The beautiful dunes attract more than just migratory birds. – Giant lizards die, says the researcher behind a new sex-cruising study.
The coastal dunes of Maspalomas on Gran Canaria, also popularly known as “Granka”, have been protected since 1982 and are today a nature reserve. The dunes stretch over long stretches of beach, and are known as a resting place for migratory birds between Africa and Europe. But now the area has become a resting place for some other visitors: sex tourists.
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A new academic study has looked more closely at the environmental consequences of so-called “sex cruising” on the protected nature reserve. Sex-cruising is a phenomenon where individuals seek out specific meeting places in a public place to have a quick and anonymous shepherding session with foreign partners.
The researchers detected and explored a total of 298 sex meeting places among bush bushes, vegetation and the dunes in Maspalomas.
– Loved to death
The conclusion was that the activity that sex tourism brought with it had a very negative impact on local plant species, wildlife and dunes.
– These partially vegetated and moving dunes are some of the most popular tourist destinations in the Canary Islands, and are legally protected as a nature reserve. Unfortunately, they are loved to the dead, writes Professor Patrick Hesp at Flinders University in a post in The Conversation.
Professor Hesp is one of the co-authors of studies «Sand, sun, sea and sex with strangers. The five S’s. Mapping of public sex activities and the environmental consequences for protected coastal dune areas ».
The study was recently published in the scientific journal Journal of Environmental Management.
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The tourists trampled down vulnerable vegetation, removed plants and sand to make their own sex nests, and left large amounts of rubbish. The littering consisted of cigarettes left behind, used condoms, toilet paper, wet wipes and drink cans.
The dunes were also used as toilets with clear traces of urine and feces.
The more remote the sex meeting places were, the more they were in use. The most remote sex meeting places were also most affected by littering.
Even in the areas where there were strict restrictions on public transport, the researchers registered 56 sex meeting places.
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Giant lizards died from eating condoms
The main author behind the study says that the local ecosystem and wildlife are hard hit by the activities that sex tourism brings with it.
“Giant lizards (Gallotia stehlini) have died after eating condoms left by pleasure seekers,” Hesp writes in The Conversation.
– The entire ecosystem is beginning to divide into isolated islands, which can eventually destabilize the ecosystem as a whole, writes Hesp.
The researchers conducted the study in May 2018, which coincides with the local Gay Pride festival. The frogs emphasize that they had no intention of criticizing the LGBT community, and point out that it is far from only LGBT-visiting tourists who practice so-called sex cruising in the area. The researchers write that sex-cruising is practiced quite openly in Maspalomas.
– Before the pandemic occurred, the Canary Islands attracted up to 14 million tourists annually. About 15 percent of the tourists are men who are drawn to the gay-friendly beach facilities. The area is also popular for lesbian and heterosexual swingers. Those who are interested in casual sex will probably go to the coastal dunes in search of privacy and partners, writes Hesp.
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– Do not want an end to public sex, but…
Coastal dune systems are an important part of the maritime landscape, but have been used in marketing to attract tourists from all over the world, which has led to devastating consequences, the researchers point out.
“The degradation is in many cases a direct consequence of the tourist development,” reads the study.
– We do not call for an end to public sex, but we want to make people aware of the consequences it entails, writes Hesp in The Conversation.
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