Rejection and Resilience in a “Safe Space”: Exploratory Rapid Ethnography of Asian-Canadian and Asian-American Men’s Experiences on a Gay Cruise

Abstract

Similar to other leisure spaces, gay cruises allow for self-expression and development of community, but in potentially sexualized environments over comparatively prolonged periods. Understanding racialized gay men’s resiliency in these spaces is important to leisure theory and practice, yet it has received little empirical attention, with an existing gap regarding resilience strategies of racialized gay men. Informed by minority stress theory and resilience theory, I use rapid ethnography to explore experiences of Asian-Canadian and Asian-American cisgender gay men (n = 7) on a gay cruise. Thematic analysis highlighted the cruise as a “safe space” where participants felt liberated. However, participants discussed rejection based on race and body size in this “safe space.” To cope, participants drew on existing resources rather than creating new ones, speaking to their resources as “my friends are my oasis.” Findings contribute to understanding Asian gay men’s resiliency in leisure spaces, highlighting the importance of social resources.

Keywords:

• Gay cruises
• resilience
• safe spaces
• sexual racism
• social support

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the study participants for sharing their experiences. I would also like to thank my supervisors, Dr. Michael R. Woodford and Dr. Martha Kuwee Kumsa, and colleague, Junoh Kim, for their guidance and feedback throughout the project.

Declaration of interest statement

No conflict of interest was reported by the author.