Global Sex

Global Sex

University of Chicago Press, 1427 East 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637-2954. 216p., bibliog., index. ISBN 0-226-01606-4. $24.00.
Dennis Altman

"Global Sex is the first major work to take both the issues of globalization and sexuality head on." Until now, globalization was used when talking about reform in finance and world trade, advancing new technologies in modern communication and transportation, and any number of other political aspects that we constantly are reading about. Globalization tries to bring the entire world under one umbrella so that everyone is playing by the same rules. This book looks at the globalization of sex and especially how new and continuing technologies have brought talking about sex into the lives of millions of people who, until now, never thought to openly discuss such a topic. One of the primary instruments in globalizing sex has been the Internet. Altman shows us how the Internet has become the most popular way of meeting gays in Taiwan and Korea. It has, also, brought pornographic video advertising into the home so that pornography has become a $4.2 billion a year market around the globe.

This book will provide insights on how the World Bank helped weaken the public health structures in Brazil and India at a time when these structures were beginning to halt the spread of HIV and AIDS. Altman points out how some major World Trade agreements have prevented thousands of AIDS victims from gaining access to new drugs and more affordable treatment and how President Bush's recent memorandum barring foreign aid to family planning groups involved in abortions will help account for the some 70,000 deaths that result from botched and illegal abortions each year.

This is an intriguing and easy-to-read book that will certainly give one a great deal to think about. For example: "What are the connections between international debt, foreign investment, and capitalism on the one hand, and the alarming rise of prostitution, pornography, and AIDS on the other?" or "Why are sexuality and public health so often discussed in terms of morality, but rarely in terms of political economy?" Altman will provide his answers to these questions and many more, giving the reader much to ponder on the globalization of sex. This is a highly recommended book for all libraries.

Keywords: Sex Customs; Globalization
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BK011086

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