In six pages the thesis Enloe presents in Bananas, Beaches, and Bases regarding 'sex tourism' and the Third World as being representative of culture is examined. Three sources are cited in the bibliography.
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to the Western mind set. Yet to other countries, countries that depend on tourism for dollars, the local women do "put out," whether it be as a chambermaid who makes
beds for a living, or a prostitute who sells herself for a living. This paper will examine the thesis of author Cynthia Enloe in the second chapter of her book,
Bananas, Beaches and Bases, Making Feminist Sense out of International Politics, in which she discusses tourism and its sexism - and even its sex, in some parts of the Caribbean
and Third World countries. Enloes belief is that because of governments around the world and their sponsorship and encouragement of tourism, women
are "being drawn into unequal relationships with teach other" (Enloe 20). These unequal relationships exist, however, because these women believe they are improving their lives. What might be considered exploitative
behavior (i.e., converting women in everything from chambermaids to prostitutes) in Western society are actually examples of women attempting to take control of their lives in many of these Third
World and poorer nations. The fact is, the exploitation of femininity in the tourism industry in many of these countries -- exploitation that would make women in North America and
Western Europe cringe - is taken as just another day on the job by women in these countries. According to
Enloe, while decision-making powers and economic-making power are held by men, international relationships and even politics are pretty much the womens domain, through everything from servitude to prostitution (Cuomo 32).
One of the many good points that Enloe makes is that tourism is essential to the economies of many of theses poorer