ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the relationships between beach boys, rent-a-dreads, and female tourists in the Caribbean. It argues that the relationships should be correctly termed “sex tourism”; however, unlike South East Asia, where degradation and exploitation of sex workers by tourists is common, sex tourism in the Caribbean is generally mutually beneficial. One of the most enduring calypsos played at tourist resorts throughout the Caribbean is entitled The Big Bamboo. One of the social costs that has received increasing attention is the degradation and exploitation of women and children that often accompanies one form of tourism, namely, sex tourism. Part of the larger social phenomenon of prostitution, sex tourism is simply one facet of the global sex trade, where destinations are marketed, usually unofficially, for their sexual attractions, and travel is undertaken mainly to engage in some kind of sexual activity.
