“As
tourism directed toward Amsterdam's cultural heritage stagnates, sex
tourism plays an increasingly important role in keeping tourism
dollars-and related tourism industry jobs-within the city” (555).
Within Amsterdam sex tourism is important for its market and economy,
just like in Havana. However in Havana the lack of government
contributes to sex tourism whereas in Amsterdam “It is not the case
that the Dutch government or Amsterdam city officials openly embrace
the marketing of sex tourism or Amsterdam’s image as a liberal
city, but a variety of mediating institutions, including the tourism
indus- try, have adjusted to global forces in ways that create
opportunities for sex tourism to expand” (555). In Havana the
prostitutes are seen as contributing to the local economy and by
doing this they escape the black market. With Havana and Amsterdam
becoming more friendly towards tourists sex tourism will continue to
grow. Globalization is increasing sex tourism due to the growing sex
tourist ares such as those two.
I
would also like to touch on the gendering produced in sex tourism.
“Global economic forces not only facilitate the production of sex
tourism, they also facilitate its consumption. In the global economic
search for new markets, the process of com- modification has gone
beyond material goods to all social life” (550). We have gone from
a consumption of materialistic objects to the consumption of people
themselves. What is even more interesting is the gendering that takes
place within this kind of consumption. Women are the ones who are the
supplying men with sex. White wealthy men are using these women as
leisure. These men desire these women and this is one reason why sex
tourism is up and going. women are expected to tailor the services
they provide to consumer expectations, particularly the expectations
of their primarily male clientele (550). When the males express what
they desire it is expected that the female will fulfill the desire
that they have. Men have all the power and control in these
situations. women are themselves viewed as a tourist destination. Sex
and bodies are viewed as commodities that can be packaged,
advertised, dis- played, and sold on a global scale (551).
"The current era of globalization is characterized by unprecedented movement of material, information, finance, and bodies across borders" is a sad truth. We are so obsessed with material goods, money, and capitalism that we have turned to selling sex as well. (545). Jae's last sentence struck me as just, wrong. A woman is viewed as a tourist destination. A destination? Really? When I hear the word destination, I think of a vacation, a time to escape the "real world". So, for a male who sees a woman as a destination, may see the legitimacy in continuing the action and in turn, use the term "destination" as an excuse for such deviant actions. For a man to go on vacation and explore tourism equates to sexual desires and fantasies. On the other hand, I feel as though a female's idea of "destination" is a tropical, exotic trip to somewhere secluded and sunny.
ReplyDeleteThe way that globalization feeds into the increase in sex tourism was really interesting and something I had never before considered. It was eye-opening to see the power that consumers' desires have over the rights and roles of others, as well as disturbing to learn that this power is being used primarily for exploitive means.
ReplyDelete-Ellie Merrell
It interests me that Havana sees sex work as something positive because the the profit from prostitution contributes to the local economy. It makes me wonder how well that argument would go here in the states. If I recall correctly, it is legal in Nevada. I would like to see statistics about how much prostitution actually contributes to the economy. America, I feel, as a whole tends to be very opposed to legalizing sex work, so maybe we won't see it on a grander scale.
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