In this week’s reading, “Men in Paradise” by Steven Gregory, sex tourism was discussed. The scope of the topic specifically focused in on Boca Chica, Dominican Republic, where prostitution is not illegal. The town has a constant stream of single male travelers, who looking for young, good-looking women to have sex with. Due to the economic hardship that the Dominican government was facing, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and other financial institutions gave the government a solution of opening up their country for tourism; along with that, the Dominican government also switching from the agriculture economy to a manufacturing and labor-intensive sector, which emphasized the imperial masculinity of sex tourism. To give tourism as a solution to a Third World country is an easy way out, all you needed to have are, “[the] natural resources [that are] …show more content…
These women have a lot of worry about because it’s not just about them; they have a family that needs their income in order to fulfill the basic needs, from food to shelter. Meanwhile, these single, White males are taking advantage of the Dominican women as a way to express their heteronormative masculinity, where they fanaticized these women as submissive, erotic, and exercise their economic power over them (since these men are employed on foreign currencies that are more valuable than the pesos). “Numbering as many as 200 on weekends, the majority of these women are sex workers and receive anywhere from RD $400 to $800 for sex from male clients” (333). Whereas a factory worker earns about RD $3,000 per month (US $150) on a 60-hour workweek, “a sum that barely covered the family’s food budget”
Steven Gregory’s book entitled The Devil Behind The Mirror is an ethnographical study of the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic is in the Caribbean, it occupies the Western half of an island, while Haiti makes up the Eastern portion. Gregory attempts to study and analyze the political, social and cultural aspects of this nation by interviewing and observing both the tourists and locals of two towns Boca Chica and Andres. Gregory’s research centers on globalization and the transnational processes which affect the political and socio-economics of the Dominican Republic. He focuses on the social culture, gender roles, economy, individual and nation identity, also authority and power relations. Several of the major relevant issues facing Dominican society include racism, sexism, and discrimination, economy of resort tourism, sex tourism and the informal economy. The objective of Gregory’s ethnographic research is to decipher exclusionary practices incorporated by resort tourism, how it has affected locals by division of class, gender, and race, increasing poverty and reliance on an informal economy.
Moreover, there is an array of cases regarding drug use: those who do not use drugs; those who became addicted after entering prostitution; those who resort to prostitution to support the habit; and those who are primarily addicts and exchange sexual favors for cocaine. The society is largely male-dominated, with pimps and fixers controlling the women and who they interact with; there are also numerous cases of violence perpetrated by pimps as well as customers. Another theme that is revealed is the dynamic of escaping prostitution and how these
In a changing economic and political climate gender stereotypes in Juárez, Mexico refuse to change. With an increasing number of women forced into the workplace in maquiladoras(1), men's position and women's assumed position in society is being challenged. This changing economic environment in an unchanging cultural environment is part of the reason that young women are disappearing being raped and mutilated before ultimately being killed and "abandoned like meat by-products in the desert" (Pérez, March 2004). These women's bodies are entering unknowingly and unwilling into a war about cultural norms and a changing economic atmosphere.
Patty Kelly’s article, “Enough already, it’s time we decriminalize prostitution”, takes the reader into a fascinating behind the scene look into one of Mexico’s legalized brothels. Although it is apparent that her research and investigation into this social experiment are well defined, it is too narrow a focus to gather all the required information to support her argument. Kelly begins with a half hazard analysis of Elliot Spitzer infidelity, then continues down the path that is far too laser like to see the overall effect on these women; failing to see these prostitutes as real people with hearts and souls. Instead, she produces an impression that the prostitutes are just commodity, bought and sold on the open market, lacking feeling for their plight. In Kelly’s investigation, she neglects to create an entire picture of what decriminalizing prostitution will cost humanity due to the fact that her investigation ignores society’s accepted understanding of what problems are produced by, or result from prostitution. There was absolutely no research cited that relating to sexual addiction, the effects on the prostitutes’ emotional and physical wellbeing, or even the acknowledgment of the organized criminal element behind prostitution.
“Poverty and exploitation of women in Latin America can never be alleviated because they are rooted in machismo,” meaning that because of the way society was run in Latin American, women can’t advance from the ancient state of mind that they belong in the private sphere and should stay there, because only men are good enough to be out in the public sphere. The reason why society was run in this manner, was because of the machismo feeling engraved in the minds of men and, in some cases, women in society. Alicia, Carolina, and Nancy don’t really have any other choice, than try to survive on their own by doing acts that are not “approved” by the society they live in. Even now, because of their actions, we could even disagree with the way they decided to approach their situation, because even now a day, we could think that selling one’s body or being involved in “off the book”
The Ukraine hasn’t always been a major hub for sex traffic, it has grown to rival Thailand, where sex tourism is infamous. In 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Un...
This short story ultimately serves as a way of conveying the unfortunate reality that many undergo, shedding light on the struggles Dominican women endure on a daily basis. Hardships that Hispanics and any other cultural experiences can create generational trauma that is passed
Sex Tourists One very sad truth is that Americans travel to foreign countries to engage in sexual acts with children, acts that would be illegal in their native country and they are known as sex tourists. The United National International Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) estimates that more than 1 million children are forced into prostitution every year. According to World Vision, a Christian relief organization, many of these children are either sold into prostitution to pay off family debts or forcibly recruited on the street to work in brothels, where they are required to have sex with as many as 30 men each day. Some prostitute children are just 5 years old (2006).
Prostitution, as stated by Flemming, is known as a form of sexual activity, a kind of sexual style or category, and a form of economic activity, a way of making a living through the provisions of certain services, by behaving in accordance with, or falling into such a category (39). This definition, though, is controversial. While conducting research for this project, we found that most topics regarding prostitution and its affiliates were controversial. Each author gave a differing interpretation for the same data. Due to this, our project centered on the female prostitutes, even though there is evidence of male prostitutes.
Planned parenthood is funded for the low income families who need health care. If politicians “defund” Planned Parenthood and have their way, they will block millions of patients who depend on Medicaid and other public health care programs from accessing care at Planned Parenthood health centers. They also want to shut down the planned parenthood centers. If that were to happen, it would cause a national health care disaster. Many Planned Parenthood patients, nearly half who are people of color and who live in rural areas, would have nowhere else to turn for health care. Per year, Planned Parenthood health centers provide birth control for 2 million people,
Barry, Kathleen. The Prostitution of Sexuality: The Global Exploitation of Women. New York: New York University Press, 1996. Print.
The most widely accepted definition for sex tourism is the act of travelling to a foreign country to procure sexual services (Davidson and Taylor 2). Sex tourism takes place in many parts of the world and is undoubtedly the basis for many ongoing trafficking, physical abuses, and child prostitution. By defining sex tourism as “consisting of people from economically developed nations travelling to underdeveloped countries ‘specifically to purchase the sexual services of local women and men’” it correspond better with the modern sex tourism image (Davidson and Taylor 2). Increasingly more tourists have traveled to South East Asian countries for sexual pleasures, making them the typical sex tourists that nourished the multi-billion dollar industry. Just looking at Thailand alone, about 70% of all tourist men who travelled there came specifically for sex (Green 1).
According to the ‘World Tourism Organization’ (UNWTO), the tourism industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in the world, as it is estimated that by the year 2020, 7.8 billion people (roughly a quarter of the world’s population) will embark on a foreign trip (Bennett & Gebhardt 15). The Caribbean is said to be the most economically dependent on this industry, as the ‘Caribbean Tourism Organisation’ states that the industry forms the “economic backbone of most countries in the Region”(“Caribbean Tourism Industry” 1), implications for what tourism’s affect on the region have arisen and have prompted further research into matter. Since the 1970’s research regarding tourism in the Caribbean has attempted to determine the social, cultural, environmental, and economic impacts of tourism. Much of the research has found that there are in fact many negative adverse affects, and Jackson’s article asserts that, “Governments often commit money and other resources to support the growth and development of tourism and often turn a blind eye to its negative impacts” (574). The reason why tourism looks attractive (and thus turn a blind eye) to these Caribbean countries is because of “its potential to foster GDP growth, to create employment, to increase foreign exchange earnings, and attract capital investment” (Daye, Chambers, and Roberts 2). This paper will overview such impacts by first discussing a case study conducted in Jamaican resort town, Ocho Rios, with Sheere Brooks discussing the observed social, cultural and economical consequences of Jamaica’s reliance on the tourism industry and will finally look at tourism in relation to capitalism, with Robert Fletcher suggesting in his article that the tourism industry (and more specifically...
John Milton considered himself a puritan, which lead him to be enthralled with God and religion. To learn more about the Lord, Milton dedicated himself to careful study of the bible (Lewalski 310) . Consequently, in the hopes to “repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God alright” he wrote the great Biblical epic, Paradise Lost (Shawcross 1). John Milton's Paradise Lost alludes to the King James Version of the Bible by depicting the fall and redemption of mankind.
Prostitution is often argued as a consequence of gender inequality (Hoffman 1997). MacKinnon agree that sexual liberation for women outside of prostitution is important in the fight for gender equality but it is crucial for the society to not replace one patriarchal view, for example that women should not have sex outside marriage or a relationship, with another similar oppressive patriarchal view. By accepting prostitution, a sexual practice that is based on a patriarchal construction of female sexuality, the society condemns sexual pleasure of women irrelevant and that her role during sex is to submit to the man’s sexual demand and control. Women become yet another submissive gender as she has to do what her customer tells her and her response or satisfaction is left neglected. Sexual liberation for women cannot be fulfilled as long as the society normalise unequal sexual practices where a man dominates a woman (Hoffman