Abstract
Gay leisure space development has of late been an important area of investigation in geography. Generally, these investigations have primarily concerned white gay men in Western countries. Most of these debates have not been considered in the developing world context, particularly in Africa. This investigation explores the leisure geography of black gay men in the city of Bloemfontein. It is shown that differences in race and class positions explain a gay leisure geography which stands totally separate from that of white gay men. The investigation argues that differences in class position, linked to race, explain these separate geographies. However, it is also revealed that the black gay men of this investigation do not see exclusively gay leisure spaces as desirable and would rather seek leisure spaces that are inclusive of different sexual orientations.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Notes
Leisure is “free time”—time spent out of work and essential domestic activity. It is the period of discretionary time before or after compulsory activities such as eating and sleeping, going to work and doing homework. For an experience to qualify as leisure, it must be an experience that is a state of mind, entered into voluntarily and must moreover be intrinsically motivating of its own merits. Leisure space merely refers to those spaces in which leisure time is spent.
It has to be admitted that some of this neglect can be explained by the idea that gay, lesbian or bisexual are conceptual categories that have a particular Western genealogy (Graziano 2004).
References
Bell, D., & Binnie, J. (2006). Authenticating queer space: Citizenship, urbanism and governance. In A. Collins (Ed.), Cities of pleasure: Sex and the urban socialscape (pp. 177–190). London: Routledge.
Caceres, C. F., & Sosaco, A. M. (1997). The correlates of safe behaviour among homosexually active men in Lima. AIDS, (Supplement 1), 55–59.
Carrier, J. M. (1985). Mexican male bisexuality. Journal of Homosexuality, 11(1–2), 72–85.
Collins, A. (ed.) (2006). Cities of pleasure: Sex and the urban socioscape. London: Routledge Press.
Elder, G. (2005). Love for sale: Marketing gay male leisure space in contemporary Cape Town, South Africa. In L. Nelson, & J. Seager (Eds.), Companion to feminist geography. Oxford: Blackwell.
Gevisser, M., & Cameron, E. (eds) (1995). Defiant desire: Gay and lesbian lives in South Africa. Johannesburg: Raven.
Gorman-Murray, A. (2006). Homeboys: Use of home by gay Australian men. Social and Cultural Geography, 7(1), 53–69.
Graziano, K. J. (2004). Oppression and resiliency in a post-apartheid South Africa: Unheard voice of black gay men and lesbians. Culture, Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 10(3), 302–316.
Harper, G. W., Jernewall, N., & Zea, M. C. (2004). Giving voice to emerging science and theory for lesbian, gay and bisexual people of color. Culture, Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 10(3), 187–199.
Herdt, G. (1990). Developmental discontinuities and sexual orientation across cultures. In D. P. McWhirter, S. A. Sanders, & J. M. Reinisch (Eds.), Homosexuality/heterosexuality: Concepts of sexual orientation (pp. 208–236). New York: Oxford University Press.
Jackson, P. A., & Sullivan, G. (1999). A panoply of roles: Sexual and gender diversity in contemporary Thailand. In P. A. Jackson, & G. Sullivan (Eds.), Lady boys, tom boys, rent boys: Male and female homosexualities in contemporary Thailand (pp. 1–15). Binghampton, NY: Harrington Park Press.
Leap, W. (2004). Language, belonging and (homo)sexual citizenship in Cape Town, South Africa. In W. Leap, & T. Boellstorff (Eds.), Speaking in queer tongues: Globalization and gay language. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Leap, W. (2005). Finding the centre: Claiming gay space in Cape Town. In M. Van Zyl, & M. Steyn (Eds.), Performing queer: Shaping sexualities 1994–2004, volume one (pp. 235–264). Roggebaai: Kwela Books.
Lim, K. F. (2006). Where loves dares (not) speak its name: The expression of homosexuality in Singapore. In Collins A. (Ed.) Cities of pleasure: Sex and the urban socioscape (pp. 129-158). London: Routledge.
Lind, C. (2005). Importing law, politics and sexuality. In M. Van Zyl, & M. Steyn (Eds.), Performing queer: Shaping sexualities 1994–2004, volume one (pp. 335–357). Roggebaai: Kwela Books.
Mnisi, M. (2007). Africa’s gay have. The Mail and Guardian, 17 August, p. 14.
Murray, S. O., & Roscoe, W. (eds) (1998). Boy wives and female husbands. New York: St Martin’s Press.
Nombembe, P., & Makwabe, B. (2007). Man knifed five times for being a moffie, Sunday Times,12 August 2007, p.9
Oswin, N. (2005). Researching ‘gay Cape Town’, finding value-added queerness. Social and Cultural Geography, 6(4), 567–586.
Parker, R. (1985). Masculinities, femininity, and homosexuality: On the anthropological interpretation of sexual meanings in Brazil. Journal of Homosexuality, 11, 155–163.
Phillips, O. (2005). Ten white men thirteen years later: The changing constitution of masculinities in South Africa, 1987–2000. In M. Van Zyl, & M. Steyn (Eds.), Performing queer: Shaping sexualities 1994–2004, volume one (pp. 137–164). Roggebaai: Kwela Books.
Potgieter, C.-A. (2003). Black South African Lesbians: Discourses on motherhood and women’s roles. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 7(3), 135–151.
Potgieter, C.-A. (2005). Sexualities? Hey this is what Black, South African lesbians have to say about relationship with men, the family, heterosexual women and culture. In M. Van Zyl, & M. Steyn (Eds.), Performing queer: Shaping sexualities 1994–2004, volume one (pp. 177–192). Roggebaai: Kwela Books.
Puar, J. K. (2006). Mapping US homonormativities. Gender, Place and Culture, 13(1), 67–88.
Reid, G., & Dirsuweit, T. (2002). Johannesburg: Fearful city? Urban Forum, 13(3), 3–19.
Sanchez Taylor, J. (2000). Tourism and Embodied Commodities: Sex Tourism in the Caribbean. In S. Cliff, & S. Cater (Eds.), Tourism and sex: Culture, commerce and coercion (pp. 41–53). London: Continuum.
Sibuyi, M. (1993). Tinconcana Etimayinini: The wives of the mine. In Krouse, M., & Berman, E. (Eds.), The invisible ghetto: Lesbian and gay writing from South Africa (pp. 45-64). Johannesburg: Raven.
Van Zyl, M. & Steyn, M. (eds.) (2005). Performing Queer: Shaping Sexualities 1994–2004. Roggebaai: Kwela Books.
Visser, G. (2002). Gay tourism in South Africa: Issues from the Cape Town experience. Urban Forum, 13, 85–94.
Visser, G. (2003a). Gay men, leisure space and South African cities: The case of Cape Town. Geoforum, 34, 123–137.
Visser, G. (2003b). Gay men, tourism and urban space: Reflections on Africa’s “gay capital”. Tourism Geographies, 5(2), 168–189.
Visser, G. (2006). Homonormalising heterosexual leisure spaces: The case of Bloemfontein. Published Report, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein.
Visser, G. (2007). Homonormalising (white) heterosexual middle-class leisure spaces: The case of white gay men in Bloemfontein, South Africa. International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations, 7, 217–228.
Visser, G. (2008). The homonormalisation of white heterosexual leisure spaces in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Geoforum, 39(3), 1347–1361.
Waitt, G., & Markwell, K. (2006). Gay tourism: Culture and context. New York: The Haworth Hospitality Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Visser, G. Exploratory Notes on the Geography of Black Gay Leisure Spaces in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Urban Forum 19, 413–423 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-008-9039-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-008-9039-4