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WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?
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Transnational Desires and Sex Tourism in the Dominican Republic
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By: Denise Brennan In, What’s Love Got to do with It? Denise Brennan writes about her study of Sosúa, Dominican Republic as a transnational sex tourism site. “What started out as a project on sex tourism expanded into a study on globalization and the changes, opportunities, and inequalities it has engendered within one tourist town,” (Brennan, 13). Although this globalization of Sosúa is perceived as an opportunity for a golden ticket out of poverty, many sex workers do not see the reality that, depending on their race, class, gender, and citizenship, these opportunities may never be available to them. The sex workers of Sosúa place themselves in positions to be exploited and victimized based on their perceptions of this opportunity for success, their definitions of morality and their own self-identities, and their overwhelming need for money to fulfill “their familial obligations as heads of household” (Brennan, 153). Denise Brennan studies why Dominican women migrate to Sosúa to pursue sex work and how European sex tourists come to Sosúa to buy sex cheaply and live out racialized fantasies. The women choose Sosúa because of their perceptions of opportunities to meet European sex tourists, foster relationships, and eventually move with them to their home countries. “They attempt to circumvent asymmetries of power to turn Sosúa into a space of opportunity, rather than a space of exploitation and domination,” (Brennan, 19). However, the differences in race, gender, class, and nationality between the sex workers and sex tourists classify Sosúa as a sexscape where “undeniable power differentials […] give them