5 Assignment 10

In Amelia Cabezas’, Between Love and Money: Sex, Tourism, and Citizenship in Cuba and the Dominican Republic, she discusses sexual issues/actions as well as the legal and social effects of these in Cuba and the Dominican Republic . She also brings up the idea of “sexual citizenship,” which promotes a society in which sexual and gender diversity is widespread and the norm, instead of being dominated by male heterosexuals. This would in turn help women and help eliminate discrimination against them regarding their sexuality and gender. Sexual citizenship aims to create a society where people are responsible and decide their own sexuality and gender without dealing with oppression and discrimination.

Women who occupy positions outside of the norm, or more specifically: heteronormativity, would welcome this change as there would be little to no oppression due to their personal choices regarding their sexuality and gender.

In the Dominican Republic and Cuba, there is sex tourism which is when people visit in order to engage in sexual activities with the women there due to the loose restrictions regarding it when compared to other countries. Many women there encourage and participate in this in order to get money and support their family. Of course, others see this as a problem and believe what they are doing is immoral and wrong and ruins the reputation of the native women from said countries. This leads to them being harassed and oppressed for their actions even if it is the only way they can provide money for the family at home. While sexual citizenship would greatly benefit women of all genders and sexuality, it would also help Cuban and Dominican women in this position by allowing them to do as they choose with their bodies without facing negative repercussions/harassment.

I think Amalia Cabezas defines sexual citizenship as women being able to choose what they want to do with their own bodies and how they express their sexuality. She talks about how the women in Cuba and Dominican Republic often choose to have sexual relationships with the tourists that visit there so that they can provide for themselves an their family. The tourists have money and can also provide food, clothes, etc. for them. Even more important though is that many of them are also seeking to be able to have a longer lasting relationship that will eventually let them be able to move to a different country and get married. These women however, are seen as bad or “sexual deviants”. The problem with this is that sex workers are classified because of their race, class, and culture. For example, according to Amalia Cabezas, a white women who spent time with a mexican tourist, and also had sex and received items from the man wouldn’t be seen as a sex worker. Instead, it would be seen as a romantic relationship that could bloom into something more. This wasn’t met with any negative reactions. However, women that were seen as a lower race or class would seen as sex workers and prostitutes. They would get arrested by the police if they were seen bothering tourists and be abused physically. Of course, this includes women who are seen as outside heteronormativity also as they are seen as dangerous because they don’t fit into a gender that is seen as normal by the state. The women that are involved in sex tourism are blamed for having a no morals or greedy instead of it being blamed on the tourist and tourism. Despite all of this, men involved in sex tourist are seen as heroes that help improve tourism and help the state get more money from them.

Amalia Cabezas’ essay, “Between Love and Money: Sex, Tourism, and Citizenship in Cuba and the Dominican Republic”, she explains and defines the term “sexual citizenship”. She also goes into the specifics of the connection between women who do not ‘fit the standards’ set by heteronormativity and this kind of sexuality she explains prior. Sex, travel, and globalization are now intertwined in the political order and are an important part of the tourism industry in the world today. The sexual labor of women, starting from the times of the European colonizations and then going on for over five hundred years, has always been a part of the economic and political world (1). And so the author brings up a very clear question, how is globalization now making such environments for sexual acts and sexualized identities to be created (2)? Amalia Cabezas believes that the tie between sex and tourism derives from the need of labor which changes seasonally, from the formal and informal sections of the economy. She also argues that workers and individuals are constantly changing and forming the labor process due to their own intimacies and sexualities. Not only that, but Amalia Cabezas also states that the not understanding of such practices and stereotypes of sex tourism are highlighted in the juridical framework and how sexual morality fits with sexual citizenship (5). Sexual citizenship goes straight to show the double standards on how society accepts and reacts to the actions of a woman to the actions of a man. A male sex worker can be seen as a hero, a national identity, someone working for the economy of the country, helping it grow. But on the other hand, a female sex worker will be considered the deviant, making them the link between tourism and prostitution, and are shamed for the work they have taken upon. The actions of a male sex worker are seen to be less politically charged and less culturally condemning, but a female sex worker? Well, that becomes a different story in the eyes of society (22).  Towards the end of her essay, Amalia Cabezas attaches a promise to this kind of sexuality, especially for those women outside of the “heteronormativity” spectrum. She states that the sexual rights of a woman (such as the right to her own body), can help challenge the ‘standards’ and ‘traditional’ views used by society to keep not just the sexual outlaws, but all women, in check (25).

In “Between Love and Money: Sex, Tourism, and Citizenship in Cuba and the Dominican Republic” Amelia Cabezas defines “sexual citizenship” as the relationship between citizens and sexual labor. Cabezas focuses on “sex tourism,” or the practices of sex workers who are dependent on their labor and the wages that are earned from their sexual services. This form of prostitution is seen as deviant behavior, of course, and considered of lesser value or importance to society. Of course there is gender inequality in sex work because men are given more sexual freedom and authority than woman. Outside of prostitution, women are demonized for being sexually active, called promiscuous, while it is acceptable for men to have multiple sex partners and engage in prostitution. Ironically, a majority of sex workers are women serving the needs of men (instead of male prostitutes serving the needs of female clients. In the DR and Cuba, anything outside the heteronormative patriarchy is considered wrong and demonized by society (including sexually deviant women, prostitution, homosexuality, etc.). In the DR and Cuba, sexual minorities of any kind are treated as lesser members of society. Latin American countries are typically very religious (Catholic) with an importance and emphasis on family – sexual practices that exist outside the purpose of producing children or maintaining the family are seen as immoral, wrong and those individuals will be ostracized by society. But, sex tourism and the practices of these sexual workers is accepted when it is seen as loving and romantic. Many people who engage in sexual tourism are seen as participating in mutually beneficial romantic relationships – where the tourists receive companionship and sexual services from the citizens in the DR and Cuba and the citizens receive financial benefit and economic support from the tourists. Considering some of these women are single mothers with children to support, it is understandable that they would seek this type of companionship to provide for themselves and their families.

I believe Amelia Cabezas defines sexual citizenship as women’s sexuality and the complexity behind what can be written off as sex work. In the article, Cabezas seems to be showing that women who are called “sex workers” seem to be criminalized for taking control of their own sexuality, more so than they are criminalized for prostitution. The women in the article seem to be the same as what one would call a “sugar baby, being that they are with tourists in typical relationships which can involve romance and relationships, but also lead to some sort of financial support either in the form of actual monetary payment, or more commonly gifts.
There seems to be quite a double standard in that men who participate in the same activities, are not prosecuted by police, nor are they seen as deviants in the same fashion. In both Cuba and the Dominican Republic, men and women in the resorts especially, take advantage of the wealthy men and women visiting to help them pay there bills, and take care of their children, which likely would be unnecessary if they were paid well enough in the first place. To add to this, there are different standards to the same activities based on your socioeconomic class, your education level, and your skin tone. Women with lighter skin, in a higher class, and with better education can participate in the same activities as jinetera, but they are not described as one. Instead, there interactions with tourists are seen as romantic and possibly leading to a future.
While I do not agree personally with the idea of people using sex for monetary gain, I also believe that the government has no place in regulating this, and I also find it quite appealing that women can be arrested without any proof for sentences which have no official end date. Rather than wasting money on rehabilitation centers which clearly do not work, I think they should spend money on sex education and STD testing, or even just working on paying their people a living wage so they do not feel the need to participate in sex work.

According to Cabezas’ reading, sexual citizenship can be considering as a kind of relationship between the people that involved in sex work. In the article, Cabezas explained the sexual citizenship with a specific example called sex tourism, it refers to the sexual acts between people that depends on money. Those “sex worker” and individuals were viewed as “sexual deviants” by society, usually this views were given by their socioeconomic class, race and gender, etc. In the other hand, those who were not consider as sex worker, their social views will be treated as romance and friendship.

The gender equality was also related with sexual citizenship. In usual, those who consider sex workers, women will occupy more percentages than men. In the society, if a woman had sex with more than one man, it’s treat as promiscuous, but if this situation happened in a man, this person will be regard as normal, because people think man should had those sexual needs to be look as a normal man. This situation shows the gender inequality between man and women, because the society gave more tolerance to men than women.

Cabezas also referred the term “sexual citizenship” to the acceptance in the public life of the different sexualities, particularly those women outside heteronormativity. She gave the people inCuba and Domonican Republic as the example of the different sexualities. In those countries, the people treat those solitary women, lesbian and other sexual minorities will not respect. They are target for moral panic and harassment by police.The society viewed them as not normal and unmoral. Compare them with the women in heteronormativity, those sexual minorities may be treat as the lowest class.

In her essay, Amelia Cabezas focuses on the sexual industry of Carribbean region, especially Cuba and Dominican Republic. She starts off her essay by explaining the historical background of each country, as how sex became tied into their economic and social processes. According to the article, more than 500 years, sexual labor of women in the region was justified. As becoming one of the prominent regions of tourism, both Cuba and Dominican Republic developed their sexual identities in different sectors. Sex industry became their biggest social and economic outcomes, so there were strong links between tourism and sex. Some critiques argue that people of sex tourism is a form of victimization. Cabezas introduces specific terms as jineterismo, jineteras, sanky pankys, pingueroes, etc. Those gendered terms indicate the region’s mass tourism linked to sex trades. Tourist-oriented prostitution gave opportunities to such people to seek for love, money, romance and even marriage or migration after. Cabezas also argues that there are racial, class, gendered backgrounds behind. There were occupational segregation between races, and physical characteristics of sex workers mattered. Someone with lighter skin and with socioeconomic class was not considered as sex worker or sex tourist. Therefore, the exact criteria of definition are very ambiguous and vague. In both countries, prostitution is not illegal but the state had been suggesting such groups of women as ‘dangerous’ of suspect. Women in more privileged conditions didn’t get targeted, whereas women that are dark-skinned and had more connections with tourists were defined as having ‘questionable morality’ and got verbally abused, beaten, robbed and eventually put incarcerated. While Cabezas emphasizes “sexual citizenship,” she argues that sufferings of women outside the heteronormativity. Cuban women workers were seen to represent defilement of national pride, whereas male sex workers were treated as powerful extension of Cuban identity. However, Cabezas argues sexual rights for all women and full participations as citizens, not just those who are sexual outlaws.

In Amelia Cabezas’ article, “Between Love and Money: Sex, Tourism, and Citizenship in Cuba and the Dominica Republic”, the relationship between changing economic and labor practices and the rise in sex tourism is examined. The move towards free market practices after the fall of the Soviet Union has lead Cuba as well as the other nations in the Caribbean to experience a larger and more open amount of sex work in relation to tourism. Men come to these countries and take advantage of the more relaxed laws to engage in paid for sex that is severely illegal as well as restricted in the countries they come from, such as the U.S and European nations. Due to the dependence on tourism to generate revenue for the country, many young men and women are forced to move to tourist areas and enter prostitution as a means of living. Cabezas examines the color dynamic of sex tourism in Cuba, with dark skinned Cubans being more involved with sex tourism and making money through different relationships, while the light skinned Cubans are less involved with the practice in that they often just have sex for money and do not maintain long relationships. Sex workers in these tourist areas often marry their clients and begin to build families and lives, demonstrating the ways that sex workers can find more opportunities than just cash. Despite these opportunities, the practice degrades men and women alike, and contributes to the objectification of women and disregard to their safety and health. The increase in sex tourism is a reflection of changing economic values and practices, as well as a representation of the neo-colonialism that is still ever present in the Caribbean. While both men and women are involved in sex tourism, it is often the women who are persecuted by the government and authorities, which demonstrates the heteronormativity in that the government doesn’t want to grant women the same liberties over their bodies and sexual life that it does men.

In Amelia L. Cabezas book Between Love and Money, she deeply discusses the lives of women in Cuba and the Dominican Republic who are participants in Sex Tourism. In her chapter, Sex, Tourism, and Citizenship in Cuba and the Dominican Republic, the idea of sexual citizenship is introduced. Sexual Citizenship is a movement that Cabezas believes will help to eliminate the sexual discrimination of women. Sexual Citizenship will aim to embrace the varying sexual practices and sexualities present amongst individuals. I like and agree with the idea of sexual citizenship. People should be free to explore any sexuality they desire and they should also possess the right to do what they want with their bodies. The sooner people adopt this ideology, the sooner the world would head in the right direction of being less discriminatory and oppressive.

Women living in both Cuba and the Dominican Republic who fall outside of the practice of heteronormativity are viewed as outcasts. The women who participate in the sex tourism lifestyles are seen as outcasts because many believe their way of life is immoral and that it misrepresents both Cuban and Dominican women. Their lifestyle makes them targets for harassment not only by other citizens but by law enforcement who view their way of life as corruption. However, many women who participate in this type of work choose and continue to do it because it provides them with extra money needed to help sustain their households and take care of family members that are dependent on them. Not only does this work help them financially but it also provides the women with chances to see the world and migrate to different places with their tourist companions. Sexual Citizenship would essentially grant these women a right to carry out their work without being discriminated and allow them to be viewed as women doing what they please with their bodies.

In her essay Amalia Cabezas explains several problems related to with the usual conception of sex work in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. She considers that the term “sex work” is more than the simple practice of sex in exchange for money. Cabezas also point out that the increased tourism has caused an increase of sex work, which in turn has contributed in the creation of different types of relationship between tourist and hosts. In countries as Cuba and Dominican Republic, solitary women, lesbian and other sexual minorities are target for moral panic and harassment by police. Also in these countries, women who have sex with more than a person is cataloged as bad sexual subjects, while male who have several sexual partners are considered “supermen” because this is considered as a natural behavior of men sexuality.

Also, in her essay Cabezas explains the highlighted difference on how is considered the sex work among male and female, because while male sex workers are considered as national idols, female sex workers are considered deviants and a social evil. I think that Cabezas uses the term “sexual citizenship” to refer to the acceptance in the public life of the different sexualities, outside the masculine heterosexual domain, particularly those women outside heteronormativity. Many concepts of female sexual agency keeps absent from the conceptualizations and laws of human rights, but when we implement the idea of sexual rights we can cover minorities instead of categorize or to frame people by their sexuality and at the same time we open the way in situations where labor rights can not be applied. Finally, according to the author, tourism has opened a door where labor practices and romantic relationships are mixed. In countries where the economic index is very low is difficult to separate love, money, and business. They see tourism as a way to scape of their reality.