Almost paradise: heterosexual migration and the search for sexual freedom in Costa Rica

Based on in-depth interviews with North American men who have migrated to San José, Costa Rica, this article examines how sexuality and masculinity shape transnational mobility. While these migrants distinguish themselves from sex tourists, their migration trajectories are closely linked to prior participation in the local sex industry. Drawing on queer migration scholarship and research on lifestyle migration, the article argues that heterosexuality—often treated as an unmarked norm—structures migration processes and should be analyzed as such. The men interviewed describe leaving what they perceive as a conservative United States in search of greater sexual freedom in Latin America, complicating assumptions that sexual freedom is pursued primarily through queer or South–North migration. Their experiences, however, reveal the limits of this imagined freedom, as migrants frequently encounter economic precarity, social isolation, and disappointment.