The Touristic Experience of Gays in Istanbul: Sensual and Sexual Body as Object of Consumption
Nilgün Tutal Cheviron, Zafer ?eler

Abstract
Setting out from the concept of post-tourists, we have tried to determine whether the city of Istanbul is undergoing transformation owing to the considerable weight of tourism in the economy and the expectations of post-tourists. More specifically, we sought answer to the question whether the overflowing male and female sensuality, erotism and sexuality of Istanbul (needless to say, characteristics assigned to the city in the Orientalist imagination through an Orientalist or Neocolonialist discourse) are reproduced, experimented with and transformed by the practices of gay tourists. We carried out interviews with around fifteen gay tourists through semi-structured questionnaires in order to collect information on their touristic experiences of Istanbul. Thereby it has become possible to observe that it is not only stereotypical “Oriental” images of Istanbul which are reproduced, but that there are also other images formed to bestow meaning upon the touristic experience of gays in Istanbul.

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