gravalicious

“ Let’s put it this way; since colonization the Caribbean was sexually exploited for the production of “mano de obra eslava” [slave labour]; for the enjoyment of Creole men and their visitors from afar. Slavery included sexual work, especially for young boys and girls. When tourism as an industry exploded. there was already a cultural discourse on identity that included sexual and economic negotiations with “tourists”. The discourse about the “Negresse” as a potent sexual animal, of the exotic “Mulatta”, of the potent Black “Stallion” was already in place. Tourism took advantage of it. I believe that what we see now is a proliferation of the possibilities of the trade; Cuban jineteras [female prostitutes] and pingueros [male prostitutes], sexual packages that sell the services of young boys and girls in Santo Domingo, transvestite prostitution, and boricua [Puerto Rican] “hustlers” in NY and P.R. - part of the same spectrum. Maybe, because of the industrialization of the relationship, there is more space for negotiation between buyer and supplier. The master does not keep all the gain, but still.