Sex Tourism, a product of slavery, is not new to the Caribbean

Posted by JAHWORKS

Not condoned Wayne Cummings, president of the Negril Chamber of Commerce and first vice president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), told the Sunday Herald that sex tourism is not condoned by the organisations that he represents. He pointed out that although many visitors to exotic locations such as Jamaica often arrive with hope of finding an “escort”, the country has made efforts to move away from this image. “It still happens, but we categorise it as tourist harassment. We invite tourists here for sun, sea, sand and Jamaican hospitality, which does not necessarily include sexual favours,” said Cummings. He added that sex tourism brought with it many negative implications such as the spread of infectious diseases and a tarnished national image. “Those persons in the sex tourism industry are better served by getting training and incorporate themselves into legitimate tourism jobs,” he said. Cummings indicated that tourism interests in the resort towns have better working relationships with the police, and this has prevented the problem from being an overt one. He also indicated that tourism interests have also begun to address the problem through education. Cummings also spoke to the issue of staff training at the Sandals hotel chain to ensure that internal and external interaction does not become or appear untoward.

Posted by JAMAICA SUNDAY HERALD

It's a ''Stella moment'' on the beach. A handsome young Jamaican with bulging pectorals strides up to three middle-aged women strolling barefoot by the sea. His opening gambit is an invitation to ride on his glass-bottom boat. Then the real business: ''Yes mon, my friend and I noticed you last night. You were wearing sneakers,'' he says to one. ''Oh yeah?'' ''We said, 'Those are oldies but goldies!''' he continues. ''How dare you!'' The woman's brassy American accent is a marked contrast to the melodious Jamaican one. ''Didn't your mother teach you how to talk to ladies? 'Oldies?''' The women storm off past a fence that cordons off their all-inclusive resort, leaving their suitor behind. David Patrick, about 30, scratches an ear ruefully but takes the rejection in stride. ''Women been coming in droves since that movie,'' he says. He's talking about How Stella Got Her Groove Back, the movie about a woman who goes to Jamaica and falls in love with a man half her age and rediscovers her enthusiasm for life. ''It's not just Americans,'' Patrick says. ''English women, Germans, Swiss - they all say the same thing: That they've come to get their groove back.'' The movie was based on a book by Terry McMillan who said she kept running into women who bought tickets to Jamaica after Stella became a bestseller in 1996. The movie, starring Angela Bassett as Stella and Taye Diggs as her lover Winston, appears to have had even more of an effect. ''Jamaica couldn't have paid for the publicity we're getting,'' says photographer Ken Ramsay, referring to scenes that linger on white-sand beaches, turquoise and emerald waters, cloudless skies and exotic flowers. Jamaica's Tourist Board has screened the film for U.S. travel agents and aired TV spots promoting the island as a lovers' getaway. Mark Adkins, a manager at the public relations agency Adkins-Rome Entertainment and Marketing in Los Angeles, describes an enthusiastic response, with ''a lot of women ... saying they wanted to go to Jamaica to find their Winston.'' ''We're seeing groups of ladies coming together that look like the type Terry McMillan was writing about - more single ladies,'' says hotel manager Brian Sang. Sang, executive manager of the Jamaica Grande resort at Ocho Rios on the island's north coast, says one visitor sent him a poem saying she and her girlfriends were ''coming to get their groove back.'' A new lexicon has grown around the movie. ''I've heard tourists say things like, 'There's a Stella thing going on here,''' Sang says.

Is there prostitution in Negril?

Yes. Although it is not legal. You will see many men and women looking to show you love. Many beautiful women will surround single men at the clubs, and single women will receive the same treatment from the local men. If you're single, it will be assumed that you're on the island seeking a 'likkle love beneat' de palms.' Any remonstration to the contrary will likely be met with wearying attempts to get you to change your mind. Black women can expect to hear a 'roots' trip.

If you go along with the flirting, don't expect a Jamaican man to understand if you've no intent of going all the way. Your innocent acceptance will be taken as a sign of acquiescence. The Jamaican male has a fragile ego and is likely to react strongly to feeling like a fool. Don't beat about the bush for fear of hurting the man's feelings.

Many foreign women welcome these advances, as evidenced by the proliferation of 'rent-a-Rastas' - semiprofessional good-time guys, or gigolos - on the arms of North American and European women. Most often, the man is excited more by your economic clout than your looks - a foreign catch brings status and the possibility for wheedling some cash. You'll be the moneybags in any romantic encounter.

Atmosfæren er fremdeles avslappet ogtilbakelent, turistlivet lever side om side med lokallivet.Du kommer nærmere lokalbefolkningen her enn ihotellpalassenes Montego Bay og turistskipenes Ocho Rios. Sammenlignet med disse andre turiststedene er dette detvirkelige Jamaica hvor lokalbefolkningen er like forundrethver gang du avslår en blås. Og det skal du. Her er det ikkesigaretter det er snakk om, ikke en gang sigarer. Politiethar ikke lenger noe slapt forhold til narkotikabruk. Barerastaene kan blåse i vei med en slags religiøsvelsignelse. La gå at du ikke lenger kan vandrekilometer på kilometer uten å snuble i annen manns fotspor,at forlokkende skilt strekker sine fangarmer ut frapalmeskyggene, at du stadig oppvartes av menn og kvinner medpssst'ende tilbud. Gi fra deg noen ord og et smil og etbestemt nei, så bryr de seg ikke om å slite seg innpåvidere. Respect man, respect. La gå at ingen synes ådanse på de legendariske reggaekonsertene i strandkanten, atde mest tjener som fremvisning av prostituerte i allevektklasser og begge kjønn. Og at Negril har et visst ryktesom trekker til seg hvite kvinner ute etter et svarteventyr. Rent-a-rasta heter det her. Prøv litt Jamaicastål,mom. = )

Just got my copy the other day. Most definately a wicked film, but why they called it Rent-A-Rasta i'll never know, the sex trade bit is only a small piece of the film, well worth getting..... Lots of nice elders . Some good bobo shanti royalness as well.

Also shows some of the main stream "wolves" who dable in rasta bizness. Great film highly recomended.

In search of the Big Bamboo

According to some published reports, as many as 80,000 women from America and Europe travel every year to the Caribbean island of Jamaica to have uncomplicated sex with available "rastatutes". Naturally, all this scandal makes the real Rastas livid. Their history is long and their hardships many, yet these beach-cruising playboys give their religion (not to mention their lifestyle) a bad reputation. Director J. Michael Seyfert is out to change all that. He wants to uncover this unseemly practice and prove that the men exchanging copulation for cash have very little connection to the Rastafari faith. Instead, they are what you would call Rent-a-Rasta—ersatz imitations of the real deal.

Beginning as a supposed exposé of the sex-for-sale industry in Jamaica (think How Stella Got Her Groove Back without famous authors or actresses) but quickly devolving into an overview of the Rastafari religion. Inside are four or five really engaging stories—the history of slavery in the West Indies, the current reparations and repatriation movement, the story of Haile Selassie and his deification, the current socio- economic climate in the Caribbean, and the notion that fat, older, or otherwise unattractive females worldwide come to this area for the sole purpose of getting their whore on. We are intrigued by the notion of such scandalous trysts, well aware that author Terry McMillan (who first uncovered this female version of the mid-life crisis) is currently dragging her boy-toy through a messy, highly-publicized divorce, and Seyfert introduces us to some wonderfully caddish characters.

We hear impassioned pleas from regular followers, as well as the frequent dismissal of "false Rastas." Important names in the religion are given their moment of historical significance, and we even witness a good-natured debate among a group of men over who is the true savior—Jesus or Haile Selassie.

Would it have been better to discuss Rastafari, its various factions, its divided views on repatriation, and the basic tenets of its belief system, and leave the rest alone? Why not address the dreads, the strict diet and leisure mandates (pot = OK; alcohol and tobacco? No way), and the varying influences on the rules and regulations. The idea that smoking "ganja" came from Hindus after all, and many of the religions more stringent codes were derived from a combination of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. We hear how the Rastas refer to themselves as "Jews" (in a more metaphysical sense) and how people who claim to be Jewish are, in their mind, less than devout. They consider such an ethnic term the same as referring to someone as girl-ish, or child-ish—like a girl or child, but in fact not really one at all.

Seyfert avoids many of the island's more picturesque elements (beaches, waterfalls, mountains) to focus on Rasta temples and up-close compositions. Consisting mostly of fabulously expressive faces, we feel both the happiness and the hardship beaming from every single person interviewed.

The 1.85:1 non-anamorphic letterboxed image is crisp and clear, the product of an excellent digital camera creation. There is no flaring or bleeding, and the amount of detail is delightful. The soundtrack, featuring wonderfully atmospheric dub and reggae is presented in a Dolby Digital Stereo Surround mix that is bass-heavy and mostly midrange.

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