Although sex tourism can be variously voluntary or exploitative, commercial or non-commercial, confirming or negating a sense of integrity or self-worth, it can be a considerable cause for concern in some developing countries. Local and indigenous women and men are often rendered subservient to the needs of wealthy, powerful Western tourists. Non-consensual and commercial forms of sex tourism (e.g. those concerning sexual relations between unequal partners in terms of socio-economic status, age, gender or race) are especially rife in Asian countries. As stated by Hall, ‘The sexual relationship between prostitute and client is a mirror image of the dependency of South-East Asian nations on the developed world.’ Poverty-stricken villagers are sometimes persuaded to sell their young children to the sex tourism industry as a means of ensuring their family’s future survival. It is not uncommon in cities like Bangkok to see young girls with a range of price tags attached being picked out by Western or Asian business men for escort services or sexual favours.
The dependency relationship in the context of sex tourism appears to be based more on wealth and status than on gender. Female sex tourists are not blameless in this process, and it is now becoming more common for Western female tourists to visit destinations such as the Gambia, the Caribbean or India for reasons of sex tourism. However, Sanchez Taylor and O’Connell Davidson note that adult male prostitutes who cater to demand from female tourists tend to be a lot less vulnerable than women prostitutes who serve a male clientele, as their economic situation is usually less desperate and they are less physically vulnerable.
Sex tourism is arguably part and parcel of the same process of ‘othering’ whereby local people are depicted (and sold) as being exotic/erotic objects of the tourist gaze. The Western obsession with the cult of youth and beauty is fed through marketing campaigns containing explicit images of young, beautiful, ‘exotic’ natives. Beddoe notes how publications such as Sexual Paradises of the World (a more sinister use of the paradise motif as discussed earlier) have helped to exacerbate the exploitation of children, young adults and women. By whetting the appetite of the Western tourist for whom money is often no object, such campaigns do little to protect the interests of local people, especially the young, the vulnerable and the poor. Sanchez Taylor also notes the covert racism in the attitudes of some sex tourists who perpetuate the racist stereotype of the exotic and erotic black woman, especially in such destinations as the Caribbean.
In response, the international campaign ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking) has done much to raise awareness of a number of important issues. Such campaigns are needed to protect vulnerable groups, but it is a sad fact of life that prostitution is as old as time. So long as tourists have money to spend, and local people have something to sell, the sex tourism phenomenon seems unlikely to decline in the foreseeable future.
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