Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The Embodiment of Tourism among Bisexually-Behaving Dominican Male Sex Workers

The Embodiment of Tourism among Bisexually-Behaving Dominican Male Sex Workers While theories of “structure” and social inequality have increasingly informed global health efforts for HIV prevention—with growing recognition of the linkages between large-scale political and economic factors in the distribution and impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic—there is still little theorization of precisely how structural factors shape the very bodies and sexualities of specific populations and groups. In order to extend the theoretical understanding of these macro-micro linkages, this article examines how the growth of the tourism industry in the Dominican Republic has produced sexual practices and identities that reflect both the influence of large-scale structural processes and the resistant responses of local individuals. Drawing on social science theories of political economy, embodiment, and authenticity, I argue that an understanding of patterns of sexuality and HIV risk in the region requires analysis of how political-economic transformations related to tourism intersect with the individual experiences and practices of sexuality on the ground. The analysis draws on long-term ethnographic research with bisexually behaving male sex workers in two cities in the Dominican Republic, including participant observation, in-depth interviews, focus groups, and surveys. By examining the global and local values placed on these men’s bodies and the ways sex workers use their bodies to broker tourists’ pleasure, we may better understand how the large-scale structures of the tourism industry are linked to the specific meanings and practices of sexuality. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Archives of Sexual Behavior Springer Journals

The Embodiment of Tourism among Bisexually-Behaving Dominican Male Sex Workers

Archives of Sexual Behavior , Volume 37 (5) – May 28, 2008

Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer-journals/the-embodiment-of-tourism-among-bisexually-behaving-dominican-male-sex-Up35aGvCyI

References (92)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 by Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Subject
Psychology; Sexual Behavior; Public Health; Social Sciences, general
ISSN
0004-0002
eISSN
1573-2800
DOI
10.1007/s10508-008-9358-5
pmid
18506615
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

While theories of “structure” and social inequality have increasingly informed global health efforts for HIV prevention—with growing recognition of the linkages between large-scale political and economic factors in the distribution and impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic—there is still little theorization of precisely how structural factors shape the very bodies and sexualities of specific populations and groups. In order to extend the theoretical understanding of these macro-micro linkages, this article examines how the growth of the tourism industry in the Dominican Republic has produced sexual practices and identities that reflect both the influence of large-scale structural processes and the resistant responses of local individuals. Drawing on social science theories of political economy, embodiment, and authenticity, I argue that an understanding of patterns of sexuality and HIV risk in the region requires analysis of how political-economic transformations related to tourism intersect with the individual experiences and practices of sexuality on the ground. The analysis draws on long-term ethnographic research with bisexually behaving male sex workers in two cities in the Dominican Republic, including participant observation, in-depth interviews, focus groups, and surveys. By examining the global and local values placed on these men’s bodies and the ways sex workers use their bodies to broker tourists’ pleasure, we may better understand how the large-scale structures of the tourism industry are linked to the specific meanings and practices of sexuality.

Journal

Archives of Sexual BehaviorSpringer Journals

Published: May 28, 2008

There are no references for this article.