Greg Demetriou Sex Tourism

Greg Demetriou

Upon reading Parrenas’s article, I found myself thinking about the familial situations of the children affected by the described division of labor. My mind immediately drifted went in this direction because the children are the source of reproduction, not in terms of biology, but in terms of recreating this structure. Parrenas explains, “In other words, migrant Filipina domestic workers hire poorer women in the Philippines to perform the reproductive labor that they are performing for wealthier women in receiving nations.” (261) As the author explains, the higher class a family is the better care their children receive. Conversely, those of lower class receive the least amount of parental care. This serves as a walking contradiction as class equates to privilege. The kids of higher-class families are not only given the opportunities of privilege, but receive domestic care at the expense of lower class children. This is a perfect personification of the metaphor the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

The women of the lower class provide domestic services for the upper class, allowing for higher-class families to maintain the tendencies that have allowed them to live in privilege. Everything I have said up to this point is very overt and easily understood. Things get more complex as I attempt to deconstruct the experience of the children in the respected groups. This division of labor insinuates that children of higher-class families are more deserving than children of lower class families. The children of lower class families see their parents serving a wealthier person, which accurately reflects the social hierarchy of power and privilege. If children of the lower class experience this division of labor the effect on their sensibility as members of society reflect the most severe consequences of this pattern. If your mother is hired to essential be the mother of another family, who takes care of you? How would you feel like a valued member of society? The reproduction of this sensibility absent of privilege is filled with reminders that lower class is less important. These societal messages reproduce the oppression of class that has secured a power structure that is as old as society itself. The experience of children in this analytical deconstruction reflects patterns seen worldwide. As this problem become ever more polarizing what can be done to combat the consequences?

After reading Wonders Michalowski’s article I immediately thought of the forest and the tree concept. The authors explain, “Most writings on the sex trade take prostitutes as the starting point for analysis of sex work.” (546) And continue with, “It is our view that an adequate analysis of contemporary sex tourism must consider how the meshing of the supply and demand curves for sex creates a transnational  business like any other.” (546) In my opinion, identifying this distinction can serve as a blue print in analyzing all aspects of society.

The problem with living in a patriarchal society is that issues such as sex tourism is reduced to the deviant nature of primarily the women involved. This tendency identified by the authors, allows the problem to be dismissed as an aspect of deviance as opposed to a symptom of poverty. Instead of critically thinking about the structural circumstances that produce this industry the women involved are re-victimized.  This preserves patriarchy as it places the sole blame on women. Articulating the influence of supply and demand for these types of services more appropriately attests the circumstances of this industry. The men who solicit sex workers are free from ridicule because of the gender systems of society. The authors do an amazing job of identifying the source of the problem.

In Taylor and Davidson’s article they further explain the situational aspects that create the business of sex tourism. Their explanation of “other” and their testament to the male desire of control is the foundation of the author’s argument. This led me to think about the source of this need for control. The western men who are exploiting sex workers are products of an every changing world of the masculine identity. The world to which I am referring is a world that is based on fragile male sensibilities. The are many examples of masculine success, but within those examples many western men feel powerless, as they do not posses the same influence as other males in society. This wounded whiteness compels these men to feign for any type of control. That control is achieved when soliciting sex workers. I am not trying to declare that my testament is the source of all sex tourism, but it is impossible to ignore these effects.

The authors also explain how soliciting a sex worker of another race helps them secure their racial ideology. I feel this strengthens my argument, as this process is the product of wounded privilege. More and more people of color are gaining status and power in America. Many white male Americans perceive this as a threat to their race and a threat to the racial ideology that has given them privileges that are undeserved. My explanations are in no way excuses for white western males who solicit sex workers. It is merely a deconstruction of societal situations that are personified through the actions of these men. The goal of my explanation is to bring focus on the demand aspect of the sex tourism industry. Through this explanation, the women who supply services are not the source of this trend.

The article on female sex tourism is a direct reflection of patriarchy. Male sex workers are not seen the same as female sex workers, as explained in the article. Again, the issue of control is at the center of this distinction. Male sex workers are romanticized while female sex workers are ostracized. Female sex workers are seen as the source of the problem, and their deviance is the center of justification. Male sex workers are seen as opportunistic. Males are afforded this distinction because their bodies have not been objectified the same way female bodies have been. This contradiction identifies females as deviant and males as opportunistic because the consequences are not the same.

This inconsistency is the definition of problematic. That being said, examples of this tendency are seen in all different work places. In America, many women face the decision between family and career. Men do not have to make this choice, which makes them more accepted in the work place. I am not trying to say working in an office is the same as being a sex worker, but it shows a similar reflection of the male and female occupational experience.