ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter sex tourism was described as an interaction between two liminal peoples, peoples separated from the mainstream of society through a process of fragmentation derived from the Industrial Revolution. It was also argued that, within the semantic component of comparative symbology, they represented a signal relationship to mainstream society by postulating alternatives which meet needs denied by that society. This analysis supports the thesis proposed by Downes and Rock (1988: 203) that ‘Those who deny or defy important separations and definitions within society do more than merely break a rule. They may be thought to challenge the very legitimacy and structure of order, becoming agents or instances of chaos.’ But there exists too a pragmatic relationship – the relationship of client, customer and market transaction, and the market transaction possesses the role of bringing the alternative lifestyles of tourist and sex worker within the capitalist structures that dominate western society. The question has to be asked, is there an even closer relationship between tourism and prostitution than simply having historical antecedents in social forces that gave rise to the current situation? This present situation can only continue because either a mutually advantageous social exchange takes place if we are to follow Ap (1992) and his conceptualisation of social exchange theory, or, to follow Bishop and Robinson (1998), an unequal and exploitative condition has been created.
