Luxury and gay identity in Sitges: memory, tourism and carnival

ABSTRACT

This article analyses the Spanish seaside resort of Sitges and its historical identity as a destination for gay tourism. The article focuses on the contribution of the carnival to the construction of Sitges as a world-class ‘gay village’. From the carnival it is possible to observe the processes of integration of the local gay community of Sitges in the gay globality associated with identity consumption and international gay tourism. Carnival celebrations are the pivot around which we can order and better understand these processes through three chronologically successive identity periods: pre-gay, gay, and post-gay. Throughout these identity periods, carnival has provided a backdrop for negotiation and conflict between competing demands and interests: residents who view Sitges as a luxury residential neighbourhood, the demands of the gay communities, and the interests of the gay and lesbian tourism industry. We will also show that the way in which Sitges treats its gay citizens has been and still is complicated and somewhat contradictory. Carnival is an ideal setting to bring some of these contradictions into sharper focus.

KEYWORDS:

• Tourism
• carnival
• gay villages

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This article is part of the project ‘Gay tourist destinations in Spain: Identity, globalisation, and the market’, financed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (PGC2018-095910-B-100).

2 Òscar Guasch, ‘Social Stereotypes and Masculine Homosexualities: The Spanish Cases’, Sexualities 14–15 (2011): 526–43.

3 Alan Collins, ‘Sexual Dissidence, Enterprise and Assimilation: Bedfellows in Urban Regeneration’, Urban Studies 41, no. 9 (2004): 1789–806.

4 Stephen O. Murray, American Gay (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1996).

5 Dan A. Black et al., ‘Why do Gay Men Live in San Francisco?’ Journal of Urban Economics 51, no. 1 (2002): 54–76.

6 Ibid.

7 John D’Emilio, ‘Gay Politics and Community in San Francisco since World War II’, in Hidden from History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past, ed. M.B. Duberman (New York: NAL Books, 1989), 456–73.

8 Kevin Markwell, ‘Mardi Gras Tourism and the Construction of Sydney as an International Gay and Lesbian City’, GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 8, no. 1 (2002): 81–99.

9 Gerda K. Priestley, ‘Sitges, Playa de Oro: la evolución de su industria turística hasta 1976’, Documents d'Anàlisi Geogràfica 5 (1984): 47–73.

10 Ramón Francás, ‘Que no pare la música’, La Vanguardia, December 7, 2019.

11 Josep Puigbó, Pablo Tardio, and Héctor Ortega, ‘Creando espacios para la participación popular en el patrimonio: el caso de la comunidad gay en Sitges’, Perifèria: revista de recerca i formació en antropologia 21, no. 2 (2016): 61.

12 Antoni Sella, ‘Breu semblança d’un desamor. Sitges i el carnaval gai’, in Cinc mirades al Carnaval de Sitges. Segles XV-XX, ed. Miquel Forns et al. (Sitges: Societat Recreativa El Retiro, 2000), 267–80.

13 Guasch, ‘Social Stereotypes and Masculine Homosexualities’; Òscar Guasch, ‘La construcción cultural de la homosexualidad masculina en España (1970–1995)’, in Minorías sexuales en España (1970–1995), ed. Rafel Mérida-Jiménez (Barcelona: Icaria, 2013),11–25.

14 Alberto Mira, De Sodoma a Chueca: historia cultural de la homosexualidad en España 1914–1990 (Barcelona-Madrid: Egales, 2004); Fernando Villaamil, La transformación de la identidad gay en España (Madrid: La Catarata, 2004); Òscar Guasch, La sociedad rosa (Barcelona: Anagrama, 1991).

15 Rafel Cáceres and José María Valcuende, ‘Globalización y diversidad sexual, gays y mariquitas en Andalucia’, Gazeta de Antropología 30, no. 3 (2014): Art. 7.

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34 The term ‘poppers’ is a slang word that describes certain inhalants composed of amyl, butyl, or isobutyl nitrites. They are colorless and odorless liquids that are sold in small glass canisters for inhalation. They are volatile substances that when inhaled produce a stimulating and vasodilator effect with a feeling of euphoria and increased sexual desire; although these effects wear off quickly and give way to a feeling of exhaustion.

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49 Kevin Markwell, ‘Mardi Gras tourism and the construction of Sydney as an International Gay and Lesbian City’, GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 8, no. 1 (2002): 81–99.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Oscar Guasch

Oscar Guasch is Historian and anthropologist. He is a Professor of Sociology of Sexuality and Gender at the University of Barcelona. Specialist in qualitative research techniques. He investigates the history of LGTBI communities in the Iberian Peninsula and is also interested in the history of heterosexuality. He has published research on transsexualization processes in southern Europe. He has also investigated the cultural question of masculinities in the Mediterranean and has several publications on sexual occupations between men. His latest book is about homophobia at the University.

Josep María Mesquida

Josep María Mesquida is an Assistant Professor at the University of Barcelona. Member of the GRITS Research Group. Specialist in social work processes to improve LGTBI aging. He is coordinator of the Arrels Foundation focused on assisting elderly homosexual men. He also participates in European research projects on asylum processes and shelter for the LGTBI population.

Jordi Caïs

Jordi Caïs is a Professor of Sociology, Research Techniques and Social Policies at the University of Barcelona. He is an expert in qualitative research techniques in Social Sciences. He has authorised numerous publications in different areas of social welfare (health, dependency, poverty and exclusion). His latest book is about female poverty in familistic Mediterranean societies.