A controversial play that recently opened in London’s West End examines the issue of sex tourism in Jamaica, which attracts flocks of lonely women seeking adventures with young black men. Are these sleazy sex vacations or just harmless romantic vacations? The Royal Court Theater in London, often a place for controversy, presents the play of playwright Tanika Gupta. Sugar mummies, starring Lynda Bellingham as one of four middle-aged women who come to Jamaica to try out male prostitutes. And there are lots and lots of sex in the play. Even before Sugar mummies sparked a heated debate about female sex tourism: is it just harmless fun, a mutually beneficial business transaction? However, is this a massive exploitation and, if so, by whom and by whom? The victims are women who believe in declarations of true love; Or are the victims the poor and unemployed youth who make them? Why should female sex tourism be viewed from a different perspective than male sex tourism, which is often characterized as a shoddy macho pig? And it does Sugar mummies perpetuate a racist myth of hypersexual black men?

The play takes place against the backdrop of a Jamaican all-inclusive resort on Negril Beach, where hero Leroy explains that it is a fun and easy way for gigolos to earn money; and for women it is a “very good love”. English ladies who come to Negril complain that the men at home are cold, selfish, unflattering, and mechanical; gigolos know how to make women feel good. Also, everyone in Jamaica is poor, and lonely English women look like millionaires in comparison. The gigolos do not charge a fixed price, they are not actually prostitutes. There is a tacitly agreed, but mutual deception that underlies a client-gigolo relationship. The payment is never mentioned as this would destroy the illusion that she is the most beautiful woman he has ever met and that he is madly in love with her. But after charming his wife and offering to be her guides, the gigolos set out to extract as much money as they could, sometimes in subtle ways.

Sugar mummies It begins with two 22-year-old gigolos, Leroy and Sean, seeing two white women in their 40s who have just arrived. Leroy warns them against Jamaican men, who will try to annoy and rip them off. Seemingly genuinely concerned about the well-being of the women, he and Sean offer to show them around and take care of them. The women protest because they are so old, but Leroy responds: “You are not age. In Jamaica, the men really like the cat, not the kitten. Mature and beautiful women like you.” Men are funny and very flattering; and women wonder, “What the hell? You only live once.” Lynda Bellingham is excellent in the role of Maggie, a tragic and broken woman who is a regular adult vacation sex tourist. Playwright Gupta explains that her purpose was to explore why these women feel so lost that they must pay for the affirmation. The humor stems from the pathos of sad middle-aged women who believe that beautiful twenty-year-old men have really fallen in love with them at first sight. Sugar mummies it’s raunchy, steamy, and a lot of fun.