Sex Tourism in Dominican Republic
A main section of the tourism industry in Boca Chica revolves around the tourists seeking out sex from the local population. There are moments in interviews where people admit that an aspect of this desire stems from the view of the local population as “exotic”. The local population seems to be aware that this is a reason for the sex tourism industry. But traveling explicitly for purchasing sex from someone that they see as a racial other is an important aspect of this transaction. Furthermore, there also seems to be an explicit connection to be made between modern sex tourism and the traveling of Frenchmen to Algeria. Similar climates and an expressed interest in sex with a racialized other being the clearest. Traveling to warmer and more "exotic" locales creates the opportunity for the white tourist to justify their racist exploits as a part of traveling, like the Frenchmen who saw painting and sketching exoticized and eroticized images of a racial other as a legitimate part of their journey.
This photograph highlights what might be an unusual sight for some, but what is normal for the beaches of Boca Chica. Statistics regarding the purchase of sex while on vacation in the Dominican Republic suggest that this man is/has bought sex during his trip. Standing in the ocean with a black woman, this photograph combines the traditional aspect of most beach vacations with the usual sex tourism of Boca Chica.
For the gay community in Santo Domingo, the majority of gay experiences “takes place in the context of a highly depressed economy in which access to many of the signifiers of global gay culture is highly constrained by class and race” [6]. Selling sex to tourists who have access to this “global gay culture” then provides the gay men of Santo Domingo access to a method in which they can explore their sexual identities.
Another important element to the othered nature of the locals is that the purchaser can leave without ever seeing them again. This prostitution is part of the vacation; it is idealized as part of a trip. The sex tourism industry even creates its own “gay tour groups, numerous Web sites, gay guide books, ad local gay hotels and businesses serve to orient them, and…local bugarrones also work as ‘tour guides’ and interpreters for some gay visitors (either independently or in conjunction with sexual services” [7]. Being gay and purchasing sex is then clearly shown as a possibility for tourists, and when thinking of this in combination with the fact that these tourists have access to a world that the gay men of Santo Domingo want, this industry becomes racially and economically problematic.
In a blog post writen by a photographer who had recently traveled to the Domican Republic, he recounts an "uh-oh feeling" upon witnessing interactions between white tourists and native born prostitutes. After delving into recitations of statistics regarding the poverty rate in the Dominican Republic and their status as the "4th largest 'exporter' of prostitutes in the world," [8] the poster continues to question the argument that it could be a woman's choice to work as a prostitute in a country so poor and devoid of opportunities. Asking these questions is important when thinking about the power structures at work in sex tourism. However, this post is incredibly biased as it is written for an organization that is explicitly devoted to ending prostitution, rather than Padilla's work that takes a more sociological approach.
[6] Padilla, M. B. (2007). Caribbean pleasure industry: Tourism, sexuality, and AIDS in the Dominican Republic (worlds of desire: The chicago series on sexuality, gender, and culture). United States: University Of Chicago Press.
[7] Padilla.
[8] Taddy, J. (2014, November 1). Sex tourism in the Dominican Republic: Asking the right questions. Retrieved May 5, 2016, from http://www.onwardsinc.org/2014/11/sex-tourism-in-the-dominican-republic/