OK, folks: I'd like to add my two pennyworth to the debate
on gender and tourism.
I did to try to cover it a little in Tourism and Less
Developed Countries, and the article by Sylvia Chant in
that book is especially relevant. In addition, I am
currently producing a completely new version of that text
(i.e. a totally new book!) and hope to revisit the subject
there, as well as focusing on it in a single-authored book,
which is still on the stocks.
However:
1. I rather have the impression that in development studies
generally there has been a movement away from looking at
women specifically in favour of examining the RELATIONS of
women with men, and how these are changed in development
processes. It is a move I welcome, partly because I am not
sure that men per se, WERE a focus of earlier work, and in
any case because I'd rather concentrate on the processes
involved in relationships.
2. There is some evidence in tourism (as elsewhere) that
new employment opportunities for women can have quite
radical implications for their relations with men. I am
reminded of Sylvia's intimation that once women in
Mexico found jobs in tourism they were much less prepared
(quite literally) to be manhandled by the men, and much
more willing to take their children and move out. How one
regards THAT, of course, depends on a range of other
opinions about development, but I know where I stand, even
if it means a threat to local 'culture.'
3. There is a growing literature on women's involvement
as clients in sex tourism - referred to in one article, as
I recall, as 'massaging their sexual identities' (which
makes it all right then, and thus not at all like male sex
tourists???!)
4. The book edited by Vivian Kinnaird and Derek Hall
(Tourism: A Gender Analysis) is clearly relevant to the
debate. Ditto Thea Sinclair's book, Gender, Work and
Tourism, which has several papers by anthropologists.
5. Some other random comments: a) the role of tourism in
the opening in the UK of quite a few Thai restaurants? Or
restaurants of any other kind? b) as Nancy suggests, some
work on the role of tourism in introducing foreign women as
affines into families in former 'host' societies? And the
implications in terms of culture change for this process.
Lots of anecdotal evidence, but not much disciplined
research? c) the need for proper research on
more general host-guest interaction in destination areas
and how this relates to men, women and the 'demonstration
effect' (which seems more often than not to refer to women
getting 'wrong' ideas about how to behave! d) Some work has
been done on toy boys from the Gambia who have been taken
by women of mature age to Scandinavia. A case of being left
out in the cold, both literally and metaphorically. e) I
have often come across women (and men) in the hospitality
business in the South Pacific being invited by guests at
hotels to visit them in their home countries, and having
their trips paid for, too. This must be worth following up
at some point.
Hope that is of some interest.
Have to dash,
Best wishes to all,
David
On Fri, 04 Aug 2000 09:37:09 -0400 Nancie Gonzalez
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 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
>
>
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
David Harrison
Professor of Tourism, Culture and Development
Centre for Leisure and Tourism Studies
Business School
University of North London
Stapleton House
277-281 Holloway Rd.
London N7 8HN
Phone: (44)(020) 7753-7049 ex. 3037
(44)(020) 7753-7058
fax: (44)(020) 7753-5051
e-mail:: [log in to unmask]
Home phone: (020) 8348 1558
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|