The Entrepreneur Experiences of Gay Business Owners in Madrid's Gay
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Master of Arts Thesis Euroculture Uppsala University (First semester) University of Deusto (Second semester) July 2020 The Entrepreneur Experiences of Gay Business Owners in Madrid’s Gay Neighborhood Chueca and its Degaying Process in the Post-Gay Era Submitted by: Te-Yang Lee Contact details: +34 603 048 078 [email protected] Supervised by: Dr. May-Britt Öhman Dr. Nagore Espinosa Uresandi Madrid, 1st July, 2020 Signature MA Programme Euroculture Declaration I, Te-Yang Lee hereby declare that this thesis, entitled “The Entrepreneur Experiences of Gay Business Owners in Madrid’s Gay Neighborhood Chueca and its Degaying Process in the Post-Gay Era”, submitted as partial requirement for the MA Programme Euroculture, is my own original work and expressed in my own words. Any use made within this text of works of other authors in any form (e.g. ideas, figures, texts, tables, etc.) are properly acknowledged in the text as well as in the bibliography. I declare that the written (printed and bound) and the electronic copy of the submitted MA thesis are identical. I hereby also acknowledge that I was informed about the regulations pertaining to the assessment of the MA thesis Euroculture and about the general completion rules for the Master of Arts Programme Euroculture. Signed ………………………………………… Date ………………………………………… 1 Abstract This master’s thesis is an interdisciplinary research on the ‘degaying’ process of Madrid’s gay neighborhood, Chueca, in the post-gay era and gay business owners’ entrepreneurial experiences. It strives to fill a gap in the literature in LGBT tourism studies, gender studies and entrepreneurial studies by giving voice to the LGBT community and creating contemporary knowledge and observation. The investigation involved conducting 11 qualitative semi-structured interviews with gay business owners in Chueca. The aim of this research was to shed light on the owners’ motivations in opening their businesses and to explore the challenges and changes they noticed throughout their time in the neighborhood, reviewing if Chueca has entered the post-gay era and is experiencing a degaying process. It also discusses other aspects of the district such as the marginalization of certain groups within it, its market economy and the city government’s role in gay tourism. The results of this study show that breaking the lavender ceiling is not one of the main motivations of owners in starting their businesses. Moreover, while the gay market is a profitable niche market, it is wiser for business owners to target both heterosexual and LGBT markets if possible. Lastly, Chueca has entered the post-gay era, although it is unlikely that the neighborhood will face dissolution due to its historical meaning and the fact that many people still feel more comfortable in Chueca than in other parts of the city. Length of the thesis: 27.665 words Keywords: Gay neighborhood, Gay tourism, Madrid, Chueca, Entrepreneurship 2 Table of contents (ToC): Preface:..................................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 1 Introduction: ........................................................................................................... 10 1. Objectives: ...................................................................................................................... 10 2. Historical background of Gay tourism studies: ................................................................. 10 3. Brief history of Chueca and its current situation: ............................................................. 12 4. Research questions and motivation: ................................................................................. 14 5. Significance of the investigation: ..................................................................................... 16 6. Spain’s LGBT rights: ...................................................................................................... 17 7. Global influences on Chueca: .......................................................................................... 20 (1) International gay identity: .............................................................................. 20 (2) Capitalism and the market economy in Chueca:.............................................. 21 (3) Multicultural Chueca: .................................................................................... 21 8. Outline of thesis: ............................................................................................................. 22 Chapter 2 Literature Review ................................................................................................... 24 1. Introduction..................................................................................................................... 24 2. Current studies on gay tourism: Postmodern theory/ Queer theory ................................... 25 3. Gay identity on venture creation ...................................................................................... 26 4. The post-gay era and degaying process ............................................................................ 28 5. The post-gay era and degaying process in Chueca............................................................ 31 6. City government and LGBT rights................................................................................... 35 7. Impacts of the commodification of queer space ............................................................... 36 (1) The degaying process of gay villages ............................................................. 36 (2) Sexism and racism in the gay scenes .............................................................. 37 (3) Hierarchies of homosexuality ......................................................................... 38 (4) Oppressed gay male subcultures ..................................................................... 39 (5) Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 39 3 8. Under-studied perspectives on gay tourism ...................................................................... 39 (1) Under-studied LBT groups ............................................................................. 39 (2) Interactions between LGBT tourists and local destinations ............................. 40 (3) Neocolonial marketing strategy of gay tourism ............................................... 40 Chapter 3 Methodology........................................................................................................... 42 1. Research questions ......................................................................................... 42 (1) Lavender ceiling: ........................................................................................... 42 (2) Gay market as a niche market: ....................................................................... 42 (3) Chueca is experiencing a degaying process: ................................................... 43 2. Terminology .................................................................................................. 43 (1) Gay ................................................................................................................ 43 (2) Homosexual ................................................................................................... 44 (3) Queer ............................................................................................................. 45 (4) LGBT ............................................................................................................ 45 3. Field research: qualitative interviews.............................................................. 45 (1) Introduction: .................................................................................................. 45 (2) Qualitative interview characteristics: .............................................................. 46 (3) Positivism v. Interpretivism: .......................................................................... 48 (4) Interview preparation: .................................................................................... 49 (5) Interview execution:....................................................................................... 56 (6) Data analysis for qualitative interviews: ......................................................... 57 4. Participatory observation: .............................................................................. 58 Chapter 4 Results and discussion............................................................................................. 60 1. Introduction: .................................................................................................. 60 2. Summary of interviews: ................................................................................. 60 (1) Entrepreneurial motivations: .......................................................................... 60 (2) Entrepreneur managements and challenges:.................................................... 64 (3) The LGBT community as a niche market: ...................................................... 70 4 (4) Chueca: the present and the past ..................................................................... 73 (5) Degaying process of Chueca in post-gay era:.................................................. 82 (6) Chueca for new business owners? .................................................................