Book chapter abstract

The Queering of Spaces: A critical analysis of how male sex work is shaped in the tourism industry in Botswana


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Publication Details

Author list: Mashumba, Lesedi

Edition name or number: Gender, Disability, and Tourism in Africa: Intersectional Perspectives

Publication year: 2022

Title of series: Sustainable Development Goals

Start page: 157

End page: 176

Number of pages: 20



In this chapter, I contend that Queer Phenomenology provides us with a way to move beyond an inclusion and diversity framing of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) sex workers where their bodies are thought to be governable and need to be realigned within spaces. To enhance the understanding of sex work in the tourism industry in Botswana, data were collected from 20 male sex workers (MSWs) servicing tourists. The in-depth interviews focused on how the discourses of gender and sexuality were experienced. The study revealed that due to the homophobic nature of Botswana, participants made several trips per week to Johannesburg, South Africa, to provide sex services to male tourists from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Tourists from these destinations emerged as a niche clientele for male sex workers from Botswana. This study provides valuable insights regarding individual male sex workers, whether identifying as LGBT or ‘very’ straight, and their relation to space (the Botswana local dynamics). These insights allow scholars to move beyond simplistic approaches in examining how categories such as ethnicity, sexuality, gender, and disability are navigated in a tourism context without rendering others invisible. Specifically, so, in contexts where male sex work commonality resides less in a shared identity and more in a shared alterity.


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Last updated on 2024-23-10 at 16:19