Peter Espeut | Fallout from sex tourism

Jamaica, particularly its tourism interests, is in panic mode in response to the front-page article in Tuesday's edition of the American newspaper USA Today, which reported that between 2011 and 2017, some 78 US citizens (about 13 per year or slightly more than one per month) were raped on the island.

I am horrified at the data, but not surprised. We rape our own girls and women with far greater frequency, and don't seem to care.

But maybe we don't really care about the tourist women, either; it is the falloff in tourism arrivals and dollars we really care about.

Last week in this column, I reported that, according to 2012 data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Jamaica is ranked number two in the world of countries with the most rape and carnal abuse cases! Yes! Second in the world in rape (forced sex with adults) and carnal abuse (sex with underage children)! Does that bother you?

There was almost no response or discussion on this data over last week.

UNODC reported that in 2012, there were 34.1 rape and carnal abuse cases per 100,000 residents of Jamaica. On average, this works out to be 2.9 rape or carnal-abuse cases EVERY DAY of the year. Does this bother you?

The data are evidence that there is something wrong with the way Jamaican men and women relate to each other. How could a man find pleasure in hold-down-and-tek-weh, whether at gunpoint or knifepoint, or during a fight? Part of the enjoyment of sex is giving the other person pleasure - ecstasy, even! And when the two pleasure each other, the joy is multiplied.

Rape is not intercourse (intimacy between two), but the violent domination of one by the other for selfish gratification (I don't know if it can be called pleasure).

Compare the above data with the 2008 Jamaica Reproductive Health Survey, which found that 12 per cent of Jamaican women, age 15-49 years, reported having been physically forced to have sexual intercourse at some time in their life. The majority of perpetrators were known to the woman, including current or previous partners (36 per cent), acquaintances (20 per cent), boyfriends or ex-boyfriends (18 per cent), and relatives (10 per cent). Only one in eight (12 per cent) women who has ever been raped reported having been raped by a stranger.

known predators

And so, only a few rapists and carnal abusers are random men off the street. The vast majority (88 per cent) are known to the victim. More than half were partners or boyfriends, current or past. What is it about the way men relate to women (love is supposed to play a part) that leads to violence and abuse?

A lot of sex in Jamaica is transactional. The value of the exchange could be as low as cooked lunch (Remember that residents in Zimbabwe, south St Andrew, said women would be willing to have sex for a 'Marlon', a $150 chicken and rice meal?) So many rapes (and murders) in Jamaica are domestic affairs gone sour that there can't be much deep affection involved. This discussion should form an important part of the content of family-life education in our schools.

Somewhere along the line, the boys are learning that being a man means having sex with 'nuff gyal', and the girls learn how to make the most of it. Schools (and churches) are failing to teach our boys and girls how to have meaningful relationships and friendships. We have to do better, otherwise the result will be unwanted pregnancies and rape, and then people will be calling for legal abortions.

Add Jamaica's sex tourism industry into the mix, and it becomes even more transactional. Is the Ministry of Tourism encouraging sex tourism as long as it is consensual?

- Peter Espeut is a sociologist and development scientist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.