Gay Men's Leisure Lifestyles

2003

A feminist point of view is used in this study of gay men living in a small, collegiate community who use leisure travel as a negotiation strategy to achieve freedom of expression. Feminism is concerned with equality, empowerment, social change, the elimination of invisibility and the distortion of situated experiences. Feminist research is no more defined by the sex of the researcher than by the sex of the researched. Several in-depth interviews were conducted with key informants who revealed the complex nature of how many gay men pursue leisure experiences that are affirming to their gay self-identities in "Soledad." While gay meeting places and people exist in this small community, they remain mostly covert and invisible. Leisure travel to larger cities was a major negotiation strategy used to escape the stifling, hetero-normative community in which they lived. Escaping perceived hostilities was essential for gay men to feel comfortable exploring their homosexuality in a positive, affirming manner. V SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS………………………………...104 Overview of Findings………………………………………….. Discussion of Findings…………………………………………. Limitations of Study…………………………………………… Implications of Findings……………………………………….. REFERENCES………………………………………………………………… VITA…………………………………………………………………………… However, this does not mean that leisure is unimportant in the lives of members in other social categories. On the whole, major social groups have given little attention to gays and lesbians. Therefore, this study will present a description and analysis of the leisure experiences of gay men who live in a rural, southern community, named "Soledad". More specifically, this research will shed light on the leisure constraints, and negotiations of those constraints, of gay men living in Soledad. Their main negotiation strategy to overcoming a lack of opportunities to find expressive, affirming leisure outlets was leisure travel, a popular activity for gay men, as well as many other sub-groups. Other pertinent aspects of gay men's lives and experiences will also be covered. With the increased rhetoric on cultural diversity and equality, sexual orientation is starting to come to the forefront of issues facing many disciplines. More gay and lesbian persons are acknowledging their sexual orientation as homosexuality, as this sexual orientation becomes increasingly tolerated in our society. Likewise, it is increasingly recognized that sexual orientation is a factor in the styles and associations developed around leisure activity that can be central to the formation of a variety of leisure subcultures . An increased understanding of the concerns surrounding gay and lesbian people can enhance the leisure of individuals of non-dominant and dominant sexual orientations and allow them to construct positive, self-expressive leisure experiences . This research aims to provide a voice detailing how gay men negotiate their unique constraints to leisure using leisure travel as a major negotiation strategy. Leisure

Leisure Studies, 2011

Leisure/Loisir, 1999

Little attention has been given to gays and lesbians in leisure research. Increased understanding of the issues surrounding gay and lesbian people can enhance the leisure of individuals of non-dominant sexual orientations and allow them to construct positive, self-expressive leisure experiences. Using a symbolic interactionist approach, this study explored how gay and lesbian young adults assign meaning to their leisure and what role leisure plays in their identity development. Interviews were conducted with 19 gay and lesbian young adults. Three major themes were identified through constant comparative data analysis: negotiation of comfort within leisure, the experience of homophobia, and a desire for group enclosure in leisure. Implications and suggestions for eliminating heterosexism in leisure are discussed based on these findings.

Journal of Leisure Research, 1998

This paper explored the leisure experiences and behaviors of adolescents who are lesbian, gay male, bisexual, or questioning their sexual identities. In addition, health related variables were also examined. Data for this study came from a self-administered questionnaire collected in the spring of 1994 from 2,756 ninth through twelfth graders from four high schools in a county located in the southeastern United States. Altogether there were 111 students (4%) who were identified as lesbian, gay male, bisexual, or questioning their sexual identities. Results from this exploratory study suggest that free time and leisure experiences are not always positive or healthy for gay males in particular. Males were more bored in their leisure, used free time to rebel, and some felt their parents had too much control over what they did in their free time. Both lesbians and gay males engaged in higher levels of binge drinking when compared to their peers.

Geoforum, 2008

The paper comprises a response to the overwhelming lack of geographical research into South African gay male leisure space development and augments the first detailed analyses of white gay leisure space development in this country by redirecting the geographic focus to a smaller provincial city. The image of gay leisure space that emerges in Bloemfontein is different from those identified and described in large metropolitan complexes. What emerges in this city is the development of gay-coded spaces in which heterosexual leisure spaces are queered, but not with the intent or outcome of generating exclusively gay spaces. Homonormalised spaces are created. It is contended that much of the current debates approach the so-called homonormalistion of gay leisure space from an unhelpful “gay/queer-disempowered” perspective which is inadequate to explain the development of a range of leisure spaces certain gay/queer cohorts created and/or seek out. It is suggested that homonormalised spaces are far more than heteronormativity infiltrating the gay (leisure) world through a range of consumption-led processes/events, or gay male capitulation to such normative hegemonies. It is argued that “homonormalisation” should be understood more reflexively.

Leisure Sciences

The introduction of "social distancing" and quarantine orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have temporarily limited the ability for queer communities to engage in physical forms of social leisure. This pandemic also serves as a reminder of the importance of leisure spaces for queer communities and their unique leisure experiences. Given this opportunity to (re)examine the importance of queer leisure spaces, this paper will take a critical look at the impact this pandemic has had on queer leisure provision and the ramifications for queer leisure and queering leisure in a post-pandemic world. This paper will examine the current absence of queer leisure outlets, portrayal of public queer spaces, how the response to the sudden elimination of queer leisure spaces can inform our current understanding of leisure, and potential lessons about the connection between physical social engagement and queer leisure spaces.

Annals of Leisure Research, 2011

In the shift towards understanding the lived leisure experiences of women, the experiences of men have generally been left under-studied, particularly from a gendered analysis perspective. As such, we know less about the leisure experiences of men, especially the lives of older men. In response to this gap, the purpose of this research was to explore the meaning of masculinity in old age and to understand ageing for men, focusing primarily on their leisure experiences. Using constructivist qualitative methodology, 14 older men were interviewed about their experiences of ageing and as older men. A significant site or context through which ageing was experienced was during leisure, with the primary vehicle for experiencing ageing being the body. These experiences included physical limitations to activity participation and social interactions in leisure settings that reinforced identities as 'old men', with the end result being a narrowing of leisure activities and opportunities. The body, ageing, and leisure experiences were phenomena that were inextricably entwined as the men described their experiences of ageing. The possibility that leisure may be a site where men's traditional masculine identities are contested and identities of 'old men' are ascribed suggests that the experiences of leisure may be more complex than leisure has traditionally been described in literature. The importance of expanding the dimensions of leisure and paying closer attention to the body in leisure studies is discussed.

Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 1998

Presents a study of designated gay service environments. Conceptually, the study draws together ideas and frameworks from the consumption literature and from the study of service environments. Analyses issues surrounding gay cultural socialization and its effect on consumption patterns and expression through service environments. The study of the interplay between gay subculture and servicescapes is grounded in qualitative and observational

International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 2003

Over the last two decades the founding of sport clubs and organization of sport events specifically for gays and lesbians has increased in the Netherlands and most other western countries. For many policy-makers the popularity of playing sport 'apart' seems to be in contradiction to current liberal legislation concerning homosexuality and gay and lesbian rights. Gay/lesbian sport clubs and events like the Gay Games, which took place in Amsterdam in 1998 and Sydney in 2002, raise questions about the social integrative meanings and functions of sport. In this article different, often tenuous and ambiguous, integrative meanings are discussed in relation to mainstream and gay and lesbian sport clubs and events.

Routledge eBooks, 2022

This special issue responds to the need to investigate the complex links between sex and leisure and their implications for research and practice. The focus is on analyzing the complexity of sex as leisure in various socio-cultural and geographical contexts while focusing on pressing sexual issues and vulnerable populations. The articles address the implementation of a positive sexuality framework for guiding leisure research; sexual play and sex toys based on consumer experience perspectives; using the leisure lens to analyze sex and pornography addiction; quadriplegic sexuality and leisure; rejection and resilience on a gay cruise; relational dynamics of aging, exploitation, and deceit in sex tourism; sexual harassment of solo female travelers; and the complexity of consent in the sexualized leisure space of a pornography expo. This issue will be of general interest to the audience interested in interdisciplinary scholarship as it critically broadens the bio-psycho-socio-cultural perspective of sex as leisure.