1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910782543003321

Autore

Padilla Mark <1969->

Titolo

Caribbean pleasure industry [[electronic resource] ] : tourism, sexuality, and AIDS in the Dominican Republic / / Mark Padilla

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chicago, : University of Chicago Press, 2007

ISBN

1-281-96615-0

9786611966157

0-226-64437-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (313 p.)

Collana

Worlds of desire

Classificazione

44.06

71.67

Disciplina

306.76/62097293

Soggetti

Sex tourism - Dominican Republic

AIDS (Disease) - Dominican Republic

Gender identity - Dominican Republic

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [261]-280) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Global sexual spaces and their hierarchies -- "Me la busco" : looking for life in the Dominican pleasure industry -- "Orgullo gay Dominicano": shifting cultural politics of sexual identity in Santo Domingo -- Familial discretions : unveiling the other side of sex work -- "Love," finance, and authenticity in gay sex tourism -- AIDS, the "bisexual bridge," and the political economy of risk in the Dominican Republic -- Conclusion -- Appendix: selected survey results.

Sommario/riassunto

In recent years, the economy of the Caribbean has become almost completely dependent on international tourism. And today one of the chief ways that foreign visitors there seek pleasure is through prostitution. While much has been written on the female sex workers who service these tourists, Caribbean Pleasure Industry shifts the focus onto the men. Drawing on his groundbreaking ethnographic research in the Dominican Republic, Mark Padilla discovers a complex world where the global political and economic impact of tourism has led to shifting sexual identities, growing economic pressures, and new challenges for HIV prevention. In fluid prose, Padilla analyzes men who have sex with male tourists, yet identify themselves as "normal" heterosexual men



and struggle to maintain this status within their relationships with wives and girlfriends. Padilla's exceptional ability to describe the experiences of these men will interest anthropologists, but his examination of bisexuality and tourism as much-neglected factors in the HIV/AIDS epidemic makes this book essential to anyone concerned with health and sexuality in the Caribbean or beyond.