I've decided to remove the banner from my sigline, not because of the message, but because it was so damn big. For any of those that missed it, it was a picture of a childs eyes with the caption "I'm not a tourist attraction" and a web address for
http://www.stopchildtourism.org. I don't think the message applies to 99.9% percent of the guys here, but you never know who browses by here (non-registered) and it sends the message to THOSE types of sex tourists, that not only is that not what we're about here but that it is definitely not welcomed here either.
I was also slightly heartened to see the name of the website was what it was and not stopsextourism.org or something. Maybe, unlike news orgs like CBS's 60 minutes, Fox News or foundations lika Casa, they can distinguish between those who engage in consensual adult sex in foreign countries from Ch*ld sex tourists (but maybe not). These groups like to trumpet the ECPAT estimates that over 2 million Ch*ldren are commercially sexually exploited worldwide and that 25% of Ch*ld sex tourists are from the US (and as many as 80% of Ch*ld sex tourists in Costa Rica). What is less clear is how much of that exploitation is by tourists and how much by locals (who in many cases ignorantly believe sex with younger partners is somehow less risky for HIV). Or what percentage of sex tourists are also pedophiles. I suspect pedophilia is not much more prevalent among sex tourists than it is among the general population, in other words it is the exception rather than the rule and its just a handful of deviants that are doing 90% of the deeds. I fear that some people get confused and think that saying 25% of Ch*ld sex tourists are american somehow infers that 25% of all sex tourists are pedophiles, or some other similar non sequitor. The logic simply doesn't follow.
Anyway, the sign Joe saw is part of a recent and significant joint campaign against Ch*ld abuse by government agencies including the US Dept. of State and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency and private groups such as Worldvision. This campaign has progressed in stages over the past year or so, and it targets US citizens who travel to a few select countries in particular, including Costa Rica.
The campaign involves a 3 part strategy. The first part is a targeted media campaign designed to deter or dissaude would-be Ch*ld sex tourists. This includes both pedophiles who travel for that express purpose as well as mainstream visitors who might be thinking of trying it (including probably "regular" sex tourists like ourselves). This part uses messages posted at U.S. airports, TV ads, billboards and street signs overseas, airline in-flight videos, magazines, the Internet and evidentally little placards in "monger" hotels like the Prez. The other parts are training local law enforcement (e.g. local crackdowns at places like NF) and when all else fails criminal enforcement by the US government (with penalties of up to 30 years in prison when you get back to the US, if the locals don't catch you first)