Transitional desires and sex tourism in the Dominican Republic What’s love got to do with it? By Denise Brennan is about sex tourism in Sosua, Dominican Republic. Sex tourism has become a big socioeconomic trend in Sosua which use to be an agricultural landscape which was then turned into a sexscape. The majority of the population in Sosua is composed of white foreigners and sex workers specifically poor Haitian and Dominican men and women. Sosua and any other places in the Caribbean has some sort of connection to the developed world1 who introduces a mode of production and consumption that helps shape society and the economy in these places. Denis Brennan explains that this is an example of globalization. “Globalization is the ongoing process …show more content…
Elena is a sex worker in Sosua who met Jürgen, a German tourist, who had a sexual encounter with Elena. She was lucky enough to get Jürgen to move her to a better apartment and give her daughter and sisters financial stability. However, Jürgen also drank and was always unfaithful to Elena after he moved her in the new apartment. She would argue with him about his where about and his drinking habits and he eventually got tired of her and left her while she was pregnant which his child. Later on, he rejects paternity of the child because he is dark skin unlike him. This is an example of the risk factors or the disadvantage that these sex workers have when it comes to the sex tourism industry. There are moments of success where they get to have a socioeconomic stability but all that can disappear fast. The sad part of it all is that Elena’s friend blames her for her losing Jürgen and the benefits that he gave her because the way they see it is that almost all men cheat, and drink so why not allow and accept the way Jürgen is since he is the one helping her economically. I think this leads to women feeling inferior because aside from the fact that they have to use their bodies to get money, they have to feel inferior to these foreign men and do whatever they want in order to keep the money coming in all because they are not educated enough or have the resources to make money the …show more content…
Sosua becoming a sex scape was somewhat of a positive things because it brought many opportunities for Dominican an Haitians to find employment at bar which were later a site for sex tourism. Sosua at some point was a site vacation destination because of the sex tourism. However, globalization negatively impacted these sex workers because although their ultimate goal was to achieve socio-economic stability or a marriage visa, many of these workers could not achieve either. Brennan also talks about how after 9/11, Sosua became less productive when it came to sex tourism because of the terrorist attack in New York and the travel restrictions imposed after the terrorist attack. However, Brennan explains that some people were able to keep they jobs at the bar and in fact, sex tourism has cracked down ever since. Women still find foreigners to have sex with for money but now it’s a little spread out in the country and not just concentrated in Sosua. This is get another example of globalization because a tragedy that happened in The United States influence the sex tourism in Sosua and was the only thing that cracked it down. Brennan concludes the book by talking about Elena and how she turned out. Elena ended up marring another German guy in order to obtain her marriage visa and make a life for herself and her family. No in days however is hard to obtain a marriage visa or to
...atters of their relationship. While her husband was away, she took on an authoritative role within her husbands business affairs while he was absent. Having access to male clients, helped her in deciding what needed to be done and delivered. It started to play out as a partnership, in which they each had their own individual roles in terms of livelihood. They began to overlap within their affairs, where they would have not been successful in their trade without each other in order to attain a successful business and home. Magdalena was trusted with all that was included within their business matters.
Kelly’s article has raised valid points regarding safety to the prostitute within a brothel, but there is so much evidence that proves the ill effects of this experiment in other countries that the evidence cannot be ignored. Although, parts of the sex trade industry may initially see positive results for some of the workers, the majority would end up worse off than before. Due to the illegal nature of this industry and the control exuded by the pimp, the physical and psychological risk to the prostitute, the highly addictive nature of sex, and the organized crime behind the scenes orchestrating and controlling ever aspect of the industry, it is clear that decriminalizing prostitution would result in significant negative affects on society, prostitutes and those with sexual addictions.
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.
This causes Tita to take her anger out on Elena. This is the first time Tita has stood up for herself. Later in the story Elena grows sick and dies. Then her ghost comes back to yell at Tita for becoming pregnant with Pedro. With this I wonder, did Elena ever really love Tita? This is her daughter and she never showed compassion for her. Throughout the story she has treated Tita more like a slave than her daughter. Also in the story the readers find out that Elena went through the same thing Tita is experiencing. Elena was in love with a man, but her parents forbid the marriage. They then proposed that she marry another man and was forced to go through with it. Elena continued the affair with her love and became pregnant. The man that Elena loved was killed before she had any chance to run away with him. Leaving her heartbroken with a man in whom she does not love. So Elena, out of all people should understand what Tita is going through. Most people would assume that Elena would be all for Tita marrying Pedro, but for some odd reason she won 't let it happen. Some might wonder if Elena has the mindset of, “If I couldn 't have my love, neither can she”. This thought process is extremely childish though. Elena can see Tita suffering through this, but never changes her ways. Why would anyone want to see his or her own child suffer? Elena has to have some good in her; unfortunately she never seems to show it. Even as a ghost she curses Tita and her child. Now that in death she still can’t accept Tita and what she chooses. There doesn 't seem to be much love in this family. Even after all these issues and foolish family traditions, Rosaura has decided to not let Esperanza marry. No one has seemed to learn that not allowing their child to marry only causes
Later that day, Tita found Nacha dead on the floor holding a picture of her fiance in her hands(41). Nacha suffered the most from the added ingredient in the cake. Nacha understood what Tita was going through. Overwhelmed with loneliness and grief of the loss of her fiance which Mama Elena too, strictly forbid her from marrying. Mama Elena went through a similar experience like Tita. “Jose was the love of her life. She hadn’t been allowed to marry him because he had Negro blood in his veins”(137). Mama Elena has a moment where if she cannot find true love, than not even her own daughter can find true love. Mama Elena channels her anger when Tita mentions Pedro. “Unquestionably, when it came to dividing, dismantling, dismembering, desolating, detaching, dispossessing, destroying, or dominating, Mama Elena was a pro”(97). Ironically, this is an issue that runs in the family. Someone falls in love, but are not allowed to move forward with their relationship. First with Mama Elena, Nancha and now Tita has to live with the fact that true love is within reach but is also
Foley, Eric. Cultures of the World Dominican Republic. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 1995. Print.
This story focuses on the extra-marital affair a housewife named Calixta has while her husband and son are away due to a storm. Although we learn that Calixta has an affair we also know that she doesn’t completely defy the Cult of Domesticity. From the story we get the idea that she remained pure until she married her husband and as Chopin tells us in page 689 “She had not seen him very often since her marriage, and never alone,” this line suggest that even if she saw her past lover around she would not speak to him because neither of them were ever alone and they both didn’t want to disrespect their marriages. In addition Calixta seems to be a very good housewife and mother. She appears to be always tending her home. In page 689 we learn that “[sitting} at a side window sewing furiously on a sewing machine. [Calixta] was greatly occupied and did not notice the approaching storm.” She is so focused on her chores that she didn’t even notice a storm. For Calixta sewing and doing chores around the house is what is normal. She has assumed a role as a married woman and mother and she is fulfilling it. Before the affair you can say that by societies expectations she was a true woman, she kept her virginity until marriage, she makes sure her house chores are done, and she takes care of her family. Even after the affair she acts as if nothing has
In this book, globalization is defined as “an internationalization of contractual hiring, exploiting even cheaper migrant labor” (page 231). Globalization is a cultural phenomenon process in which a business or an organization begins to operate their production on an international scale. In his book, we see how globalization affected corn farmers in Mexico. Globalization open the door to the system a free market trade. In Illegal People, U.S corn farmers sold their corn to Mexico, causing Mexican corn farmers to severely lose profit since American farmers were selling their corn way cheaper. An example of how globalization is seen on Sleep Dealer is how an American company privatized water in Memo’s rancho. By privatizing the water, the company sold quantities of water at unreasonable prices, leading Memo’s dad to struggle to maintain his corm field. The American company who privatized the water could this through the usage of technology. Technology is one of the factors that led to the rise of
Barry, Kathleen. "Prostitution". Boston: Houghton Mifflin, (1998). General OneFile. Miami Dade College. Web. 2 Apr. 2014.
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
When the term “Globalization” is discussed, most academics, scholars, professionals and intellectuals attempt to define and interpret it in a summarized fashion. My main concern with this approach is that one cannot and should not define a process that altered decades of history and continues to, in less than 30 words. Global Shift is a book with remarkable insight. Peter Dicken rather than attempting to define the commonly misused word, explains Globalization in a clear and logical fashion, which interconnects numerous views. Dicken takes full advantage of his position to write and identify the imperative changes of political, economic, social, and technological dimensions of globalization.
Globalization is a broad concept and the angle taken to define it can lead us to interpret the idea in many different ways. There is much controversy about what globalization actually means and many definitions fail to encompass social, cultural and technological exchanges between world systems. John Pilger suggests that "it is a jargon term which journalists and politicians have made fashionable which is often used in a positive sense to denote a 'Global village' of free trade, hi-tech marvels and all kinds of possibilities that transcend class, historical experience and ideology." (J.Pilger 1998:63). Taking a broader point of view, Bilton et al defines globalization as "The process whereby political, social, economic and cultural relations increasingly take on a global scale, and which has profound consequences for individuals, local experiences and everyday lives."
It promotes the spreading of ideas or products across the global. Most of all, in the case of sex work, the exchanging of information has influenced the Sosúa sex workers in many ways. In the Brennan reading, she describes that sex work has reached a globalization point through the Internet, a form of information technology. The Internet’s fast functionality and vast knowledgeability allows people to easily obtain information by simply searching for what they desire. This allows sex work in Sosúa to be more trans-nationalized as the Internet easily proliferates and advertises the “previously little-known destination like Sosúa” (160) in the global sex tourist industry.
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...
Globalisation is a very complex term with various definitions, in business terms, “globalization describes the increasingly global nature of markets, the tendency for transnational businesses to configure their business activities on a worldwide basis, and to co-ordinate and integrate their strategies and operations across national boundaries” (Stonehouse, Campbell, Hamill and Purdie, 2004, p. 5).