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Behind the Scenes with Ben Adair,
producer of The Stans.
Interview conducted by Julie Shapiro
> So rumor has it that The Stans caused some controversy after it was
aired. Can you explain some of the response you received? What was the age and
gender of the people who complained?
The full Stans story aired over two consecutive weeks on the show (The Savvy
Traveler). Most of the complaints we received focused on a part of part one
which dealt with many of the men on the trip discovering the Central Asian sex
industry. Many outraged people (mostly women, but many men too) felt my piece
promoted sex tourism. There was a particular piece of tape where one of the
travelers goes step by step through the process of bargaining down two women
from $400 for a night of sex to $40. This was especially controversial.
The second most popular complaint was that my story encouraged a sort of
neo-colonialism through travel. That by talking about a group tour through this
area, or participating in one, I was painting Central Asians in a poor light
and somehow exploiting them and their severely disadvantaged situation.
> How was it handled?
We got a lot of complaints. The following week, we aired a special "letters
segment" on the show and more or less said why we felt talking about these
things was good and helpful, and that our listeners’ reaction is actually a
good thing. Personally, I'm glad people were offended; it shows their hearts
are in the right place. I just wish that anger was directed at the real sources
of the controversy (the awful economic situations that lead to a sex industry,
those worldwide who participate in sex tourism), and not at me.
> Were the issues that came up via the complaints ones that had occurred
at all to you during the production of the The Stans, or were you surprised to
hear about them from listeners?
I wasn't surprised about the sex complaints. Sex tourism is a very touchy
subject that Americans like to ignore and not talk about. I do wish I could
have more strongly focused the critique to get at some of those real sources,
though. But, then again, maybe there was this legion of listeners who did get
it. The hard part of controversy is that you only hear from the people who
didn't like it, you hardly ever hear from those do.
I felt the other complaint -- the neo-colonialism -- was a reaction to the
cavalier attitude people on the trip had toward the Central Asians. I went back
and listened to the stories afterwards and what I said really echoed what I
felt then: that these are regular people struggling through extraordinary
circumstances. It's amazing to me that Central Asians are as nice and generous
as they are, given the oppression of everyday life there.
> From your point of view, why was it necessary in the piece to include
the controversial material? If you had the chance to produce the piece again,
would you leave some of that material out of it?
Sex was not only a huge issue in the stories; it was a huge issue during the
trip itself. Likewise, so was the lust for danger and the First World arrogance
you hear develop through part 2. The thing is, we all talked about these things
on the trip: the morality of sex, the economic situations, how not to take
advantage of people in your everyday dealings with them and even what "taking
advantage of them" means. To leave this stuff out would have been wrong.
However, that said, let me toss this little wrinkle in on the sex issue: what I
was attempting to address in the story was not "sex tourism," per se, but
rather, how do you negotiate your sexuality while traveling? The story didn't
answer that question, and I still don't have an answer to it personally. It's
something I continue to think about and that I hope everyone thinks about when
they travel to places like Central Asia, like Brazil, Costa Rica and Southeast
Asia. It's really important.
> What did fellow travelers think of your production?
You know, I was pretty impressed with their reaction. Most of them loved the
stories. I focused in on two guys in particular during the sex part and one of
them got really mad, but the other was okay with it. I haven't heard from Ted,
the group leader since the stories aired and, given how he's portrayed, I
understand, but I'm sad about that.
> Do you think it's important to stir things up on the radio landscape?
Why or why not?
I think it's important to talk about things that happen in everyday life,
whether they're controversial or not. That said, I also think it's of vital
importance not to brush things under the rug just because they make us
uncomfortable or because they're enormously complicated. Public radio exists
because we actually deal with real-life issues: we don't dumb everything down
and say, "It will all be fine, as long as you don't sleep with the
prostitutes."
> Are you more or less likely to try to work with potentially
controversial material now? For that matter, what are you working on now?
I'm very curious about these weird places between what we assume is right and
wrong. These are places people don't like to talk about, so in that sense, I
suppose, they lead to controversy. But it's very fascinating to me when you
start questioning our very basic a priori.
Right now I'm working on a much shorter story about intersecting social space
in Los Angeles -- specific places where race and economy render whole groups of
people invisible to each other; where everyone goes about their daily lives
seeing only what they want to see. Oh, and what happens when you actively take
those blinders off.
> What is the most memorable thing you've taken from the entire
experience?
Definitely the trip itself. Central Asia is a magical place. I have these
vivid, amazing dreams about places like Bukara, Uzbekistan, about the Karakum
desert and the Tian Shan mountains. If you can stand to travel in places
without a developed tourist infrastructure, I highly recommend visiting at
least Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. It's really, really wonderful there. The tiled
walls of the Registan, in Samarkand, overshadow the story's controversy by
miles.
> What is your favorite type of cookie?
A) vegan oatmeal chocolate chip (also known as cowgirl
cookie),
B) crappy grocery store iced-oatmeal - purchased in early
morning hours
C) thin mints
B. No question.
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