10 ELIZABETH DAVIS

through the symbols of unspoiled, virgin territory, waiting to be
transformed and possessed by imperial (heterosexual) design" (Erotic
90). This feminization of the landscape is apparent in the equation of
St. Lucia with Helen of Troy; according to Caribbean Ports of Call, the
island is "nicknamed 'the Helen of the West Indies' because of its natural
beauty" (153).
 Alexander further explains that cleanliness is central to this
construction of an island paradise filled with natural beauty (Erotic
92-3), and, indeed, Frommer's online travel guide praises various
Jamaican beaches for their "crystal clear" and "clean" water and
describes the beaches at a resort in the Virgin Islands as "pristine."
The absence of garbage is obviously part of this idea of cleanliness,
but far more important to producing a "pristine" landscape is the
erasure of the people who live there and, especially, any evidence of
their poverty. Alexander explains, "There are no beggars or homeless
people in and around Nassau, for they might contaminate paradise;
none of the evidence of the sordid effects of economic decay that would
suggest that paradise was not paradise after all" (Erotic 93). This can
be seen in Frommer's advice about beaches in St. Martin. For one beach,
Frommer's suggests, "Weekdays are best, as many locals flock here on
weekends." In its description of another beach, the online guide hints
that the presence of locals means danger: "Don't leave any valuables
in your car, as many break-ins have been reported along this
occasionally dangerous stretch of highway." Removed from the
landscape, Caribbean people are relegated to such non-natural sites
as markets, where they are conflated with the sights and the wares
that tourists come to consume. Caribbean Ports of Call warns its readers,
"Be sure to ask before you aim a camera, and expect the subject of
your shot to ask for a tip," and informs them that "Jamaican artisans
express themselves in resort wear, hand-loomed fabrics, silk-screening,
wood carvings, and paintings" (54, 126). Frommer's online guide
reduces Jamaican women to their sewing skills, pointing out their utility
for tourists: "Jamaican women are known as good seamstresses and
they often make quite passable copies [of resort wear] based on the
works of top designers and sell them at a fraction of the original's price."
This reification of the Jamaican people, which equates them with the
objects they produce and sell, allows both guides to remove the people
from the "unspoiled virgin territory," leaving it free for the tourist to
inhabit, and replace them with things that tourists can buy.
 The need to erase the people from the landscape in order to produce
a proper site of tourist consumption is depicted in both No Telephone