GRIOTS REPUBLIC - An Urban Black Travel Mag - April 2016

Paradise, one million tourists at a time.
And what of the effects of this hypersexualized
hedonism which colors the
perception of the region as wanton and
illicit?
Nixon’s research called her to consider
the ways in which paradise is consumed
across the region, and the ease with
which black bodies are gobbled up
along with poolside dance contests and
coconut milk. Nixon mentions that we
tend to think of the exploitative tourism
images as benign. “We think of it as
just another poster, or an image; just
a woman dancing.” The truth is that
sexual labor is a reality of the world in
which we live.
Society demonizes people who work
inside informal economies such as the
sex labor industry. The damaging effect
of tourism is that people end up having
to do all kinds of work and are then
criticized. She suggests that society
needs to develop a different relationship
with sex, sexuality and sexual labor.
“That sexual labor is deeply a part of
tourism; which needs to be unsilenced
and acknowledged.”
What can we, as informed urban
travelers, do to reduce cultural
objectification and increase
sustainability in the places where we go
to seek paradise? Nixon is certainly not
waiving a sign that reads “Go Home,”
by any means. She is, however,
suggesting that there are some minor
changes that we can make in the way
we discuss and experience other places
that could have major impacts for the
tourism industry and the workforce
keeping it alive.
GOOGLE IT
Simply being an informed traveler can
mitigate some of the privilege we take
along as Nationals of the U.S., Canada
and Britain. Doing enough research
to simply acknowledge independent
governments, currency, and local
customs, could make a huge difference
in the way that a traveler might actually
experience a place and the people who
inhabit it.