Young tourists, gender and fear on holiday

Abstract

This paper addresses, through in-depth interviews and long-term observations, how young men and women perceive fear of crime and violence on holiday. Although many studies have highlighted a difference between males and females with regard to the expression of fear, gendered differences and similarities in the perception and expression of fear have remained largely unexplored within the context of tourism. The results show that gender, despite having been traditionally constructed as a binary concept, did not play a major role in influencing tourists' perceptions of fear on holiday. Interestingly however, the findings reveal that although men and women differ in their perception and expression of fear, a more marked distinction exists among the various masculinities and femininities within the men–women dichotomy. This implies that the investigation of gendered perceptions of fear needs to take into account the non-homogeneous nature of the two groups. This paper rejects the often-assumed stereotypical images of masculinity and femininity.

Keywords:

• gender
• fear
• young tourists
• Ios
• Greece