Mobilizing pride/shame: lesbians, tourism and parades

Abstract

In this paper I focus on Pride Scotland in order to examine the construction and performance of lesbian tourism geographies. Queer theories are used to argue that tourism spaces of Pride Scotland provide important sites for the examination of the co-construction of pride and shame for lesbian parade participants. Within these sites celebrations of pride are underscored by notions of shame. Pride/shame politics may be productive and are lived through gendered and sexualized bodies. I rely on three sets of qualitative data for this research: (1) individual and focus group interviews with lesbian and queer parade participants; (2) participant observations and autobiography; and (3) media reports. The paper describes a particular Edinburgh group-a women's drumming band-that performs for Pride. These participants actively choose to perform their subjectivities in ways they understand challenge heteronormalcy. Discursive constructions of Edinburgh as a gendered and sexualized city are discussed in relation to Pride Scotland. I argue that Pride in Edinburgh is predicated on notions of sexualized shame. I examine how queer women negotiate hostile and/or indifferent reactions to their bodily performances. In this way I aim to explore the relationships between pride/shame, performativity, gender, sexuality and politics of resistance.

The Politics of In/Visibility: Carving Out Queer Space in Ul'yanovsk

“…Even when not expressively focusing on the scene, research has tended to focus on the most visible expressions of queer space, for example on residential areas with a conspicuous and identifiable concentration of LGBT residents (Castells 1983;Adler and Brenner 1992), or on events such as gay pride parades, whereby urban space is temporarily appropriated as queer by the LGBT community (Browne 2007;Johnston 2007).…”

Affective Tourism

“…It adds to the scarce literature that considers emotions in tourism studies and responds to these researchers' calls for more engagement with emotions (Johnston, 2005b(Johnston, , 2007Tucker, 2007aTucker, , 2007bWaitt et al, 2007). It adds to the scarce literature that considers emotions in tourism studies and responds to these researchers' calls for more engagement with emotions (Johnston, 2005b(Johnston, , 2007Tucker, 2007aTucker, , 2007bWaitt et al, 2007).…”

Lesbian Lives in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia

“…Queer space is most commonly discussed in the literature with reference to leisure space, and in particular to the gay 'scene', understood as a loose cluster of commercial venues and community organisations catering for non-heterosexuals, usually located in the gentrified centres of big cities (Binnie, 2004;Moran and Skeggs, 2004). Even when not expressively focusing on the scene, research has tended to concentrate on the most visible expressions of queer space, for example, on residential areas with a conspicuous concentration of queerly identified residents (Castells, 1983;Adler and Brenner, 1992), or on events such as gay Pride parades, whereby urban space is temporarily but very visibly appropriated as queer (Browne, 2007;Johnston, 2007).…”