In Platform, an explosive, pornographic masterpiece, the author Michel Houellebecq presents readers with a rather intriguing theory. He posited that as an increasing number of women find success, conquering fields and professions traditionally occupied by men, their actions and behaviors would start to reflect those of men. In other words, the more successful women became, the more likely they were to act like men.
Some twenty years on from the book’s release, the line separating men from women has never been blurrier. Some could argue that in an age where we must ask what a woman is, the line no longer exists. Monsieur Houellebecq, the filthy scoundrel, was right. After all, the likes of alcoholism and domestic violence used to be inextricably linked with men, not women. This is no longer the case. The same goes for tattoos. The ‘unfairer’ sex used to be ones who were heavily inked. Today, however, women are just as likely, or even more likely, to be tattooed. So what, some will say, if men can get drunk, lash out, and cover their bodies in graffiti, why can’t women do the very same? I could go down the path of men and women not being the same, the fact that double standards, whether we like it or not, do exist, and that what is good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander.
But I shall digress. Let’s talk about sex. More specifically, sexual exploitation.
Due to the decline of nuclear families and the erosion of social norms, Houellebecq, a provocateur extraordinaire, predicted that women would, in the not so distant future, be just as likely to pay for sex as men. Nonsense, some will say, surely not. After all, the solicitation of prostitutes is something men—and only men—excel at. Rubbish!
When you hear the words ‘sex tourism,’ what images spring to mind? Maybe an incel (involuntary celibate) taking a trip to Amsterdam for a ‘naughty’ weekend, or a ‘dirty old man’ frequenting questionable bars in the likes of Thailand and Cambodia. If so, it’s time to retire such lazy gender stereotypes and acknowledge the rise of the ‘dirty old woman.’
The Gambia is a small West African country known for its wildlife and national parks. The tiny nation, a little over 30 miles wide at its widest point, has an abundance of monkeys, leopards, hippos, hyenas, exotic birds, and elderly white women. Yes, elderly white women. In October of last year, The Sun, a British tabloid that excels in the production of seedy content, published a piece on sex tourism in The Gambia, a nation that gained independence from the United Kingdom in the mid ’60s. Today, the country appears to be flooded with older women, most of them from the UK. In fact, things are so bad (or good) that The Sun decided to rename the country, “The Granbia,” simply because it’s the go-to-place for older women in search of “carefree sex.” Although these women appear to be having a good time, the locals are not impressed by this “real-life Tinder for geriatrics.” The Gambia’s tourism board isn’t impressed either. “What we want is quality tourists. Tourists that come to enjoy the country and the culture, but not tourists that come just for sex,” an exasperated Abubacarr Camara, the director of the Gambia Tourism Board, told The Sun.
When asked if she saw anything wrong with her desire to solicit the services of young Gambian men, a woman by the name of Barbara, 65, from Dartford, Kent, responded: “I don’t know what all the fuss is about. I’m not doing anything illegal. If you go to somewhere like Thailand you see loads of old men with young girls, but no one talks about that,” before adding that she “came here for a bit of fun” and that she’s “not harming anyone.”
Yes, but why The Gambia? Thailand, a country that I have visited and lived in, offers a lot more than cheap sex. It has great food, great weather, great beaches, and a very decent quality of life. Thailand attracts all kinds of tourists from around the world, not just horny men. The Gambia, on the other hand, is not a country synonymous with tourism (except sex tourism, of course). When was the last time you heard someone say that they were going to The Gambia for a few days? I mean no disrespect to the country, but this is a valid question that provides you with the answer: “absolutely never.”
Could the desire to visit The Gambia have something to do with the country’s ridiculously high rates of poverty and unemployment? Could it have anything to do with the fact that many young men, desperate and unable to find decent employment, turn to sex tourism to make a living?
The answer, I contend, is most definitely yes. This explains why Kenya and Senegal, The Gambia’s next door neighbors, are also hot spots for randy ‘girls’ who just want to have fun. Like The Gambia, neither of these countries are exactly prime touristic destinations. Sex tourism is inextricably associated with exploitation, a fact that is not lost on the women flocking to these countries. They are finding sexual gratification with young, athletic men in foreign lands, many of whom are simply trying to make enough money to survive. For the majority of these women, not short of a few pounds in disposable income, such opportunities would rarely, if ever, present themselves at home. A sexagenarian in the likes of Liverpool and Manchester is going to find it incredibly difficult to attract a young, muscly man in his 20s. It’s not impossible, of course; it’s just very unlikely.
So, the next time you hear someone say that we live in an age where women can do absolutely everything just as well as men, make sure to tell them that this logic also applies to the doing of not so good things.
