Abstract: There are few scientific studies about sexual tourism in Costa Rica. The most important study about male tourists, done by Megan Rivers-Moore, presented a series of hypotheses. Here I analyze all forum posts in the InternationalSexGuide. The 4 reports show that men interact in peer dialogues in which they mostly advise each other about how to get a satisfactory visit to Costa Rica: a visit that includes paid sex but is not limited to it.
While sex working women have little interaction among themselves, these men feel part of a group and exchange useful information.
The desire for a Girl Friend Experience, though not predominant, is frequent and fits biological adaptations for mate interactions among humans. Male tourists mostly make short visits in which they try to meet a few women and then focus on those that make the best impression. A few evolve into complex relationships that include emotional commitment. Despite the financial disparity between men and women, traditional gender roles underlie the relationships of both male and female tourists, probably reflecting a complex combination biological and cultural factors.
Key words : Gender interactions in sex work, Latin American sexuality, prostitution, internet culture. The study of sexual tourism has evolved rapidly in the last decades.
Older authors tended to perceive sex tourism as a form of sexual deviance, but nearly 20 years ago Ryan and Kinder noted that sexual tourism, like any other form of tourism, satisfies four needs: social companionship, fantasy fulfilment, novelty and relaxation. A recent study about clients of escorts in the USA found that even though many men become clients without expecting emotional involvement, intimacy develops when they become regular clients, leading to a range of negative and positive emotions Milrod and Weitzer, Other studies found that these women prefer mature clients; that their rates are defined by where they work rather than by age; and that they have full decision on how they spend their earnings Rojas et al.
