The price of sexuality

In order to survive in the male-dominated Dominican society, the Dominican women often voluntarily use their sexuality to fulfill their non-sexual needs.  An example is the Mami, who “usually asked one of her co-workers at the company to walk her home…she never invited them into the house, barring the door with her arm as she said goodbye.” (Drown 73).  Mami knows she needs the dominance of a male to keep her safe, but uses her arm as a physical boundary. Though she doesn’t use sexual favors to keep her escort, she uses her flirty personality to keep their hopes up that she may one day change her mind.  Mami’s control of the situation keeps her on the dominant side of the arrangement. Control gives Mami the ability to only do what she is comfortable with but still gives the men enough of a benefit to continue to assist her. Walking someone home is a small favor, so it generates a small use of sexuality to keep the arrangement continuous. As seen in later generations, the escalation of voluntary sexual favors translates to larger and more costly payment.

As with Mami, bargaining use of sexuality continues in the next generation with Lola and Pura.  Lola decides to have sex with a father of one of her classmates but not without a price, saying, “When I pulled my pants down, you never saw anybody so happy. Until I asked him for two thousand dollars. American, I emphasized.” (The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao 206). Lola knows you can count of sex saying, “One thing you can count on in Santo Domingo. Sex. “ (The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. 206), and uses this harsh reality to take control of the situation by stating her terms, stopping the sex after nine times and gaining the money she wants for travel. Lola is using her sexuality for money that she hopes to use to escape the society in which she is living, while Pura uses sexuality as a means of survival. An example is Pura’s sexual relationship with Rafa, and disappearing when he falls ill, Yunior saying “None of us saw Pura or her son or our car or our TV or our beds or the X amount of dollars Rafa had stolen for her again.” (Drown 119). Pura draws her boundary when she has to become emotionally involved, leaving with her “payment” when this boundary is crossed. For Mami, Lola and Pura, the recognition of the sexual desires around them enables them to get what they want or need, but only by controlling the situation. Many times, women in the book enter sexual arrangements naive and end up with nothing, but Mami, Lola and Pura learn to use this “game” as a means of dominating the males in their society. Regardless of whether it is flirty words or sexual acts, the three women’s recognition of the sexual culture of their society allows them to control and gain from male encounters.