‘Dulling it down a bit’: managing visibility, sexualities and risk in the Night Time Economy in Newcastle, UK

Abstract

Drawing on qualitative interviews with young women in the UK, this paper highlights how gendered and sexualised negotiations of visibility intersect and continue to be important in the ways in which young women self-regulate bodies and identities to manage risk in the Night Time Economy (NTE). Adopting visible markers of normative, heterosexual femininity on a night out can be understood as simultaneously mitigating against the risks of experiencing certain types of harassment, whilst increasing the risks of experiencing others. This paper reaffirms the relevance of negotiations of visibility in shaping non-heterosexual women's dress as a strategy for managing the risk of homophobic abuse and demonstrate some of the ways in which all young womenregardless of actual or perceived sexual identification-are required to police their bodies in order to manage the additional risks of 'heterosexualised' harassment in the NTE. These include threats of sexual violence and harassment primarily associated with women's positioning as subordinated gendered subjects rather than with the policing of 'nonnormative' sexualities, with findings suggesting that young women are more concerned with managing the risks associated with a heterosexualised male gaze rather than a homophobic gaze. 'Everyday' experiences of harassment are trivialised and normalised in bar and club spaces, and adopting markers of normative, heterosexual femininity was felt to increase the risks of receiving this kind of 'unwanted attention'. Clearly, young women face challenges as they attempt to negotiate femininities, sexualities and safety and manage intersections of gender and sexuality in contemporary leisure spaces.

Capturing violence in the night-time economy: A review of established and emerging methodologies

“…Qualitative interviews may be obtained from secondary sources, e.g., victim and offender statements in police case files (Liebst, Heinskou, & Ejbye-Ernst, 2018;Weenink, 2014), but are mainly conducted by the academic scholars themselves. Such interviews have been utilized to examine the conflict experiences of all social roles in the NTE, including perpetrators (Graham & Wells, 2003;Hochstetler, Copes, & Forsyth, 2014), victims (Nicholls, 2017), bystanders (Levine et al, 2012), NTE staff (Hobbs, O'Brien, & Westmarland, 2007), and key NTE informants (e.g, the police, liquor licensees, council workers; Miller et al, 2012). For example, Copes, Hochstetler and Forsyth (2013) interviewed 23 males who had been in several bar fights and identified common motivations for conflict (e.g., verifying one's masculine self-image and maintaining hierarchies) and normative rules of conduct (e.g., fight others of similar physical size, with equal numbers on both sides).…”

‘I feel like I have to become part of that identity’: Negotiating femininities and friendships through alcohol consumption in Newcastle, UK

“…It is also interesting to note that regardless of class identity, there were several overlaps and similarities in the ways in which alcohol consumption and drinking practices were discussed. Likewise, I have explored in more depth some of the ways in which sexuality and sexual orientation shape experiences of the NTE elsewhere (Nicholls 2017).…”

Gece Ekonomisinde Emek ve Muğlaklaşan Sınırlar: Kadın Barmenler ve Cinsel Taciz

“…Gece ekonomisi heteronormatif maskülen değerlerin ve geleneksel toplumsal cinsiyet kodlarının hâkim olduğu bir kültürel atmosfere sahiptir (Kavanaugh 2013;Nicholls 2017). Genç kadınlar için zevk ve tehlikenin iç içe geçtiği bu ekonomide geç saatlerde kadınların ister çalışan ister müşteri olsun, bu tür ortamlarda bulunmalarının riskli olduğu düşünülmektedir (Hubbard 2007).…”

“…Alkol, cinsellik ve eğlencenin birleştiği riskli ortamlarda çalışmayı veya eğlenmeyi kabul ederek geleneksel kadınlık imgesinin "sınırlarını aşmış oldukları" ve kendilerini tehlikelere karşı savunmasız hale getirdikleri kabul edilmektedir. Bundan dolayı, bu ortamlarda bulunan kadınlar "müsait kadın" olmadıkları mesajını karşı tarafa vermek için yoğun çaba sarf ederler, çünkü bu sosyal alanlarda kadınların geleneksel kadınlık normlarına ne kadar yakın olup olmadıkları sürekli denetlenmektedir (Nicholls 2017). Sürekli olarak erkeklerin bakışları ile feminenliklerinin ve aslında aynı zamanda da kadınlıklarının test edildiğinin farkında olan kadınlar erkeklerin istenmeyen cinsel ilgilerine karşı kendilerini korumak ve karşı tarafa "yanlış bir mesaj vermemek" için giyimleri, tarzları, davranışları ile saygın bir kadın imgesi yaratmak zorundadırlar; çünkü cinsel tacize uğrarlarsa "riskli" bir ortamda bulundukları için kendilerinin suçlanacağının da bilincindedirler (Kavanaugh 2013).…”

“…al. 2012;Nicholls 2017). Kimileri daha gösterişsiz giyinmeye çalışarak cinsel tacizden kaçınmaya çalışmaktadırlar (Mellgren et al 2017).…”