Dear Neil,
    I have not seen any responses to your recent thoughtful letter, and
since I am relatively new to the list and have not previously offered
anything for discussion, I thought I might do so at this point.  It occurs
to me that you are both right and wrong.  The whole notion of gender studies
sprang forth from the years during which the term "men" or "man" was said to
have "embraced women" as well, when we all know that it really didn't.  In
tourism, as in many other domains, most studies have rather ignored the
issue, since emphasis has been on the "community" or the category itself (of
either hosts or guests) - its economy, politics, etc.  But since in the
majority of world communities it is the men who dominate, women have largely
been forgotten, with the assumption that whatever benefits or disasters may
have ensued, would affect women, as well as men - in a trickle-down way, if
nothing else.
   I am concerned, not that we have no studies of men in tourism, but that
we have little information about the interactions between men and women and
how they may be affected by participation in tourism - whether among
tourists or their "hosts."  We know  little about the Caribbean "toyboys" or
gigolos, and what this activity means for them after the girls go home,
about the men who marry tourists in order to emigrate, about the pimps and
prostitutes of both sexes, and about the men and women who seek sexual
experiences in touristy places.
    Neither do we have much information on how the encounters with different
gender definitions may affect peoples' lives after they return home or after
the visitors have returned home.  And here I am talking about men and
women's different sexual orientations, but also about expectations
concerning how men and women are supposed to act, participate in their own
societies, etc.
    I live in Guatemala, having retired from the University of Maryland's
Department of Anthropology several years ago.  Although tourism is one of
the major industries here, it is virtually unstudied by social scientists.
We are making a beginning at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, where
we have majors in both anthropology and in alternative tourism.  I would be
interested to hear other comments on these issues, and if there is
literature on these subjects, to have references.  Gender expectations are
changing here, but it is not clear to me how much tourism has been
responsible.  More importantly, perhaps, have been increasing opportunities
for women to work in factories (and thus not in their own or other peoples'
homes), increasing emigration to the U.S., with resulting transnationalism,
and advertising - especially on television.  The other side of that coin -
how visits here by foreign tourists may affect their own notions of gender -
is totally unknown to me.
     So, hopefully, we can get some discussion going.  Thanks for the
stimulus.

Dr. Nancie L. Gonzalez
Professor Emerita of Anthropology, University of Maryland
Visiting Professor, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala




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