Sex tourism isn’t exactly anything new, and has been around for as long as people have been taking holidays.

If you’ve ever been to south-east Asia and wondered what some of those middle-aged men lurking around at seedy bars are doing then hey, you’ve seen it first-hand.

But now there’s a new spin on things, because middle-aged women are coming to the party. Here’s Women24:

Turning this trade on its head, they are no longer just bodies being bought, but rather the ones travelling across continents to have sex with the local men. Destination: Africa.

Opting for island ‘romances’ or ‘sexcapades’ with these men, this form of female-driven sex tourism is still very much veiled…

Recently, a friend, upon her return from a holiday in Zanzibar, told me that guys referred to as ‘beach boys’frequented the local beaches selling handmade trinkets and Dhow trips to surrounding islands to tourists walking along the beach. But they are also known to offer sex, almost exclusively to middle-aged white women who go to the island exclusively for that purpose.

The exchanges are not as straightforward as a money-for-sex transaction, and it seems to some that it resembles something of a blesser – blessee relationship (HERE).

One of the more well-known takes on the female sexcapade is a 2012 documentary about an Austrian woman called Theresa, who travels to Kenya in the film dubbed Paradise: Love:

The protagonist, Teresa, is overweight. On the white sandy beaches of Mombasa she’s called a Sugar Mama. She’s there to find something. Not necessarily love, but something in between lust and love. But throughout we see that for many of these women the sex is not completely detached.

We see her engage in casual sex, going on “dates” with buff young guys and visiting them at home, spending money left, right and centre. Often on a family member who suddenly comes down with some sort of ailment. The stories are elaborate.

In the end you’re left wondering, who’s exploiting whom?

If both parties walk away satisfied some might argue everyone’s a winner, although there are also other issues in play. Why doesn’t female sex tourism receive as much attention as male sex tourism?

…perhaps because it’s seen as harmless. The women have slight financial power, but are not perceived as players with lots of agency. They are middle-aged, usually overweight, conventionally unattractive and therefore are punished in a way that men, no matter their physical appearance or financial status, have never experienced.

By not exploring these relationships, because they are female-driven exchanges, again reiterates the notion that women are not sexual catalysts able to choose how they engage sexually.

OK, there you have it.

[source:women24]