Dear Chris,
Thank you for your question.
Is there such a term and what is the definition?
===============================================
There is such a term, and here are several definitions:
Sex Tour - " A tour to a destination where sexual services are
available to tourists." (Dictionary.com: www.dictionary.com)
Wikipedia has a long definition and explanation:
"Sex tourism is tourism, partially or fully for the purpose of having
sex, often with prostitutes. One term for a sex tourist is sexpat.
[...]
Possible reasons for seeking sex in another country or region:
* more relaxed morality laws (for some people a lower age of
consent may also be relevant)
* less rigorous enforcement of laws
* cheaper rates (typically due to traveling from a economically
wealthy country to a poorer one)
* more anonymity / privacy
* finding certain ethnic groups more attractive
* preferring the "work ethics" of foreign prostitutes to those of
one's own country
* finding sex in tropical surroundings and a hot climate more arousing
Common destinations for sex tourists include Brazil, Thailand,
Cambodia, Costa Rica, and Cuba. Since the collapse of the Iron
Curtain, Russia, Hungary and the Czech Republic have also become
popular destinations for sex tourists. In many of those destinations,
sex tourism is still only a small percentage of overall prostitution,
with most prostitutes serving local men.
[...]
Destinations for female sex tourism include the Caribbean, Gambia, and
some North African countries. This variant of sex tourism usually
doesn't include outright prostitution, as some local males consider it
a kind of sport to pick up female tourists, since sex with local women
out of a commited relationship is hard to get for them.
[...]
While most sex tourists only engage in this activity with other
adults, a small percentage actively look for adolescent or even
younger prostitutes, while others are not very selective either way,
regarding age. Several countries have severe laws making sex with
children (see pedophilia and ephebophilia) a serious offense, for
their nationals or inhabitants even if practiced abroad and even if it
is not forbidden by the laws of the foreign country, see also
Universal Jurisdiction.
Sex shops
Near borders of countries with different laws regarding sex shops,
these shops on one side tend to be popular with customers from the
other side.
External links
* U.S. Law Enforcement Targets Child Sex Tourism
(http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/p/tp-20031218-09.html)
* Targets Child Sex Tours in Cambodia (http://www.childrights-cambodia.org) "
(SOURCE: Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org).
"Travel to foreign countries in pursuit of sex"
Are there any researches been published in books or in websites about that matter?
==========================================================================
One of the most thorough studies to be found online is this:
Richard J. Estes and Neil Alan Weiner,
"The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children In the U. S., Canada and Mexico"
<http://caster.ssw.upenn.edu/~restes/CSEC_Files/Complete_CSEC_020220.pdf>
Here are several more book, from a Google Scholar search on "Sex
Tourism" (http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22sex+tourism%22&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Search):
S Clift, S Carter, _Tourism and Sex: Culture, Commerce and Coercion_
(London: Pinter, 2000)
K Kempadoo, Sun, Sex, and Gold: Tourism and Sex Work in the Caribbean
(Rowman and Littlefield, London, 1999)
M Oppermann, _Sex Tourism and Prostitution: Aspects of Leisure,
Recreation, and Work_ (New York: Cognizant Commun. Corp, 1998)
C Ryan, CM Hall _Sex Tourism: Marginal People and Liminalities_
(London: Routledge, 2001)
And academic articles:
M Bunzl, "The Prague experience: gay male sex tourism and the
neo-colonial invention of an embodied border", _Altering States:
Ethnographies of Transition in Eastern Europe_ , 2000
J O'Connell Davidson, "Sex tourism in Cuba", _Race and Class_, 1996
D Leheny, "A Political Economy of Asian Sex Tourism"., _Annals of
Tourism Research_, 1995
C Ryan, R Kinder "Sex, Tourism and Sex Tourism: Fulfilling Similar
Needs?" _Tourism Management_, 1996
How big is that matter in numbers and percentages?
=================================================
Too big. Naturally, exact statistics are sometimes hard to come by.
University of California in Santa Barabra provides some information:
Of the millions of Americans travelling to East Asia "thousands of
tourists and businessmen who travel overseas in order to engage in sex
with or take pornographic pictures of children. "
"More than a million children enter the sex trade each year.: [...] In
1994, ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and the
Trafficking of Children for Sexual Exploitation) provided the
following estimates on the number of children involved in the sex
industry.
* 500,000 children in Brazil
* 400,000 children in India
* 200,000-850,000 children in Thailand
* 100,000 children in Taiwan
* 200,000 children in Nepal
* 100,000-300,000 children in North America."
Another site, about Missing children, reports:
"
Although it is nearly impossible to provide accurate statistics
about the number of children involved in prostitution, the examples
below provide an overview of the problem8
* Cambodia: As of 1995 one survey found minors from 13 to 17
years of age comprised about 31 percent of sex workers.9
* China: As of 1994 the Peking People's Daily reported more
than 10,000 women and children were abducted and sold each year in
Sichaun alone.10
* Costa Rica: The capital city of San Jose is home to more
than 2,000 child prostitutes. Across the country, children are
regularly sold to foreign pedophiles as part of sex-tour "packages."11
* India: In 1995, 20 percent of Bombay's brothel population
was composed of girls who were younger than 18, at least half of whom
were human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive.12
* Sri Lanka: 100,000 children between the ages of 6 and 14 are
kept in brothels and an additional 5,000 children between 10 and 18
are working in tourist areas.13
* Taiwan: Estimates indicate the number of children in the sex
industry to be around 100,000.14"
(SOURCE: Missing Kids, Sex Tourism,
<http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=1498>).
Some further dark information regarding Asia (and not only children)
is provided at ASU site:
"Asia alone has 1 million women sold into prostitution each year
1993 and 1994 Estimates for the number prostitutes via country's
reports submitted to the International Labor Organization (ILO)
Reference #2 Unknown. "Sex industry assuming massive proportions in
Southeast Asia." Vol. 24, WIN News, 09-22-1998, pp 65 (1). Date of
access: 4/5/03, http://ask.elibrary.com/.
Indonesia 140,000 - 230,000 numbers are higher according to the ILO
Malaysia 43,000 - 142,000 numbers are higher according to the ILO
Philippines 100,000 - 600,000 with a half million in the country
Thailand 65,000 from the Ministry of Public Health + 200,000 - 300,000
by 1997 unofficial sources
Several million people are involved in the sex trade within these
countries if you include owners, managers, pimps and other employees
that earn a monetary living directly or indirectly from prostitution.
Reference #3 Unknown. "Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the
Asia Pacific: Part One." Contemporary Women's Issues Database,
01-01-1997. Date of access: 4/5/03, http://ask.elibrary.com/."
(SOURCE: <http://www.public.asu.edu/~dejesus/330projects/www.public.asu.edu/~smmeye1/statistics.htm>).
Here is also some historical background:
"The enormous increase in sex tourism in Thailand in the 1970s and
1980s is directly tied to the Vietnam War. Bangkok became a major
center for Rest and Recreation (R & R) leave, commonly known the by
GIs as I & I (Intoxication and Intercourse).(22) A large and steady
stream of dollars entered the local economy through the sex industry.
When the war ended, the Thai government, the military, and business,
needed to continue the flow of foreign exchange
earnings. To this end, they promoted sex tourism, to such an extent
that a group of high-ranking military general?s wives created a travel
agency to organize the tours. After the war, many Americans chose not
to go home. The saying was that there were no MIA in Vietnam; in
reality they were all MIBs -- Mischief in Bangkok.(23) From 1965 to
1993, the number of tourists grew from 250,000 to over 5 billion (24).
"
(SOURCE: TED Case Studies - Myanmar Sex Trade,
<http://www.american.edu/projects/mandala/TED/myansex.htm>).
What do the goverments or UN do to prevent sex tourism? What is the
currewnt law in European, American and Asian countries ?
================================================================================
There is international cooperation to prevent sex tourism, to punish
those responsible and to rehabilitate the victims; US, for example, is
now "U.S. Is Pursing Americans Who Commit Sex Crimes Overseas" (see
the Child Sex Tourism Prevention Project):
Michael B. Farrell, "Global campaign to police child sex tourism", The
Christian Science Monitor,
<http://csmweb2.emcweb.com/2004/0422/p11s01-wogi.html>
UNICEF in Action
<http://www.unicef.org/protection/index_23840.html>
US Government - Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS)
<http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/ceos/trafficking.html>
Missing Kinds, "Laws Concerning Sex Tourism of Children",
<http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=1499>
Sex Tourism Prevention Project
<http://www.worldvision.org/worldvision/wvususfo.nsf/stable/globalissues_stp>
You can also donate here:
Hope for Girls Rescued from Sex Trade
<http://donate.wvus.org/OA_HTML/xxwvibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?item=186>
ECPAT
<http://www.ecpat.org/>
ECPAT USA End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of
Children for Sexual Purposes-USA - <http://www.ecpatusa.org/index.asp>
Regarding Women
What is being done right now about Prostitution & Sex Tourism?
<http://www.arches.uga.edu/~haneydaw/twwh/traf.html#done>
Grandfather convicted under sex tourism laws
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200411/s1247857.htm>
I hope this answered your question. Please contact me if you need any
clarification on this answer before you rate it. My search strategy
was to search for "sex tourism" with the relevant category (e.g.,
laws). |
