Fantasy Island: An Ethnography of Alcohol and Gender Roles in a Latino Gay Bar

Abstract

Marginalities around gender/sexuality, ethnicity, migration status, and alcohol use tend to coalesce and construct hidden populations which develop their own subcultures. Social science is becoming increasingly aware of the need to better understand the norms and meanings constituting such subcultures, particularly in the era of AIDS and other health risks, if more effective social programs are to be implemented. We report on a qualitative study on the roles of gender and alcohol use in a Latino gay bar with transvestites in a large urban area of the United States. Participant observation and in-depth interviews were carried out. We found that the bar, as a leisure space, provided a social setting where gender and sexuality as social categories are being reconstructed and where alcohol use, besides its legitimized use in so-called social drinking, is part of several rites related to the very disruption and dispersion of the gender/sexuality structure. In terms of other meanings the bar holds for its patrons, it is at the same time a “fantasy island” (i.e., a surrealistic space where “reality” is suspended and other conditions of feasibility and meaning emerge), and a “home away from home,” where family-like interaction and care determine a feeling of belongingness and an interest to conserve the privileges of a liberated and safe surrogate home.