å Friday, November 17th, 2017

Citizenship took on the form of being both oppressive and liberating depending on the country they were a citizen of. Citizenship is seen as belonging to a country through unity and an emotional tie to ones country, but not necessarily in the physical or sexual sense where your body is seen as being the nation. Many of the Cuban and Dominican women that were interviewed came from poverty where they were expected to not only take care of their children, but often times take care of their parents and siblings financially. A citizenship in another country worked as a symbol for hope and opportunities. One of the women interviewed,  Yolanda, formed serious relationships with some of the tourist. One wanted her to quit her job, and be with him exclusively. He continued to pay her rent and support her children who she was left with after her husband abandoned them. Her previous relationship with a tourist ended because she felt he wasn’t as committed to the relationship as she was. What comes to mind when people hear of sex tourism is just women sleeping with foreign men in exchange for more money than she can make elsewhere. In actuality many of the women wanted something more serious than what was described. They often times would prefer to get presents than money which seems more like a relationship instead of some exchange. What a lot of these women are searching for is a way out. After obtaining an intimate relationship with the tourist it is common that they bare their souls and express their desires and dreams for better. Their sexuality is used as a gateway to lead to marriage and migration. Their sexuality is also connected to their citizenship in their native country. Sex tourism became such a major part of what brought people in to the country and helped stimulate the economy. Cuban women having sexual relationships with tourist was seen as defiling the pride of the nation. The female body belonged to her nation because when a male had sex with a tourist no one considered the Cuban body to lose its value. The woman’s citizenship differed from the man’s because she was seen as physically belonging to and representing her nation while he gets to be seen as a defender of the nation when he “conquers” the invaders or tourist.