Gendered Couchsurfing: women from Western Europe and East-Asia contesting de-sexualised cosmopolitanism

De Jung Chen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Couchsurfing is a social-networking site for hospitality exchange. To promote the site, the organizer, Couchsurfing.org, creates the discourse of Couchsurfing cosmopolitanism to emphasize the value of sharing with strangers and tolerance of cultural difference in Couchsurfing practice. This study argues that the discourse production is under a patriarchal system, in which the experience about women’s fear of men’s harassment and according practice are concealed. By conceptualizing the sexed-and-gendered body in Couchsurfing, this study exposes the power, knowledge and social relation in the cross-cultural context of Couchsurfing, represented not only in women’s feeling, performance and interaction but also in their embodied cosmopolitanism. The comparison between with Western-European and East-Asian women’s experience is also included in the analysis. It highlights the effects of the gender role inscribed on women’s body which makes a difference in women’s cross-cultural interaction as well as their embodied cosmopolitanism.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1090-1106
Number of pages17
JournalGender, Place and Culture
Volume24
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017 Aug 3

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Gender Studies
  • Demography
  • Cultural Studies
  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)

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