Porn tourism and urban renewal: the case of Eilat

ABSTRACT

This article addresses the ambivalence of city officials and residents of Eilat, a resort city in southern Israel, towards porn tourism, focusing on the ways in which urban regeneration discourses and middle-class sensibilities shape the emplacement of porn tourism in the city. Considering the contribution of (mainly) domestic porn tourism to the city’s economy, I seek to explain the prohibition of lap-dancing clubs and the consequent relocation of porn tourism (in the form of stag parties) into privately-owned, Airbnb villas. Based on an analysis of policy documents, media reporting and interviews with various stakeholders, I propose that, counter-intuitively, the gradual entrance of porn tourism to residential areas potentially contributes to the scenic appeal of these neighbourhoods and that this fits with the broader urban renewal initiative of Eilat.

KEYWORDS:

• Porn tourism
• stag parties
• sexual geography
• urban renewal
• Eilat

Acknowledgments

I would like to extend my gratitude to my two wonderful, thoughtful and dedicated research assistants, Rona Mashiach and Roy Zunder for their invaluable assistance. I also want to thank the editors of this journal for their generosity, and Gal Levy for his never-ending support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 This was probably decided in a municipal committee meeting on 14 June 2016, but the available protocol (No. 02/16) is extremely laconic, stating that ‘no lap dancing businesses’ are allowed and that it is a matter of licensing permits. The protocol omits the actual deliberation on this issue. See: http://www.eilat.muni.il/?CategoryID=1421&ArticleID=3041 (accessed 10 July 2020).

2 For more data, see the municipality website: https://www.ctp.co.il/Dashboard/eilat (accessed 10 July 2020).

3 This text was posted on 6 December 2016, in the no longer active sex blog entitled BanotLoatot (a poor transliteration from Hebrew for ‘hot girls’ or ‘eager girls’): http://banotloatot.over-blog.com/2016/12/guide-how-to-order-call-girls-eilat-city.html (accessed 10 July 2020). Similar texts can be found on other sex sites.

4 In fact, a purposive, non-representative analysis of the stated location of escorts across Israel on one sex site (5escortgirls) revealed that 201 escorts offer their ‘services’ in 23 cities. There are only six escorts in Eilat, compared to 20 in Tel Aviv.

5 The interview was published in 2009 in Yedioth Ahronoth, one of the leading daily newspapers in Israel, and retweeted on 25 August 2020 by Almog Ben Zikri, a journalist from Haaretz, another daily newspaper. During the month of August 2020, Ben Zikri was constantly reporting on a horrific sex offence that happened in Eilat, where dozens of men and teenage boys have raped a 16 years old girl in a hotel room. By the time of writing this article, this crime is still under police investigation. This horrific incidence has reignited the public's interest in the sexual scene in Eilat, especially during the summer school vacation. In a tweet from 20 August 2020, 22:21, Ben Zikri wrote: 'Eilat's municipality and the police should take the first, very simple step in promoting healthy sexuality in the city. They should strongly fight prostitution, that sky-rockets during the summer months. The city is bombarded with “Mor” and “Isabell” sex cards. Since they [the police and municipality, DK] do nothing about it, my best guess is that this somehow serves them'. Earlier that day Ben Zikri published an article in Haaretz daily newspaper on teenagers' risky behaviours. This article concludes with a quote from one boy, who says: 'We could easily call for prostitutions, should we want that. There are so many cards thrown on the sidewalks in every corner of the city. It is not a problem to do in Eilat whatever it is that we want' (Ben Zikri 2020).

6 The full protocol can be found online: https://oknesset.org/meetings/2/0/2016223.html (in Hebrew, accessed 10 July 2020).

7 Municipal Protocols No. 02/15 from 24 June 2015 and No. 01/16 from 24 February 2016.

8 Yetrumours suggests that there is one ‘underground’ club, operating below the radar of police and the municipality.

9 Municipal Protocol No. 01/15, 27 April 2015.