Tourism, Sex Work, and the HIV Pandemic

• In Event: 485 - Section on Sociology of Development Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 06. Gender and Work in the Global South

Abstract

In the 1960s, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Bank, and the United Nations promoted tourism in developing countries as a path to economic development. Tourism was hailed as an easy path to development because it relied primarily on natural resources already in place instead of requiring large capital outlays for infrastructure (Jafari 1974). Overall, international tourism as an economic development strategy has resulted in more inequality in developing nations because profits of tourism tend to go to the elites in a country, widening the gap between rich and poor (Crick 2006). These forces, along with the restructuring of the world economy, have also played a role in the rise of another kind of sex work related to tourism: sex tourism (Cabezas 2009). This paper analyzes the economic, structural, and social conditions that have assisted the rise and sustenance of sex tourism in the Third World. It also addresses women’s vulnerability to the HIV pandemic. Sex work is an important factor related to infection, particularly with cut-backs to state-run health programs. This analysis outlines some HIV risk factors unique to sex work and, specifically, sex tourism. Risk elements include the politics of condom negotiation and risky behavior of tourists.

Author

• Michaela Kathleen Curran, University of California - Riverside