Power Relations at the Intersection of Gender, Race and Class Perpetuated in Sex Tourism

Abstract: Sex tourism is a process whereby most commonly men from the Global North travel to the Global South to gain access to the bodies of women. This process perpetuates inequalities at the intersection of gender, race and class. This research seeks to uncover contemporary power relations in the relationship between male sex tourists from the Global North and female sex workers from the Global South. This research attempts to understand how sex tourism motivates problematic international gendered assumptions about Global South women by Global North men, whether and how the customers from the Global North are the dominant participants in the tourism-related sexual entertainment industry, and to what extent sex tourism is indeed exploitative. The research puzzle was addressed through data triangulation of a content analysis of men’s accounts as sex tourists and an expert interview. It was found that colonial patriarchal constructions of Global South women as available and passive and as commoditised objects of male lust are perpetuated in contemporary sex tourism in Thailand. Moreover, I argue that because the men that enlist the women’s sexual services are aware of the women’s deficient economic situation, these men are consciously exploiting these women to gain access to their bodies.