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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Mark Padilla, PhD, MPH, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University, 722 W. 168th St., Room 905, New York, NY 10032, 212-305-1077, mbp2106@columbia.edu

Background: While theories of "structure" and social inequality have increasingly informed global health efforts for HIV prevention – with growing recognition of the linkages between large-scale political and economic factors in the distribution and impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic – there has still been relatively little theorization of how structural factors shape the very bodies and behavioral practices of specific populations. In order to extend our understanding of these macro-micro linkages and the ways they shape the contours of sexual risk, this paper examines how the growth of the tourism industry in the Dominican Republic is changing how men understand and utilize their bodies and body parts. Methods: The analysis draws on long-term research in two tourism-dependent areas of the Dominican Republic, including ethnographic observations, in-depth interviews, focus groups, and surveys. Results: On the global tourism market, Dominican male bisexuality has taken on both symbolic and instrumental value, and HIV research and prevention in the region must focus on unraveling how these processes articulate with men's practices. Conclusions: By understanding the values placed on bodies and the ways they are mobilized by male sex workers in order to broker tourists' pleasure, we may better understand how the political economy of the Caribbean tourism industry is linked to the course of the Caribbean epidemic.

Learning Objectives:

• Examine how the growth of the toursim industry in the Dominican Republic has impacted the sexual and risk behaviors of men in this context,
• Review results from ethnographic observations, in-depth interviews, focus groups, and surveys exploring sexual and risk behaviors of Dominican male sex workers,
• Understand that future HIV research and prevention interventions in the Caribbean and other contexts must focus on how tourism is intrinsically linked to the course of the epidemic.

Keywords: Bisexual, Sex Workers

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation