Rent a Rasta
When white women flock to Jamaica for a little fun in the sun, the RandR they're often looking for is not Rest and Relaxation but to Rent a Rasta according to director J. Michael Seyfert. His eye-opening expose' of the same name sheds light on a barely acknowledged form of sex tourism, namely, white women who visit the Caribbean Islands to get their groove back with the help of black locals. This documentary claims that, each year, as many as 80,000 females from a variety of relatively-wealthy Western nations descend on Jamaica alone.
Most of those inclined to indulge their Island Fever with wanton abandon are apparently middle-aged and/or overweight spinsters. Ignored by white men, and afraid to date blacks openly due to the social taboo, they look for satisfaction at remote resorts amidst the anonymity offered by a virtual paradise. These decadent dames safely lure their boy toys with money, electronic gadgets, designer clothes, baubles, or whatever material item it takes to get uncomplicated sexual favors in return along with the strict understanding that like in Las Vegas, What happens in Jamaica, stays in Jamaica. As one satisfied customer, a 45 year-old spinster from the Midwest explains her addiction to her hedonistic getaway, A girl who no one looks at twice gets hit on all the time here.
All these guys are paying her attention, telling her she's really beautiful, and they really want her. It is like a secret, a fantasy, and then you go home. While this glimpse of the lucky ladies' rationale for their no-strings liaisons is certainly informative, the picture is actually far more interesting when chronicling the history of Jamaica, winding its way from the slave days through the rise of the Rastafari to the present. Framed from this perspective, we suddenly see a persistent pattern of utter subjugation and economic inequality, with islanders providing stud service only being the latest form of exploitation.
Interesting documentary, not what I would have thought about the island of Jamaica. But I guess there is always some seedy evil backstory to every place of paradise on earth.
This history needs to be broadcast
Yikes. Hope everyone's using condoms. Sex tourism in the Caribbean has always been a thing. Gay men frequented Haiti in the '70s, bringing HIV back to New York & San Francisco. (This has been proven scientifically when tracing the virus back to its origins in the Congo/Cameroon). Prostitution of women in Africa also helped the virus spread, as did colonization.
Prostitution--whether of males or females--is always about abuse of poor and/or desperate people. The narrative that it's empowering is BS. Sex work is NOT work...it's exploitation. Modern slavery.
The women dont even have to be unattractive white women. They gigolo's tried me and I'm black, attractive and in my 30s. It was comical but they will try anybody!
hilarious if it weren't so sad. In London, New York or Los Angeles, well to do white women don't pick up homeless men, take them to dinner and then home to bed, in Jamaica.....
Hey, when I set down to watch a docu about sex tourism, I expect to see English female manatees being wooed by dead-eyed black bulging hunks
what makes Rent a Rasta a cult classic? people have been arguing over this film for 10 years with no end in sight!
It was very interesting. I am glad to know why these non-black women, for the most part, always be in ads laying along the Jamaican islands lije they are getting all tanned, no they are looking for a Man. That is why most of our women of color don't have many of our men today, because of these over sexed, women. Why are they so nasty? These women make God fearing women with dignity look obselete and unattractive. That is another example of exploiting the under privileged. They need to be back in the caves of the cacus mountains, with Java Man, Neanderthal Man, cromagnan Man, all those annimal like prehistoric man that looked like animals. Because based on what I saw they have a animalistic nature from whence they came. Trying to be so high society in the US, but in Jamaica- Looking for the Donkey Dong.Lol!
A very informative documentary about the Rastafarian culture in Jamaica so that people would not confuse a true rasta with modern day fashion rasta. It clarify that a true rasta is a way of life. However I feel that the title of the documentary is misleading rasta for sex /rent etc was not the main focus of the documentary it was only a small area and discussed only once so I feel another title like "true rasta" or something of that nature would have been more appropriate.
I would be appreciated if subtitle were added, I scrolled down to read comments here. There seems to be a religious conflict in value between Rastafari and Babylon (Christian evil) as mentioned in a Ethiopia's comment. I guess Christian value might have given Rastafari a wrongfully bad name, which is the main point of the argument that Jamaica has been colonized and brought into slave by Westerners.
I am not sure about the details. But that is a blame game. I take neither sides.
In social psychology, there's an attribution theory which say, for example, if you attribute your failure in the exam to the unfair grading, then you would be less likely to try harder in the next exam than attributing it to yourself. So, I guess if you blame the low economic growth of Jamaica on Jamaican people itself, positive growth would stun you and bring Jamaican men dignity in high income and respectable life.
Even though, to be fair, sex tourism isn't a bad thing, it saves the soul of those Western spinsters, doesn't it?
This doc piqued my interest, because while it is well known that western men can go anywhere in the world and get easy access to women and even young girls to perfom literally any type of sexual act (as long as they have the money to spend). That this existed for women in Jamaica is not widely known. Yet right away, the biases and double standard becomes clear by comparing sexual services for women to slavery, and by defining the women who turn to this type of "slavery" for services, as ugly, overweight and old! Unbelieveable! As if the sex workers performing for the men in other countries, are not also influenced by poverty? Yet, only human right activists refer to them as sex slaves. Mostly they are merely considered "prostitutes" even when they've been kidnapped or lured into sex work through deception.
If the point is that the poor males of Jamaica are slaves of wealthy western women, let's keep it in it's proper perspective. At least these men aren't kidnapped, beaten, forced into becoming drug addicted, taken to other countries and held against their will, or owned by a pimp who takes most if not all of their money. Even if the wealthy women who come to them for sexual pleasure are fat, ugly or old; I would venture to guess that they are at least clean and that they pay well. Quite a different story for the women and girls around the world who are merely thought of as "prostitutes".
"Every year over 80,000 middle-aged women flock to Jamaica in search of
the "big bamboo" a practice called rent a rasta. I`m not naïve, I`ve
been around the block. I come for sex, of course the sun, but mostly the
sex? (Karen, 45, from Chicago) But who are the real Rastafari and how
do they feel about being marketed everything Jamaican? " I feel the film
delivered very well, although would have appreciated subtitles on
occasion....2 thumbs UP!
yawn...wat, the white version of How Stella got her Groove back...
interesting subject, modest budget, good film
Jamaica is one of the poorest countries in the Caribbean receiving 1.8 million tourists last year.
Since the 1970s, world financial institutions have encouraged indebted nations like Jamaica to respond to economic crisis by developing tourism.
The International Monetary Fund agreements and World Bank structural adjustment loans, that the Jamaican government entered into have served to swell the prostitution labor market, for the policy packages tied to these loans have had a devastating impact on the poor with massive currency depreciation and a concomitant drop in the price of labor.
North American and European tourists’ very presence in the Caribbean is predicated upon a particular, and vastly unequal, world political and economic order.
Even the working class, budget tourist from Europe, Canada or the USA is in a position to spend about as much on a package holiday in the Caribbean as many locals will earn in a year.
Exploitation and inequity are part and parcel of capitalism (and communism for that matter). Jamaica remains deeply embedded in HM’s neo-colonial designs.
In sight and sound, "Rent a Rasta" portrays the many fronts in which Babylon fights the Movement of Rastafari in Jamaica. How slavery continues until this very day.
When Babylon "discovered" the "New World", the original inhabitants were either killed or ghetto-ized while millions of Africans were taken from their homes to work as slaves on the land that was stolen by their slave masters.
The whole western "Judeo-Christian" "Civilization" is built on the slave trade and colonialization. Although everything is officially abolished many years ago, the practice continues until this very day.
Who feels it, knows it, as they say.
In Jamaica, they know it.
It was there, that the Movement of Rastafari was born with the crowning in Ethiopia of Ras Tafari Makonnen as Haile Selassie the 1st, the 225th descendant of King Solomon.
There was the true Judeo-Christian Civilization!
Ever since it's birth, the Movement has been the target of Babylon System. Persecution, disinformation, condemnation, infiltration, corruption, every trick in the book is used against this group.
"Rent a Rasta" deals directly with Babylon's down-pressing of Jamaican people and Rastafarians in particular. The raw picture of what Babylon is really doing becomes clear.
The term itself refers to a practice of sex-slavery: hordes of tourists flood the island in search for paid sex with black dread locked men. The practice is shown in the video, people openly talk about it.
In the Rastaman's Camp, there's a completely different picture. Several Rastas are interviewed as they speak about the suffering, about being in Babylon.
The contrast in sight and sound is shockingly clear. While the narrator does his best to make sense out of the con-fusion shown in sight and sound, the video proofs without the shadow of a doubt just how abominable and evil Babylon really is.
While the real Rastas are suffering, telling the people to stop sinning and live a righteous life, Babylon has her own (per)version of Rastafari which makes some others filthy rich.
Yah, watch t'is flim and try to understand the issues.
Seems like a film student project, very unorganized and jumped all over the place. I found it interesting because of the bits of history on rasta - but again found it similar to a freshman film. Needs subtitles for a clearer perception, and if you make a film you should talk to more than a handful of people.
let's say this film is somewhat demanding and does not cater
to the lowest common denominator, therefore the "nothing to do with sex" comments - waste some time and clock the related and unrelated scenes and you will come up with 30% sex tourism issue, and 30% historical precedence and perspectives and 30% "real rasta" issues and thoughts, juxtaposed to ""faux rasta" or "rentables" jiving their dread-foolishness for entertainment only.
After all the film asks, ...... BUT WHO ARE THE real RASTAFARI and what do THEY think about being marketed everything Jamaican?
I am a little confused...what exactly is the purpose of this documentary? If it is meant to explain the difference between a Rastafarian and a Rent-a-Dread, then this could have been done alot more intelligently. And as for the comment about fat ugly white women going to places like Jamaica, because they cant find love in the rich west, is a ridiculous statement. I've seen very attractive successful sluts too trawling the beaches of Gambia and Jamaica looking for something they would not dare consider at home. In fact I am not confused. This documentary is rubbish.
I didnt enjoy this documentary at all. It is not about the sexual behaivor of white woman and black man in jamaica at all, and the woman are constandly humiliaetetd by calling them "old, a woman nobody would ever take a second look at" and ridiculed just because they dont fit in the sexual fantaies of the producer. The most part of the documentary is just rastafaris talking about their way of life , and i didnt even understand everything due to their strong accent and the lack of subtitels. The way theyre shown humiliaets them too because all that is filemed is a bunch of speaking and dancing whit out the producers triing to describe their actions and give a deeper understanding. It seems that this documentation tries not only to ridicule the sexual behaivor and looks of midleaged white woman, but , even if a lesser amount, the ones of rastafari man ,too.
EPIC.FAIL.
great documentary, easy to see, why sheltered, complacent liberals may not get the point, the film's central question: "Who are the Real Rastafari, and how do they feel about everything Jamaican being exploited, when even prostitutes need to wear dreads to make a buck". Of course the gigolos are not Rasta, but they sure sell themselves as such. I would recommend this film as a valuable teaching tool to my university.
terrible doc, dont bother watching
watch it to the end.... then comment
Greetings, IT took me about 15 minutes to see that the gigalo thing was not for me! I ended up getting involved with the children who have so much need for school supplies and clothing. I became addicted to getting donations from our local town paper, and taking it all down every 4 months.
My dentist even donates boxes of toothpaste and toothbrushes for me to bring down to remote mountain clinics. If you are going to Jamaica, throw some books your kids have outgrown or some gently used shoes, back packs or anything related to learning.
I met a woman in 2002, who was 54. She was involved with an OBVIOUS gigalo, but she thought she was all that, and ignored all the signs. He took her for over half a million bucks, and she had to finally leave due to humiliation. All she talked about was her "trust fund".
There is no way you cannot see what you are getting involved in. If you are paying for anything, you are with a gigalo.
If you love Jamaican men, find one in the US that has an actual job, so that you do not live the life of a fool. My husband is Jamaican and we have been married for 22 years. I met him in the US, where he had been working for over 20 years. We have a son, and he is now retired with a PENSION. I would never in a relationship with someone that was unemployed or that thought I would be the sole provider. Low self esteem has to be why they use these tactics. I find it degrading and pathetic.
She is so bitter and is still actually hurt....wow, talk about super-stupid. If you are 15 years older than a guy driving a BMW with locks down to his feet, and you are paying for houses and clothes, and gold chains, how long do you think it will be before they find someone even richer?
She was replaced by someone richer, and then that one was replaced by someone richer. Woman from the US, the UK, Germany, Canadians, I have seen them all get taken, and I do not feel sorry for them. They deserve the consequences of their stupidity.
Enjoy Jamaica, but for your OBGYN'S sake, get laid by someone not sleeping with 10 others.
based on my own experience i believe the disconnect between the title and most of the content is due to the fact that from time to time foreigners would go to countries such as Jamaica, go into a small rural or inner city community where the people are less educated befriend them which isn't difficult since Jamaicans are naturally friendly and welcoming especially to foreigners lie to them about what they're working on and why they're filming then put their own spin on things!