In Search of Happiness: Connecting Racism, Gender, and Class across borders.

Resumen

In this article, I highlight the major complexities related to the industry of sex tourism in Brazil focusing specifically on the relationships between white European men and light skin Brazilian women. My analysis takes into account the intersectionality of race, gender and class in this type of tourist encounters, and argues that sex tourism reflects the redefinition of geopolitical and economic disparities in the global arena. I examine the emergence of this industry in Brazil in connection not only with socio-economic policies such as neoliberal structural adjustments, and the revitalization of tourism in the Latin American region, but also with the impacts of global economic changes that affected those countries in Europe from where the vast majority of these tourists departs.