Abstract
This article explores performances of heterosexuality amongst single, straight British expatriates resident in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. I draw on eighteen months of ethnographic fieldwork, involving participant-observation and interviewing. Specifically, I focus on performances of transient heterosexuality, by which I mean performances of heterosexuality that are characterised by frequent sexual encounters with successive partners and which are enacted in relation to discourses of transience. Firstly, I explore how Dubai is understood as a particular ‘landscape of desire’ (Bell and Valentine Citation1995), arguing that performances of transient heterosexuality are privileged in its bar/club spaces. I suggest that the changing nature of British transnationalism, transformations in Dubai's night-time economy and, in particular, expatriate discourses about the transnational city as a holiday-like space, influence such performances. Secondly, I consider the ambivalence amongst single British expatriates towards performances of transient heterosexuality. I argue that such performativity is celebrated as an escape from domesticated forms of couple intimacy yet, at the same time, constructed as a negative result of transnationalism. Finally, I explore how single British expatriates' performances of heterosexuality are refracted through more widespread, and powerfully gendered, international discourses about couple intimacy.
Cet article est une exploration des performances de l'hétérosexualité chez les Britanniques célibataires hétéros expatriés qui vivent à Dubaï, Émirats arabes unis. Mes travaux ethnographiques qui servent de base à l'article et qui ont duré 18 mois reposent sur l'observation participante et à des entrevues. Je mets l'accent spécifiquement sur les performances de l'hétérogénéité itinérante qui, à mon sens, sont des performances de l'hétérogénéité caractérisées par des rencontres sexuelles fréquentes avec une série de partenaires se déroulant dans le cadre de discours sur l'itinérance. En premier lieu, j'explore les façons dont Dubaï est vue en tant que «paysage du désir» (Bell et Valentine 1995), en soutenant que les performances de l'hétérogénéité itinérante sont privilégiées dans ses espaces bar et boîte de nuit. Je laisse entendre que la nature en mutation du transnationalisme britannique, les transformations de l'économie de la vie nocturne à Dubaï et, en particulier, les discours des expatriés sur la ville transnationale et de son espace de type vacances, ont une influence sur ces performances. Par la suite, j'examine l'ambivalence qui habite les Britanniques célibataires expatriés à propos des performances de l'hétérogénéité itinérante. Je soutiens que cette performativité est célébrée comme moyen d'échapper aux formes domestiques de l'intimité du couple, mais qu'elle est conçue en même temps comme un résultat négatif du transnationalisme. Pour terminer, j'explore comment les performances de l'hétérogénéité des Britanniques célibataires expatriés renvoient aux discours plus larges, fortement différenciés selon le sexe et internationaux concernant l'intimité du couple.
Este artículo explora los performances de heterosexualidad entre los expatriados británicos, heterosexuales y solteros, residentes en Dubai, en los Emiratos Árabes Unidos. Recurro a dieciocho meses de trabajo de campo etnográfico, que involucra la observación de participantes y entrevistas, para el artículo. En particular, me enfoco en los performances de heterosexualidad transeúntes, por lo cual me refiero a los performances de heterosexualidad caracterizados por frecuentes encuentros sexuales con parejas consecutivas representados en relación con discursos de lo efímero. Primero exploro el modo en que Dubai es entendido como un ‘paisaje del deseo’ especial (Bell and Valentine Citation1995), sugiriendo que los performances de heterosexualidad tienen privilegio en los espacios de bares y clubes. Sugiero que la naturaleza cambiante del transnacionalismo británico, transformaciones en la economía nocturna de Dubai y, en particular, discursos de expatriados sobre esta ciudad transnacional como un espacio vacacional, tienen influencia sobre estos performances. Segundo, considero la ambivalencia entre los expatriados británicos solteros hacia los performances de heterosexualidad transeúntes. Sugiero que esta performatividad es celebrado como una evasión de las formas domesticadas de intimidad que existe entre cónyuges y, sin embargo, es construido a la vez como un resultado negativo del transnacionalismo. Para terminar exploro el modo en que los performances de los expatriados británicos solteros quedan refractados por discursos internacionales más generalizados y fuertemente generizados sobre la intimidad entre cónyuges.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by an ESRC PhD studentship (R42200134499) and postdoctoral research fellowship. I am grateful for feedback from Philip Crang, Katie Willis, Jenny Money and three anonymous reviewers, as well as comments received during the presentation of this material at the RGS-IBG 2005 Annual Conference, AAG 2006 Chicago pre-conference workshop ‘Sexuality and Space: New Directions’ and the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. Most of all, I am indebted to expatriates and friends in Dubai whose lives I shared during my fieldwork, especially Kate, Rob and Tom, who helped me learn in different ways.
Notes
1 Indeed, marriage remains the social relationship through which morally sanctioned, ‘respectable’ heterosexuality is performed in Britain and by Britons in Dubai, so much of my own research discusses the familial home and the gendered negotiation of conjugal intimacy (Walsh, Citation2005, in press).
2 While a recent MORI poll in Britain suggests that approximately 50 per cent of Britons between the ages of 16 and 64 are having ‘one-night stands’, it also suggests that the average British woman has had eight sexual partners and the average British man has had eleven ( < http://www.mori.com>). The performances of transient heterosexuality I am describing here would therefore be considered relatively unusual amongst the British. However, my avoidance of the term ‘promiscuity’ in describing such performances is deliberate. To be promiscuous is to be ‘indulging in casual and indiscriminate sexual relationships’ and synonyms include, ‘abandoned’, ‘chaotic’, ‘confused’, ‘immoral’, ‘random’, ‘wanton’ and ‘wild’ (Collins English Dictionary and Thesaurus Citation1994: 913–914). Therefore, the term is morally loaded and a far from neutral way of describing episodic sexual behaviour. Furthermore, the connotations are simply not accurate for the performances of heterosexuality described in this article which involve complicated social politics.
3 Kipnis (Citation2003) suggests adultery is a way in which people can challenge the privileging of the committed couple relationship and chase the feeling of aliveness associated with lust. Thrift (Citation2005) also draws on Kipnis (Citation2003) to argue that the sociality of cities is characterised by ‘everyday violences’ alongside expressions of love, compassion and kindness.
4 This paper does not pretend to cover the experiences of those expatriates who get divorced or remain single in their forties and older. Nor does it feature expatriates as teenagers or entering early adulthood in Dubai and it is likely that there will be increasing numbers in this group as it becomes more feasible to remain in the Emirates for tertiary education and the range of jobs available to English-speakers in the UAE increases. Likewise, I do not focus on married British men and women who may also be engaging in extra-marital affairs (see CitationWalsh, in press).
5 The legislation (or perhaps the enforcement of it) is changing quickly and there is considerable uncertainty among British expatriates about what it illegal. One couple I interviewed got married before moving to Dubai in 2000 because the laws were still taken seriously at that time. When I arrived in 2002 there were rumours that it was still technically illegal to share a house or taxi with a person of the opposite sex who is not a member of your family but these rules were not widely known and routinely broken. During my fieldwork several ‘Western’ expatriates were imprisoned for kissing their non-marital partners on the street, but their behaviour would have been ignored in an expatriate night club or bar and in 2006 they probably would not have been arrested for the same behaviour.
6 Heterosexualities are always racialised and in the context of Dubai where there is a complex racial hierarchy operating in everyday spaces this is extremely significant but, in this article, I do not attempt to examine cross-cultural heterosexual encounters or relationships (e.g. sex work and marriage). It should be noted, however, that cross-cultural relationships involving Britons are not as commonplace in the Gulf as they might be in other expatriate communities. Further research is necessary but I would suggest that this is due not only to religious factors, but also the lower social status of the British in relation to Emirati Nationals. White British men and women are sometimes involved in mixed-race sexual relationships, but amongst the age-group featured in this article (25–35) this is generally confined to hyphenated citizens of Western nations (e.g. Australian-Asians, American-Arabs, Black-Britons).
7 This is slowly changing, but gay nightlife remains segregated from mainstream clubs and bars and is distinctly male. There is a popular gay club night on Fridays at The Cellar which is host to an international crowd, as well as a couple of pubs and bars where gay men told me they felt relatively comfortable to be open in their sexuality. However, a gay British man working as flight crew told me that, at least before he met the partner he now lives with, he rarely socialised in Dubai and preferred to go out while on stopovers in London and Sydney instead.
8 In fact, Saudi Arabia is currently the only Gulf state where alcohol is not widely available in hotel-based bars and restaurants. In Dubai, alcohol can be obtained from supermarkets for home consumption by those expatriates who hold a liquor licence, but there are also (illegal) supermarkets on the outskirts of neighbouring Emirates which impose no limits on the quantity you can buy (at your own risk). Expatriates say they are going to the ‘hole in the wall’ and will offer to buy alcohol for friends as well. As making such a drive is relatively inconvenient and risky, it is etiquette for visitors to use their full duty-free allowance, currently four items, and younger expatriates are often torn between novelty (e.g. wine) or percentage alcohol.
9 Other types of drug are less accessible in Dubai than they are in Britain. Fear of immediate imprisonment in Dubai also appears to discourage Britons who claim to routinely take illegal drugs when socialising in clubs and bars in the UK.
10 Since my fieldwork in 2002–2004, ‘Double Decker’ in the Al Marooj Rotana Hotel and Suites and Waxy O'Connor's (known as Waxy's) in Bur Dubai have opened and are in competition for popularity with the bars/clubs featured in my research. However, when I revisited the field in May 2005, April 2006 and June 2006, my participant-observation strongly suggested that the drinking/sexual cultures I analyse in this article are also being performed in these new consumption spaces.
11 The official weekend in Dubai followed by schools and national companies is Wednesday afternoon, Thursday and Friday. However, expatriates who work for international companies with the majority of clients in the non-Islamic world have a weekend on Friday and Saturday instead.
12 Somewhat paradoxically, as Kipnis (Citation2003) notes, the extra-marital affair still leaves intact the romantic couple relationship as ideal.
13 The term ‘fresh off the boat’ implies being over-whelmed by a new environment.
14 The term ‘fresher’ is more widely used in the UK to describe first-year undergraduates at university experiencing their first taste of freedom away from the parental home.
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