Shaming Sexpats - At least the old and ugly ones - young cute guys get a pass
I posted the following response to this essay:
DEAR SEXPAT: AN OPEN LETTER TO SEX TOURISTS EVERYWHERE
This piece starts off with some sensitive writing and admirable bridge-building, but in the end it devolves into yet another case of an attractive, privileged young woman telling un-attractive, privileged older men that they shouldn't be having sex with seemingly willing partners. Why? Because, somewhere, somehow, that act is connected to the exploitation of poor people, even if it seems like a win/win for both parties at ground zero.
Puh-lease. If you're a travel writer who owns a laptop, a smart phone and banks frequent flyer miles, your high-tech, high-energy, First World lifestyle is linked directly too and dependent on the exploitation of poor people. The difference between you and the fat, old guy you're attempting to shame is that you never looked directly into the eyes of the worker in the Foxconn plant who tested the camera in your iPhone. You never had to smell the body odor of the worker who picked the asparagus on your plate. The actual blood of the Nigerian activists executed for their resistance to the exploitation of their land and people by western oil companies isn't literally on your hands, so you think you're in a position to wag your finger and shame an ugly, old man for enjoying the opportunities for sex that his privilege affords him.
Color me unimpressed.
That said, I was sincere when I praised your sensitive writing.
DEAR SEXPAT: AN OPEN LETTER TO SEX TOURISTS EVERYWHERE
This piece starts off with some sensitive writing and admirable bridge-building, but in the end it devolves into yet another case of an attractive, privileged young woman telling un-attractive, privileged older men that they shouldn't be having sex with seemingly willing partners. Why? Because, somewhere, somehow, that act is connected to the exploitation of poor people, even if it seems like a win/win for both parties at ground zero.
Puh-lease. If you're a travel writer who owns a laptop, a smart phone and banks frequent flyer miles, your high-tech, high-energy, First World lifestyle is linked directly too and dependent on the exploitation of poor people. The difference between you and the fat, old guy you're attempting to shame is that you never looked directly into the eyes of the worker in the Foxconn plant who tested the camera in your iPhone. You never had to smell the body odor of the worker who picked the asparagus on your plate. The actual blood of the Nigerian activists executed for their resistance to the exploitation of their land and people by western oil companies isn't literally on your hands, so you think you're in a position to wag your finger and shame an ugly, old man for enjoying the opportunities for sex that his privilege affords him.
Color me unimpressed.
That said, I was sincere when I praised your sensitive writing.