Beyond Sex Tourism: Gay Tourists and Male Sex Workers in Puerto Vallarta (Western Mexico)

2012/01/16 by Cristóbal Mendoza · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Psychology · #Sex work and related issues #Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology #Gender, Feminism, and Media #Tourism #Human sexuality #Gender studies #Identity (music) #Homosexuality #Sexual identity #Sociology #Geography

paper · pdf · doi:10.1002/jtr.1865

openalex publication_date 2012/01/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/03

Abstract

ABSTRACT Literature on sex tourism has largely focused on the experiences and opinions of heterosexual tourists. Filling a gap in the literature, this article gives voice to male sex workers, and it analyzes their reasons for engagement in sex services addressed to men in tourist‐oriented Puerto Vallarta (Mexico). By doing so, it explores the different layers of sex tourism that go beyond pure monetary transaction. This article also considers aspects regarding sexuality and identity in gay‐friendly Vallarta. It concludes that sexual practices are negotiated, but sexual identities do not. Rather than an identity based on sexual grounds, what binds the sex workers together is a common (gay) lifestyle. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Citations

• The logic of small samples in interview-based qualitative research
• The qualitative content analysis process
• ‘Gay’ tourists and host community attitudes

Cited by

• Male prostitution [wikipedia]

Related

• Imagining Others: Sex, Race, and Power in Transnational Sex Tourism
• ‘Gay’ tourists and host community attitudes
• Post-migration sexual health and pleasure among gay and bisexual venezuelan migrant men in Lima, Peru
• Navigating queer digital sex work: motivations, challenges, and platform practices of gay, bisexual, and transgender sex workers
• Through a Hole in a Wall: Setting and Interaction in Sex-on-Premises Venues