - Mike Murgo

Contrary to popular belief, body issues are not just women's issues. Men have these issues as well, but because of social pressure to not express emotion or weakness, men tend to chose to be quiet about the issues and thus suffer silently. The Rise of The Adonix Complex explores men's body issues. In 1997, a survey was taken that indicated that men's insecurities about their bodies were at a new high. A whopping 43% of men were found to be dissatisfied with their bodies, and men even outnumbered women in terms of dissatisfaction with their chests, in an age where boob jobs were on the rise. Only 18% of men said they were not concerned with their appearance, and men were found to be more likely to want to look attractive to the opposite sex than women were. Even boys as young as 5 or 6 said that they would prefer to be muscular than thin or fat. It's no surprise, then, to learn that men often have distorted body images where they perceive themselves as looking different from the way they really do. The more a person focuses on their body image, the worse s/he tends to feel about how s/he looks.
How did men become so concerned with their bodies, though, when they weren't this way a century ago? The author points to the advent of anabolic steroids, which brought male bodies to a new level of muscularity never before seen in nature. Once these bodies hit Hollywood by the 1980s, men started to see them and think that, with enough time in the gym, they could also achieve these unnaturally muscled bodies. This image of the giant male body became pervasive and even influenced young boys' action toys, like GI Joe, Star Wars, and super heroes. Suddenly, these toys have broad shoulders and large, muscled bodies that they didn't have a number of years ago, which gives young boys a standard that they feel they must live up to. Even in Playgirl, from when it was first published in 1973 to the time of this study about 25 years later, the centerfold men lost 12 pounds of fat and gained 27 pounds of muscle. This phenomenon tracks the evolution of our perception of the ideal, attractive male body. Moreover, companies play on these newly pervasive male insecurities by advertising for products that will help remove these insecurities. I was once told that the best way to sell a product is to make the consumer feel bad about him/herself. Once the person feels badly, you can offer them a product that will solve their misfortune, like a hair restoration product or a weight loss supplement. Companies make money by playing off of insecurities, so they do it more often, which leads the consumer very insecure. Also, photo-touched images create perfect bodies that are impossible to achieve, which leads men to feel inadequate. These are just some of the ways that the male body image crisis came about.
Personally, I will admit that I have been a part of the "crisis." All my life, up until middle school, I was very heavy and used to being picked on for it. At my max weight at the time, I was a 210 pound twelve year old. After 6th grade, when I wore sweatshirts every day to hide my body, I realized I didn't want to live like that anymore. I started working out, eating healthier, and cutting down my portion sizes. By the time I was 14 and in 8th grade, I weighed 165 pounds. My mom grew concerned that I had an eating disorder, and she even took me to a doctor who said I was fine. I wasn't completely fine, though. Looking back, I had the "distorted body image" that the author writes about. Even though I had made enormous progress in burning body fat, I still looked in the mirror and thought my body was hideous and could use more work to achieve a "perfect" ideal that could never be achieved. I wouldn't even go swimming anymore because I was ashamed of removing my shirt to reveal a body that was in the normal BMI range. Because my mom was so concerned and I think I knew in the back of my mind that something was wrong, I started eating more, exercising less, and ultimately threw out my idea of a "healthy" living style. I gained twenty pounds the summer after middle school and a new perspective about my body, noticing that I still looked okay. Once I quit track after sophomore year, I put on even more weight which ultimately led to me becoming overweight again, although still healthy. This time, however, I'm more okay with it. Do I want to be fit and muscular? Sure I do. I still work out and am slowly pursuing my goals, but this time I'm doing it with a more realistic body image. This time I'm doing it for myself and for my health instead of doing it in pursuit of an impossible, media-crated body image.

The rise of the adonis complex response by Melissa Monsalve

For the most part, most people would not expect men to feel pressured by society anywhere near as much as women are. However, as this article shows, all things considered, men are just as pressured to look a certain way just as much as women are. The difference is that on top of the pressure, men are also told to keep their emotions that may show weakness bottled up. This has caused the general public to remain out of the loop with the self-esteem/self-imaging issues affects boys and men of any age. It really should come as no surprise that men are also pressured. Images of these huge, bulky muscled men that look as if that had been created by CGI or the marketing of male action figures who's proportions in real life would be impossible to achieve created an illusion of an "ideal" male body image. When a skinny, lanky guy or a short, chubby guy has grown up accepting these images as the ideal, how could they not feel insecure about themselves? Although I won't lie that I was surprised at the rate at which men are receiving plastic surgery or have eating disorders, it would only make sense. Men are not "allowed" to express their insecurities, so they take more silent routes to achieve their goal: surgery or eating disorders. Because men are not expected to go to such lengths to achieve such a goal, they can probably play it of somehow without being questioned or doubted as much as a woman would be. Another pressure comes from gender supriority. Being the dominate gender is both a blessing and a curse for men. In some aspects they may receive more privileges than women, but they are also subject to a great amount of ridiculous because they are seen as the better gender. This probably explains why in the article it states that men feel more pressured to look good for the opposite sex. They may feel that women as the subservient gender can ridicule and judge their bodies. This pressure is also do to the fact that men find some sort of worth in how attractive they are seen by the opposite sex because that then gains validation as a man from his male friends, which is a topic we explored in class earlier in the semester. The reality of the situation with men an their body images has been distorted, making it seem like its only women who worry about their looks. So what do we to help these boys and men? It's difficult to say. Because men are even under more pressure than women are to express their sexuality (because being anything but a heterosexual man is seen as wrong by most of society) men can't express their insecurities or come out and say that they have an eating disorder or that they have received plastic surgery, thus making it difficult to change this tide of negative male body image. This article just goes to show that men are in just as much of a pickle as women are in terms of pressures for an "ideal" body image.

Rise of the Adonis Complex- Ellie Merrell

As I read the article “Rise of the Adonis Complex”, I couldn’t help but think back to the conversations we had last class about Female Genital Mutilation and the complex web of free will and culture surrounding body modifications. The same confusion exists in this topic as to whether we can condone, condemn, or ignore the changing bodily practices of men. Again, it appears there are social factors influencing the change in ideal male body image such as greater equality between the sexes and pervasive images of steroid induced bodies in the media, but as we established in class, one could argue that all of our decisions are influenced by social factors, so we never really have free will. If that’s the case, then how can we judge one practice to be better or individually determined than another?

            One thing that I thought was interesting about this article was its reference to the fact that, in accordance with masculine ideals, men are not supposed to express their thoughts or feelings, particularly when they suggest self-doubt or indicate attention to their own physical appearance. With that in mind, I wonder what the psychological effects of being concerned about one’s looks, while at the same time knowing that one should not be concerned, have on men. At the end of the article, the author suggested that women’s acknowledgement of impossible ideals and dialogue about being comfortable in all kinds of body types have led to great gains in women’s perceptions of their own body type. I think it could be really beneficial for conversations to be opened about the influence being exerted over men’s perceptions of their body. Especially because I never even considered pressures on men to have great bodies as being particularly strong.

            A fact that surprised me was that “men are more likely than women to want to look attractive to the opposite sex”. It seems we have talked a lot about women defining their worth in terms of their desirability to the other sex. But I suppose we have also spent time discussing how part of being masculine means having sway with the ladies. For this reason, it would make sense that it is highly important to men to be desired by women. Another thing that surprised me was that all ages are pretty equally plagued by dissatisfaction with their physical forms. Like the author, I would have guessed that concern over physical appearance would have risen sharply in the teenage years, declined slightly, then risen again around middle-age.