Female Supremacy Articles - Page 21

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In a country where an estimated 16 per cent of the population live below the poverty line, the favours of a Westerner can make all the difference to a local's standard of living. Even in the better class of hotels, the monthly wage is no more than U.S.$200 (around £130) a month.

Little wonder that Negril beach has an estimated 200 or so men on the lookout for 'milk bottles' - as the white tourists are known locally.

Each morning, as the tourists head for their loungers scattered along the breathtaking stretch of white sand, the men set out, cruising up and down, sauntering over to make chit- chat when they spy any unaccompanied women.

A security guard for one of Negril's middle-range hotels confides that he is rarely called upon to shoo the 'rastitutes' away. Most women, he says, don't welcome his intrusion.

"I know now if the women don't send them away immediately, they usually got something going," he says. "They don't want me breaking it up." He points out two ladies camped further down the beach topping up their already deep tans. 'Like them. They here every year, man.'

In fact, 52-year-old Jill and her sister Pippa, 54, both from the Nottingham area, have been coming to the same hotel on Negril beach for the past decade. On their first visit in 1996, they had merely come to unwind in the sun, but both ended up embarking on a holiday romance with men 20 years their junior - despite being married.