• Selling Last and Love in Bali
• What to Do-Kuta and Seminyak
• The Hidden Life of South Bali
• The Struggle to Save Bali's Turtles
• Jimbaran-The Bukit
• What to Do-Impossible Surf at The Bukit
• Fair Trade in Bali
• Ubud
• A Dance for Every Day
• Balinese Painters
• Ubud-What to do
• A Word of Dance
• East Bali in a Nutshell
• The Hidden life of East Bali
• Klungkung
• Where to Stay-Padang Bay
• Where to Stay Candidasa
• First and Third World in Tenganan
• Amlapura-Tirtagangga
• Tirtagangga and Around
• Amed Beach
• Planning Your Trip: The Best of Bali
• South Bali in a Nutshell

 

SELLING LUST AND LOVE IN BALI

By Degung Santikarma and Leslie Dwyer

 Five years ago, 23-year-old Slamet hopped on a bus from East Java to Bali , carrying a canvas bag filled with his capital: some tight – fitting jeans and T-shirts, an intermediate-school diploma, and a well – thumbed English dictionary. Hours later, he emeged in the bright lights of Kuta Beach , where he changed his name. from then on, he would be known as Surya, a Sanskrit word for the sun.

The Surya of today is a far cry from the Slamet of the past. His light brown skin has been baked dark and his wiry body has filled out with muscles. His everyday language is no longer Javanese, but a confident – if still a bit confused-English. What he learned in school has been forgotten for what he's learned on the beach: everything from astrology and meditation to surfing the waves and cyberspace. He can say “I love you” in seven languages, and he has cultivated the manners of a gentleman, opening doors, lighting cigarettes, and pulling out chairs for his lady friends. He also gives a mean massa ge. Slamet / Surya is no longer a Javanese rice farmer's son, but a self – described Bali nese gigolo.

The Making of Balinese Men

Bali is one of the few places where romance tourism thrives by offering female travelers the companionship of young men. Unlike elsewhere in Asia , where foreigners are lured by stereotypes of docile Eastern femininity, in Bali , it is male sexuality that is bought and sold.

This informal industry of sex / love / companionship for hire rest upon a thick layer of erotic images which have built up over decades of Western encounters with Bali . Stereotypes of the island stress the sensual – a tropical temple of worldly pleasure. Dark – skinned and different, the gigolos provide an exotic escape and a transgression from Western norms. They offer an invitation to cross lines of culture and colour, but also the reassurance that with their soft, spiritual ways, they won't lead women into any real trouble.

romance tourism thrives

motivation for becoming

see their relationships