Narrating the trope of abnormality: The making of closeted experiences in gay public cruising

Abstract

This paper examines gay men's cruising in public space, with specific focus on People's Park, Guangzhou, China. It argues that while sexual minorities' entry into public visibility and the building of shared social terrains can be seen as resistance to heteronormativity, queered or sexualised public space is often situated within and potentially reproduces the constructed binary between hetero- and homosexuality. Building upon insights provided by Fuss (1991), among others, it emphasises the mutually constitutive relationships between the discursive configurations of hetero- and homosexuality. Arguing that homosexuality identity is simultaneously imbricated in discourses of heterosexuality, this paper uses a case study of People's Park to demonstrate how the hegemony of heteronormativity is enacted, despite the transgressive and resistive nature of public cruising. To elucidate this point of view, this paper turns to the analysis of a trope of abnormality constructed in gay cruisers' discourses, and investigates the ways in which this trope of abnormality manifests itself in the homo-social relations and interactions between gay cruisers. Empirical research in this paper analyses and unravels three parallel aspects of gay cruisers' socio-spatial practices, namely, how they associate public visibility with shame and transgressiveness; how they feel embarrassed over the culture of promiscuity in the park and substantial lack of stable, monogamous relationships; and how they come to terms with the perceived fragility of gay communal solidarity through bemoaning the proliferation of prostitution and robbery. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.