Queer Heterotopias in “Straight(ish)” Spaces: Korean Spas in a “Post-Gay” Era

• In Event: 4107 - Masculinities II

Abstract

Gay people today in the U.S. are greeted with increased levels of acceptance, ushering in a supposed “post-gay” era of equality and inclusion. This paper examines the consequences of the diluting effects of post-gay for the articulation of radical queer intimacy and sexual freedom. Drawing from comments posted to an online public forum, I consider how men engage in the queer occupation of Korean spas by reimagining these businesses as places for queer sex. I position Korean spas as a “queer heterotopia,” allowing men space to violate the centering of a post-gay subjectivity. While the sexual practices of these men resist queer normativity, they simultaneously mobilize hegemonic gender and racialized discourses, ultimately threatening the queer heterotopic potential of the space. Thus, this work offers instances of both queer promise and failure where normative structures are being both challenged and upheld.

Author

• Kendall Ota, University of California, Santa Barbara