Culture, Identity and Place

Sexual geographies
Ethnicity and place
Race and place
Gender and place

What is sexuality?
It is the set of practices and identities
that a given culture considers related
to each other and to those things it
considers sexual acts or desires.
It is a crosscut with class, gender,
race, and ethnicity.

Geography of Sexuality
This includes:

What then, is geography of sexuality?

It is the field of study within human
geography that encompasses
relationship and interactions between
human sexuality, space and place
and themes studied in, but not limited
to cultural geography.

Sexual Geographies
Prostitution

1) Spatial diffusion of
prostitution
2) Spatial constraints in
homosexuality
3) Gay and lesbian
consumerism
a) pink spending
b) gay capitals

Geography of Prostitution
Kinds of prostitution
Street prostitution
Escort or call-out
Sex tourism

Legalities of Prostitution

Thailand Red Light District

1) Sudan

death penalty for third-time offenders

2) The Netherlands, New Zealand,

Germany and Switzerland

Prostitutes are unionized professionals

Brothels are legal
Prostitutes must be at least 18 years of age
Age of consent is 16 years

Amsterdam

Legalities of Prostitution
3) Japan
Vaginal prostitution is illegal.

4) Turkey
Street prostitution is illegal
Prostitution through government-regulated
brothels is legal
The brothel and all workers in the brothel must be
licensed.

Legalities of Prostitution

Legalities of Prostitution

5) England & Wales

7) Sweden

Prostitution is not formally legal

Street prostitution, brothels, and child prostitution are all
illegal. Persistent solicitation by a client is also illegal.

6)USA
Prostitution is illegal except in Nevada and Rhode Island
In Nevada, regulated brothels are legal
In Rhode Island, although prostitution is allowed, brothels
and street prostitution are both illegal

Prostitution is legal but pimping is not.

8) Norway
Prostitution is illegal. The client commits a crime,
but not the prostitute.

9) Brazil and Costa Rica

Prostitution is legal, but taking profit from others
prostitution is illegal (pimping).

Legalities of Prostitution
10) Denmark
Prostitution is legal, but brothels and pimping are
not.
Prostitutes must be at least 18 years old.

11) Hong Kong

Prostitution is legal, but pimping and brothels are
not.

12) Philippines >>> ?

Homosexual Spaces
Consumption areas
Pink spending

Spatial constraints in homosexuality

Acceptance varies some
areas legalize gay
marriage while in some
Muslim countries
homosexuality is
punishable by death.
Homosexual spaces
homosexuals have the
freedom to express
gender and sexuality
Gay pride parades

Homosexual Spaces
Pink Spending

San Francisco as the Gay Capital

of the World

Geography & Ethnicity

Ethnicity - System of rules about who
belongs to a group based upon
commonalities

Ethnicity
Ethnic
neighborhoods
sense of identity

A geographic focus on ethnicity is an

attempt to understand how it shapes
and is shaped by space, and how
ethnic groups use space with respect
to mainstream culture.

Ethnicity and the use of space

Territory is a basis for ethnic group
cohesions
Ethnic groups may use space to
declare their subjective interpretations
about the world they live in or their
place in it.
For example: the use of city streets by
many cultural groups demonstrates
this point

Dominican Day
Romanian Day

African American Day

Puerto Rican Day, NY

Ethnic Neighborhoods in NYC

Polish: Greenpoint and Williamsburgh (Brooklyn)
Jewish: Brooklyn and Upper West Side
Greek: Astoria (Queens)
Indian: Queens
Italian: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn and Little Italy (Manhattan)
Irish:
Queens, Bronx and Brooklyn
Chinese: Chinatown, Flushing (Queens)
Filipinos: Woodside (Queens), Little Manila (Manhattan)
German: Yorkville (Upper East Side)
Russian: Brighton Beach
Romanian: The Bronx
Colombians: Elmhurst, Murray Hill, Jackson Heights
Puerto Ricans: Spanish Harlem and Williamsburgh (Brooklyn)
Southeast Asian: Jackson Heights and Flushing (Queens)
African American: Harlem

Malaysia

Canada

Australia

US

Philippines

By: Jeff Hillery

Canada

Pampanga

US

Australia

Race and place

Race a problematic classification of
human beings based on skin color and
other physical characteristics

Race and place

Problems of race

Apartheid
Place a mechanism for
creating and preserving
local systems of racial
classification within defined
geographic confines
For example:
Chinatowns around the
world
Apartheid

Gender, Class, & Vulnerability

Gender, Class, & Vulnerability

Gender is femininity or masculinity

1. It is not constrained by biological factors.
2. It is a category reflecting social
differences between men & women.
3. It implies a socially created difference in
power between groups
4. Power difference gives males an
advantage over females. This is socially
and culturally created.

Class position is stratification.

1) Example: Caste system
2) Like gender, class positions can
intensify the power differences

Gender

Who does what?

Sex vs Gender
Gender social differences between men
and women
Women are more vulnerable
Gender Roles
A set of perceived behavioural norms
associated particularly with males or
females, in a given social group or system.
It can be a division of labor by gender.

Pagmemekaniko
Paglalaba
Pagpaplantsa
Hairstyling
Make up
Manicure/Pedicure
Pagtatrabaho housewife vs houseband
What do these terms mean to you?
Heterosexual

Metrosexual

Transgender

Byukonera

Homosexual

Lesbian

Transexual

Pamin

Bi-sexual

Transvestite

Dinglet

Gender-related norms

India
Dowry
Dowry crimes
Kills 16 women
everyday

India
Female infanticide
Sex ratio is 927 per
1000 males
Chinas one-child
policy

Lip-plating

Suttee

Foot binding

Corset wearing

Ringed neck stretching

FIN!