Bodies and Labor

Allison Terlizzi

           The articles this week focused on how sex tourism has become globalized and what it has led to in the countries where the sex industry is prevalent. Third world countries have adjusted to the demands of capitalist nations to support their labor and holiday "needs". Does the industry help or hurt the economies of these countries? While it brings in money, does it lead to further despair?
           First, I read “A Thai City of Sleaze Tries to Clean Up” by Thomas Fuller, which was about how law enforcement have been trying to reduce the amount of sexual tourism in Pattaya, Thailand. Its reputation has always been seedy but efforts to reduce pollution, create a monorail and make it less sex-oriented, will improve its global image and attraction.

            In “Fantasy Islands: Exploring the Demand for Sex Tourism” by Julia O’Connell Davidson and Jacqueline Sanchez Taylor, the authors discuss the reasons for sex customers to travel to other countries for sex tourism. They argue that white Western men are on a quest for racially fantasized male power, as backlash against the women’s movement in the West (O’Connell & Davidson, 454). Because men are emasculated by the global feminist movement, they seek female passivity in other areas of the world. Men are viewing female power as a threat to traditional male identity (455). A major point that the authors argue is that the reason for men to seek sex from foreign places is because of a desire to indulge their racialized sexual fantasies in specific (456). Sex tourism allows Western men to sustain their “white identity” as well, by feeling “served, revered and envied” by Others. Lastly, the authors’ major point about women sex tourists was interesting to read about, because as a women I could not picture myself wanting to strike up a couple small relationships with foreign men for a week while on vacation. The relationships that women create with their sex providers were very similar to men’s as well because women would employ fantasies of otherness to legitimize the access to you, fit bodies. They would also obtain power and control to exercise their privilege as Westerners in this way (462). I found these similarities fascinating because I always assumed women go on vacations during spring break to meet other Americans… in exotic places.

            In connection with this, the article called, “Female Sex Tourism: A Contradiction in Terms?” by Taylor explored the double standard applied to male and female sex tourist’s behavior. Her point on how sexuality is used as a key site of male power and women sex tourists are able to feel powerful by submitting to men was an important idea (Taylor, 47). She says that female sex tourists still felt powerful in relation to Caribbean men because they could command the sexual attentions of black men (49). Does the male/female double standard that exists in America disappear overseas when engaging in sex tourism?

            In “Migrant Filipina Domestic Workers and the International Division of Reproductive Labor” by Rhacel Salazar Parrenas, she explores the reproductive labor force, coming mainly from the Philippines and going to Rome and LA in her study, and is the labor to sustain the productive labor force (Parrenas, 561). This includes duties such as child rearing, food service production, hotel and housekeeping, etc. Class privileged women often hire reproductive laborers for manual labor. Because of globalization, manufacturing in developing companies creates a demand for women to migrate to advanced capitalist countries to do “women’s work” (563). This causes Filipino women to hire lower class Filipina women to do their reproductive labor. She finds that as women have joined the labor market, they are still responsible for reproductive labor in both sending and receiving countries (577). Are we to blame the feminist movement here for this? Is this a positive thing for both the Philippines and LA/Rome?

            Lastly, the article by Wonders and Michalowski called, “Bodies, Borders, and Sex Tourism in a Globalized World” highlighted the reasons why we have increased our attention on the sex tourism industry. They look at both Havana and Amsterdam, two places where the sex industry is booming in their local economies, but without a globalized world, these industries would not be thriving the way they have. Globalization in effect has put pressure on these places to continue to have a sex industry, and keep it legal. This article made me think about how policy makers should attack the problems caused by prostitution, similarly to the article on Pattaya. Should prostitution be legalized at the cost of the money being brought in to local economies by sex tourism? Or should they sacrifice this money brought in by the industry at the sake of a less-seedy reputation?