Cranky, that’s a perfectly fair question.

I think I view purchasing sex and purchasing love as two very different things. This isn’t to say that I believe that the sex industry is universally empowering, safe, etc. I think there is a lot of work that needs to be done to ensure the safety of sex-workers, both male and female. Sex-workers are leading the charge on that front (and people should stop and listen to them, instead of throwing platitudes their way).

My problem with sex-tourists is that the majority of them believe that their relatively superior economic status means that they can pay someone to love them. Their definition of love usually involves having a submissive wife or girlfriend, someone who will eternally kiss their ass for marrying her or being her boyfriend. I think this stems from a subtle (or not so subtle) desire to emotionally abuse someone over a long period of time. They want to stick these women in a gilded cage, or the closest substitute thereof, and lord over them.

Of course, since writing this post, I’ve encountered even more women who had made a living catering to these dudes’ fantasies, and it’s not my place to judge them or claim that I know what’s good for them.

The thing is? Most of these ladies are in it for the money, and they have every right to be in it for the money. The dudes, on the other hand, feel entitled as hell and get horribly offended and indignant when they realize that nobody loves them for their controlling character or the airs and graces they put on when they’re traveling in a foreign country.

I’ve had a few of these specimen and their sycophants stop by this site to rant and rave about all of the “unfair” treatment they have gotten, over the years. Not only is it sad, it’s profoundly creepy.