Not Apart of the Club Consumer Crossing Over Marketing Niche Boundaries

Not a Part of the Club: Consumers Crossing Over Marketing Niche Boundaries
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Not Apart of the Club: Consumer Crossing Over Marketing Niche Boundaries
Rudy Diaz
University of Denver 2014
Department of Sociology
Committee Members
Jennifer Reich
Lisa Pasko
Lindsey Feitz

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Acknowledgements
I want to personally thank professor Reich for believing in me enough to help me pursue the
undertaking of writing this thesis project. I am so grateful for your wisdom and dedication to me
as well as the other students you have mentored. You walked me through the process and were
there for me, even through the tears and for that I thank you. To professor Pasko for taking over
after Jennifer Reich and calming me in times of stress. You made this project easier to work on
and it has been a pleasure working with you. To Professor Feitz, I thank you for taking the time
to read my thesis and being a wonderful professor. Your class has kept me interested in my topic
and I thank you for that. To my friends and family who have been there for me in times of stress
and hopelessness, thank you for your encouragement.

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Abstract
My research explores how people occupy nightlife spaces in the Denver Metro Area in
the context of masculinity and interaction and what those implications have for consumers. The
idea was to question the motives of straight women entering spaces that were deemed
“homosexual” to society and discover the reasoning behind their move from one establishment to
another. The knowledge that women seek refuge within these spaces is common however, even
though this is a social phenomenon that has been studied in the past, I hoped to add to that
research with the view from the gay man’s perspective as well.
Through my process of observations and interviews, I discovered that heterosexual
women would often choose to cross over into homosexual spaces in order to avoid what they
described as the misogyny of hetero males in straight environments. Similarly, homosexual
males described choosing to use heterosexual spaces in order to escape unwanted attention of
homosexual men. The women used these “gay” spaces as a refuge from heteronormative
establishments in order to feel in their words more “secure” and have fun without having to
worry about being objectified by men. From my interviews I uncovered that in some instances
these heterosexual men would often cross over into spaces to essentially follow the women into
the establishments they were seeking refuge in. The same theme occurred across genders and
sexualities within the male population. Gay males within gay spaces often implemented the same
tactics and strategies as heterosexual females to avoid being sexualized by their male
counterparts
Masculinity in men exists across a broad spectrum, even within the queer community,
and what I have found is that gay men experience the same oppression and aggression from other

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men in queer spaces. Within my research I delve into the strategies that both gay men and
women implement in order to avoid or ignore the heteronormative patriarch.
Introduction
My fascination with urban nightlife began in high school when I attended my first club.
The interaction I noticed within these spaces was observably different than everyday life, and I
knew I wanted to delve further into why that was. I always thought that this certain aspect of gay
clubs was interesting and so I wanted to quench my curiosity. I started off by first asking myself
what exactly did I want to know? I knew that both gay and straight establishments catered to two
different consumers but what attracted these individuals to come there? Why choose one place
over another and what implications did it have each person who went there?
Reviewing the Literature
Masculinities and Aggression
There is not an abundant amount of research available that depicts how masculinities
plays into the experiences patrons have when they go out on a Friday or Saturday. There is
however a vast quantity of research and written literature that discusses masculinities in the
context of aggression that relates to gender inequality in public spaces. Murnen, Wright, and
Kalunzy, (2002) found that masculinity plays an important part in defining outward sexual power
over females in society. In the United States alone violence against women is one of the highest
of all the developed countries and this all stems from the male perception of masculinity. Past
works have often implemented masculine ideology measures, which are used to gauge the
correlation of the ideology to sexual aggression. These measures have been linked to feelings

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that men are made to be the aggressive and dominate gender and that violence towards women,
especially sexual, is seemingly justified.
With this need to perform their masculinity, men often turned to predatory techniques,
which frequently led to rejection and ultimately to the use of aggressive behavior. In a study
conducted in Toronto, Canada, Graham et al. (2010) examined the effects that romantic and
sexual overtures had on aggression between two conflicting individuals in bars and clubs. It
stated that “an aggressive social overture would be one in which the person making the overture
intentionally caused harm to the other person” (Graham et al, 2010). Within this study, they
aimed to show us that multiple factors played into aggression and violence, such as the setting, if
alcohol was consumed (which was identified as a main instigator in many scenarios), and the
quantity of other patrons in the space. These factors led to the discovery that overtures can begin
aggressively that the initiators of the unwanted advance become aggressive after rejection or that
the initial victim essentially turned violent and that third parties often intervened with violence
and aggression.
Though the investigation from Graham et al. (2010), focused on the predatory nature of
men, Brooks (2011) talks about women’s safety when it comes to bars and clubs and the
responsibility of these women when dealing with drunk men. Her research alludes to how the
behaviors of intoxicated women “[highlight] the way that cultural norms position intimate sexual
violence as a ‘natural’ or ‘exaggerated’ expression of innate sexuality” and that men simply
cannot control themselves when it comes to dealing with sexual situations.
While most research has focused on the perceptions of what is seen from the a third
person perspective, Thompson and Cracco (2008) turn what beliefs and philosophies men
themselves have in regards to the performance of masculinity in a social context. Within this

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study, they examine a specific ideology that college men have in regards to sexual aggression in
on-campus bars and off campus bars. This analysis denotes how the implication of hegemonic
masculinity in certain settings gives way to how men views their acts as normative, and
endorsing to others. These hegemonic acts played out by these college men are seen as a way for
them to uphold their masculinity in public settings, and more importantly against other men.
Thompson and Cracco exclaim that the men more often engaging in heteronormative
aggressiveness are the ones who maintain beliefs that men should be “tough” and sexually
assertive (2008). Most literature on the topic of male sexual aggressiveness in bars comes from a
third person point of view while this is one of the view studies that focuses on what ideologies
these men personally hold for themselves.
Identities through Sexuality and Identity
There are often men who identify as gay, but position themselves as a more masculine or
as “straight-acting” man, but what was perpetuated was how some men who identify as
heterosexual embraced parts of themselves as being gay (Bridges, 2013). The act of hybridizing
a sexuality could be made responsible by the practice of utilizing sexual aesthetics—which are
according to the authors are “cultural and stylistic distinctions utilized to delineate symbolic
boundaries between gay and straight cultures and individuals” (Bridges 2013)—more
importantly gay aesthetics. These divisionary devices that are used to separate individuals and
cultures constitute tastes, behavior, and ideology all of which are socially constructed to help
these men through their identity.
What can be taken away from this study is that men use gay aesthetics as a way to
distance themselves from other sets of men to be seen as the “good guys” or “politically

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supportive”. These men who do not play out hegemonic masculinity are subject to stereotyping
and ridicule from their masculine counter parts because they refuse to act the way a man should.
The concept of masculinity as described by Raewyn Connell depicts that the male
individuals who embody this form of masculinity has built their ideology and beliefs from the
institutions around them. Connell (2005) discussed hegemonic masculinity in her article
Hegemonic Masculinity: Rethinking the Concept saying that “it embodied the currently most
honored way of being a man, it required all other men to position themselves in relation to it, and
it ideologically legitimated the global subordination of women to men”. Though few men may
inhabit masculinity as hegemonic, there are various classifications of what masculinity can be
personified and portrayed as among men. These taxonomies often to lead to hierarchy among
men, and the subordination of these male groups. Homosexuality in the eyes of hegemonic
masculinity is “seen as fundamental to male heterosexuality…associated with effeminacy and
the form of homosexual pleasure is itself considered subversive” (Donaldson, 1993). Gay men
for instance, often face an opposition when it comes to hegemonic masculinity but have learned
to adapt to their marginalization and employ their social power.
It is interesting that even though gay men are subordinated from the typical hegemonic
masculinity, they find ways to enact it in their own marginalized group. The research from Corey
W. Johnson has found that gay men cannot escape societal demands of hegemonic masculinity
and they toil to produce their own masculinity through their performance in leisurely activities.
Johnson exclaims in his article ‘The first step is the two-step’: hegemonic masculinity and
dancing in a country-western gay bar that “gay men attempt to resist the stigma of
homosexuality by enacting a variety of strategies. These strategies include renunciation,

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adoption of hypermasculine qualities” (2006).
As gay men find comfort in gay bars, they (the gay bars) simultaneously act as a way for
them to withdrawal from normal everyday hetersexualization as well as emphasize hegemonic
ideologies. From this research, it is shown that even in places that are coded as “gay”, encompass
practices from men that mediate the hegemonic and non-hegemonic aspects of their sexualities.
Gender Performance: Boundary Crossing, Survival Strategies, and Interactions
Straight women in gay bars are all too common in the nightlife and bar scene. They yearn
for a place where they are not sexualized, harassed and objectified from the straight male
patrons. Cansdale (2012) alludes to women who use these spaces as a place to feel protected. She
says that “gay clubs as spaces free from normative, oppressive structures of heterosexual social
life is the reason gay clubs, bars, Pride parades, and other queer venues have become a refuge for
women” (2012). Women often invade these spaces in order to avoid receiving the negative
effects of the rape culture involved with straight bars or clubs. However, these problems seem to
follow them as men will follow where the straight women go (Hensher, 2002).
Moreover, David Grazian studied how gender performance in bars a clubs lead to what
he mentioned as “sexual pursuit” (2007). He was interested in how men would implement these
predatory gender performances, which were more often displayed in a group collective behavior.
The use of rituals, performative and homosocial qualities to “girl hunting” was particularly
emphasized through his findings on the cooperative approaches to impressing women as well as
their male comrade. What was discovered was that through these performances these men were
able to reinforce dominant myths about masculine behavior, boost confidence in ones
performance of masculinity and heterosexual power, and assist in the performance of masculinity
in the presence of women” (Grazian, 2007).

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More often than it is recognized, the gay community doesn’t always take to kindly to
straight women or men entering their bars. They believe that these spaces are a place for them to
be themselves and interact with others who they identify with and a straight man/woman makes
it difficult to interact with others. Furthermore, the homosexual community often felt hindered in
terms of safety when straight crowds would drudge up fights and impede the freedom these
people were looking for (Goldstein, 2013). They had a place they could call their own but the
invasion of heterosexual individuals forced them back into a society they attempted to escape.
When women experience unwanted approaches in certain bars or clubs they implement
numerous survival strategies that are meant to keep men away. Snow et al (1991) took to
researching these practices that women apply to their nights on the town. What he found was that
there were several different strategies of rejection. From his observations he concluded that there
were initial cooling-out tactics, defensive non-empathic cooling-out tactics and avoidance
tactics.
Within this study Qian Hui Tan (2012) examines the presentation of heterosexuality
among men and women in a Singapore nightclub. Her research focuses on how “the club is a
stage where clubbers can experience what becoming (hetero)sexual feels like by performing
varying gender/sexual scripts that solidify their identities as heterosexual”.
The literature provided on these topics gives a glace into the dynamics of how
masculinity, sexualities and gender performance have provided us with the appropriate
information to draw conclusions from. Sociological research explores how people occupy
spaces, including how specific spaces are marketed to certain individuals. Drawing on this
research, I intend to explore questions of how people use the space intended for them. Are these
spaces used as they were marketed and designed? What are the experiences of users who step

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outside and use spaces not intended for them? What sorts of stigma, if any, arise when people
cross over into spaces designed for others? These issues become apparent when analyzing how
adults occupy social spaces, such as bars and nightclubs, and how an individual’s sexuality,
gender, and ethnicity play a role in how they interact in each environment.
My research focuses on boundary crossing in bars and clubs in regards to homosexual
and heterosexual individuals. The overarching problem I wanted to study was the main reason
why these consumers chose to cross over into spaces that are designated for them. We see a lot
written about aggression in bars that pertains to women or how people use space as a means to
define themselves sexually but there is a gap when it comes to discovering the reasons behind the
motives of boundary crossing. With my research I hope to bridge the holes in current literature
and research to contribute to a topic that is widely renowned in gender and social theory
Methods
My fascination with urban nightlife started when I was younger living in the greater Los
Angeles area where nightclubs and bars were a prominent part of the scene. The interaction I
noticed within these spaces was observably different than everyday life, and I knew I wanted to
delve further into why that was. My first gay club I ever went to was a sixteen and up club in
downtown Hollywood. I went with a few girls from high school that I had talked to about going
because I thought it would be fun. Throughout the night I continually observed that there were
copious amounts of girls but I was none to talk seeing as I did come with two girls myself. I
always thought that this certain aspect of gay clubs was interesting and so I wanted to quench my
curiosity. I started off by first asking myself what exactly did I want to know? I knew that both
gay and straight establishments catered to two different consumers but what attracted these

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individuals to come there? Why choose one place over another and what implications did it have
each person who went there? Were there aspects of heteronormative behavior that attracted or
dismayed certain groups from entering a specific space? What sociological effect would
masculinity play into when it came down to gay men and straight women in nightlife
establishments?
Access
Gaining and sustaining access to this niche culture was simple enough for myself seeing
as I am over the age of twenty-one with plenty of friends who enjoy going out on a weekly basis.
Before I could proceed with my research I had to get IRB (International Review Board) approval
of my project first. Once all the paperwork was processed and I passed my IRB training I was
allowed to advance with my research. The ethics behind this research were often questioned due
to alcohol consumption. For myself, I knew this wouldn’t be a problem, as I do not drink. This
made the project a lot more doable and virtuous on my part when it came to doing my
observations. The issue of using subjects that were under the influence came into question when
doing my research formation. I knew I was going to have to address this matter when the time
came to my one on one interview process and so I legitimized this issue by simply arguing that
no matter if they experienced these interactions sober or inebriated this is their reality. This is
what they know to be true and what they have experienced whenever they go out. If I had asked
them to go out sober then it would change the aspect of my project that I was searching for.
As a male who identifies with being gay I knew that attending any sort of gay
establishment would not be an awkward or outside experience for myself. Satirenjit Kaur Johl
and Sumathi Renganathan have stated that “researchers need to develop reputation for
consistency and integrity. This is very much required when one is conducting an ethnographic

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based research that requires the researcher to live and show commitment to the community
before being trusted with the information that he/she is seeking for” (2009). On most weekends,
even before I started my project, I found myself downtown in a bar or club that was socially
deemed “straight” because that is where a majority of my friends congregated. Getting others to
attend with me was simple but I noticed that the only people that wanted to go to the gay clubs or
bars with me were my straight female friends or my other gay friends. The reasons behind this
are unclear but worth mentioning. The nights often started with us going over to a friend’s house
to pregame—this is the act of drinking before going out in order to cut out costs from the bar—
they would pregame; I would watch and hang out while they got ready. Usually when the time
came for us to venture out we either called a cab or one of the sober individuals in our group
would drive. I often found myself driving seeing as I don’t drink and it was more convenient.
The Establishments
The downtown Metro area of Denver offers a variety of clubs and nightclubs that I had to
narrow down for my sample size in regards to my observations. There were many aspects I had
to take into consideration when selecting my establishments that I knew would affect the
outcome of my research. One important facet I had to consider was choosing spaces that were
free from personal influences and biases. From firsthand experience I could have chosen a
number of places I wanted to study based on personal knowledge but I needed to perform a more
scientific means of choosing my spaces. This required me to define my boundaries of my
research settings in terms of looking at what I wanted to study. I knew I wanted to study why
people choose to go into bars or clubs that weren’t specifically designed for them and how
interactions shaped the overall meaning of their experience in a particular setting. For this I

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confined the area of observation in regards to the bars that were coded as heterosexual to the
lower downtown or LoDo district of Denver. I determined my codes for the straight
establishments based off the website Yelp.com which has been used as a trusted source of
community review for urban businesses. Most of the nights we had planned on where we were
going to go but there were certain instances when things just did not work according to plan. I
would go with a group of friends in order to fit in with the other patrons so we would often go to
two different places, and sometimes three; this is what I like to call “bar hopping”. Bar hopping
allowed for a more dynamic set of observations in case one site failed to deliver proper data. One
night a bar may busy and another night it could be empty and so bar allowed for more flexibility
within my defined establishments.
When it came down to choosing my research sites for the homosexually coded
establishments I couldn’t narrow down the boundaries to any particular area because they were
spread out throughout the city. For these, it came down to the most popular bars and clubs
according to Yelp.com. I felt that Yelp.com was a reputable source to turn to being as it is
considered a popular urban guide across many countries. I searched for the most reviewed gay
clubs in Denver on the city, and it gave me a list of all the gay clubs in order from most reviewed
to least reviewed. I had to make my cutoff for the sites to anyplace that had less than 10 reviews.
As mentioned before about gaining access to my sites I mentioned that I have had prior
knowledge of the different sites and felt that with my discretion I left the sites solely up to my
codes. This would provide me with five settings that I would be able work with throughout my
observation process.

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Within my study, I was able to attend nine observation nights total across both gay and
straight establishments. Procuring my field notes was at first, tedious and anxiety provoking. I
knew I had to take notes without looking like I was doing research. Brainstorming on what
methods I could use, it came down to taking notes on my phone as to make it look like I was
busy with my phone. This technique did not draw any attention to myself whatsoever because a
majority of the other patrons in the setting were also fiddling with their phones in one-way or
another. There were many times when I was able to strike up a conversation with a person
whenever I was out, but because of the intensity of noise I had to keep my interviews and
questions for a more one-on-one talk.
Interviews
As a frequent attender of bars and nightclubs I knew that finding people to participate in
my research was going to be simple, simply based off the fact that there are a lot of people within
the Denver community who are willing to share their stories and experiences. I had to break
down my variables of whom I wanted to interview based on age, gender and sexuality. I was
aiming for sixteen respondents; eight of each gender, and sexuality—homosexual and
heterosexual. I needed my participants to bring certain qualities to my research that would be
beneficial and provide the necessary insight for my topic. They needed to be active in the
nightlife community in the Denver Metro Area; going out once or twice a week and attended
both gay and straight nightlife establishments. My initial thought was to have a highly
constrained interviewee pool with an age range of twenty-one years to thirty years who identified
as either gay or straight. However, it was through my observations and collaboration with others
that I realized I needed to broader spectrum of participants whose age generally consisted of
anyone who was twenty-one and over and attended the nightlife establishment within my

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boundaries. Getting people to give up their time was not going to be an easy task for myself, and
so I had to offer an incentive to those who participated with compensation. A lot of individuals
questioned the privacy factor when it came time to interview and I had to reassure them that
everything that was said was going to be confidential and all aspects of identifying features
would be changed. Through this, I found it to be a very effective technique.
Once I decided on my proposed sample, I generated a recruitment flyer that would allow
me to post them physically and virtually in areas I saw fit that would bring in the most
participants. My areas of interest included the downtown area, posting the flyers on telephone
poles and in some cases I was allowed to place the flyers inside the establishment for patrons to
view. This allowed me to get the word out about my project, however it wasn’t the most
effective technique of recruiting. Virtually, I called upon my social network to spread the word
that I was seeking people for my research. I turned to distributing my flyer via the social
networking website Facebook which allowed others to share my flyer with their friends through
their webpage. A lot of my interviewees contacted me based on word of mouth from my network
this is what I would define as my convenience sample. Even in my first couple of interviews I
found that my previous participants were referring their friends to partake and share their
experiences with myself.
Setting up the interviews was all about coordinating times for us both to meet. I left it up
to the participant to decide on the place for wherever they most comfortable. Of my thirteen
interviews eight of them took place in the interviewee’s place of residence while the other five
consisted of meeting in public spaces, my apartment, and one was even conducted through
Skype. I wanted the interview to be seen as more of a conversation between the two of us. I felt

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this would allow us to openly talk about the subject and the interviewees could feel more
comfortable talking to me about their opinions (appendix 1). When I first started my interviews I
had trouble keeping the conversation flowing. The initial interviews did not last long and were
short answered. It felt more like a structured survey interview, which is not what I was aiming
for. I had to go back and revise my questions so that they flowed from topic to topic and even
allowed me to randomly ask questions as I saw fit. Once this improvement was done the
interviews ran more smoothly and I was able to garner more useful information from the
interviewees.
Codes
The codes for interviews developed as I went through and processed all the
transcriptions. It was a matter of working through the data to decide what themes were
presenting themselves. I worked alongside my advisor to develop my themes based on the
multitude of gendered, sexualized and masculinized interactions that appeared in the different
establishments. Different themes appeared based on the codes that I had defined. Through my
codes I was able to get a well-rounded representation of how gender played into sexual identity
and presentation, the meaning behind any gendered and sexualized interactions in my data and
how masculine and sexualized space was defined through norms implemented by the consumers.
When I had to select the quotes I was going to use for my analysis I had to make sure that they
matched up with the specific code and theme that was being analyzed and discussed. It was
imperative that they selected appropriately so that they
Representationofthe Data

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Urban Nightlife often provides many consumers the opportunity to unwind after a long
week and the chance to add some fun into their lives. Within my research I have been exploring
the reasons as to why some consumers choose one place over another and what the motives and
meanings are behind their decision. Over the course of eight months I have gathered my data
through the use of observations and in-depth interviews, which I hope, would answer the
questions I have.
Field of Study
The majority of my field observations took place in the downtown and uptown Denver
Metro Area where a lot of the nightlife establishments were located. I chose these fields because
they were most densely populated areas in terms of bars and nightclubs. It was easy to observe
the popularity of the bars from how long the lines were and how crowded the establishment was
once you entered. I took to observing both spaces that were coded as either “heterosexual” or
“homosexual”, and what I found was that each field establishment offered a different atmosphere
than the other.
I want to first describe the spaces that studied that were deemed heterosexual. These
establishments were all located within the vicinity of one another. The walk from one place to
the next was a simple stroll or stumble, which was convenient to the patrons. The following
description is an example taken from my field notes after an observation at the bar known as
“The Lookout”:
“I am accompanied on my night out with a gaggle of women. We walk up
to “The Lookout” and notice that the line is down the block. We stand around
waiting deciding what to do. A man in a black button-up shirt asking how many

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girls are in our group approaches us. One of the women replies that there are four
girls and one guy. The guy leaves and comes back telling us to follow him. He
unfastens the rope blocking the other patrons from getting in and allows us to
slide past. We hand the security guard our ID’s and we enter the establishment.
We are greeted with the pounding thump of music and drowning ear chatter from
the other customers. It is packed, and hard to hear anything from the person next
to me. Someone from the group signals to head up the second floor and we
squeeze passed everyone. We make it to the top outside deck of the bar and
admire the view. We stop to take a few pictures and I notice that there are others
doing the same—mostly women with other women. There are people packed up
against the bar hoping to get their next drink served by the very attractive
bartenders (consisted of both males and females). The music is playing through
the speakers and people are both standing around and talking or there are some
people dancing. It was mostly people just loitering in groups with their friends…”
Throughout my study it was interesting to see this scenario played out across the different
establishments. I visited another heterosexual coded bar the following weekend that was directly
located across from “The Lookout”. Inside “Roadhouse” I was welcomed with the following
scene:
“Group of friends and I decided on “Roadhouse” for the night because of
its lack of cover charge. We wait in line to show the security guard our ID’s and
one of the girls starts up a brief conversation with one of the guards. I try to listen
intently but only manage to make out that my friend asked how the guards night
was going and that he replied with a cheerful demeanor. We enter the bar and
notice that there aren’t a lot of people downstairs except a few scattered around at
different booths. We walk upstairs to the patio area where we find where most the
other patrons have congregated. There are people huddled up against the bar and
the music is playing so loudly that it is difficult to talk normally with those around
me. There are people gathered in front of the DJ and speakers dancing with each
other, most of them have a drink in their hand…
I was pleased with the consistency across the establishments that were deemed
heterosexual in terms of atmosphere and so I took to observing the gay spaces I had chosen for
my project. One of the nights I that went out was on a total whim and very spontaneous. I
attended the nightclub "Rage" after spending the day with a few friends downtown during the
month of October. We had spent the day downtown at the annual zombie crawl, which accounted

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for our attire that night:
"We entered the club, after giving the guard our IDs and paying the cover
fee, to a giant open dance floor that was blasting circuit music1 surrounded by a
sprawling bar that wrapped around the edge of the room. We all walked in and
some headed to the bar to get a drink and others headed to the dance floor..."
On most nights that I frequented “Rage” this was the scene that I experienced. The room
was dimly lit with the exception of the strobe and dance lights hanging from the ceiling and the
music downed out everything else that distracted from it. The scene was provocative and lustrous
which meant it was going to fit in nicely with my project.
Key Actors
My study wouldn’t be what it is if it weren’t for the people I studied. The main reason I
decided to do this project was to delve deeper into the minds of the patrons who inhabited these
spaces in order find out why they were there. Throughout the span of my data collection I came
across a lot of interesting and valuable subjects who contributed nicely to my study. My subjects
could be broken up into two different classifications; the people I observed and the people I
interviewed.
For those that I was observing on a weekly basis, it boiled down to groups of friends,
coupled pairs and on the rare occasion the “loner” bar attendee. I define a group of friends as
cluster of bodies with three or more people. Those with two persons were described as either a
couple or coupled pair2.
Within those I personally interviewed, I knew I wanted to study the people who attended
the bars but I couldn’t get a good representation of their cognitive behaviors without actually

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talking to them. I recruited subjects of all backgrounds to participate in an interview process,
detailing the aspects of nightlife they witnessed on a weekly basis. The following table details
my subjects:
Gender Sexual orientation Age Demographic Ethnicity
Female Pansexual 21 Denver African American/White
Male Gay 29 Maryland ->Denver White
Female Straight 21 Littleton White
Male Gay 42 San Diego Latino
Female Straight 40 Westminster Asian
Male Bisexual 25 Denver/Littleton White
Male Gay (nonstereotype) 26 Idaho White
Female Straight 22 Colorado Latina
Female Queer 21 Colorado Latina
Male Gay 21 Colorado White
Female Pansexual 25 Illinois White
Female Straight 24 Colorado African American
As represented by in this table, my participants represented a broad spectrum across
sexuality, age, and ethnicity. I wanted to encompass the opinions from people of different
experiences and it allowed me have a lot more leniency for my sample.
Every weekend, thousands of people flock to the streets of Denver searching for their
next club or bar adventure. They are there to consume not just the alcohol that comes with but
also the societal demands of what is requested of them when they enter one of these
establishments. You put a bunch of people in one room with a mind-altering substance and there
is bound to be stories; if not stories, then phenomena that needed to be explained. I tried to
understand and makes sense of why consumers cross from a space that is deemed
heterosexual” into a space that the consumers have defined as “homosexual”. Through my

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surveillance and research, it was understood that interactions through masculinity and sexuality
and was a major component within these nightlife establishments.
Analysis
Once I had gathered all my data from my interviews and observational experiences, I sent
out my interviews to be transcribed verbatim from a third party resource. Over the weeks I
listened to my interviews several times in order to pick up on any themes that were repetitive and
consistent across the respondents. I found that listening to my interviews not allowed me to pick
up on any useful information I was searching for but also gave me the chance to find any
additional components that would be useful to my study.
From analyzing the interview data, I was able to pick up on multiple themes that seemed
to be reoccurring in these respondents experiences within the defined spaces of interest. From
what was gathered the themes that continually occurred were: there is a certain sexual identity
and presentation when it comes to gender, both women and men experienced gendered and
sexualized interaction, and both spaces of observation offered the idea that they are both deemed
masculine sexualized space.
Sexual Identity and Presentation
When speaking with the interview participants I wanted to get full detail of what they
were wearing, how they conducted themselves in public and how they personally thought of
themselves when they ventured out. I felt that knowing this would be vital to understanding the
person when it comes to there sexual identity and presentation in respect to their gender.
From my interviews and even from my observations I noticed that the clothing that
straight women wore at these spaces and even the gay men were dressing for a provocative night

22
out on the town. The clothing women donned ranged anywhere from tight dresses to leggings
that revealed every curve to her body. The gay men that were interviewed offered descriptions
depicting themselves in situations where they either dressed up or down depending on the
occasion or event.
Those that were interviewed expressed in the data the way they would conduct
themselves in public depending on the space they were in and if alcohol was involved. There
were many situations that were described explaining how alcohol had an effect on the persona of
the individual as well as those around them. They either seem cool and collected or they ended
up intoxicated beyond their limits of functioning. One respondent talked about how different
alcohol affects her and her mannerisms throughout the night
“I just think the buzz it gives me. Like I didn’t know for a long time that different
alcohols make you feel a different way. Like vodka, I will fall straight to sleep.
Like you will think I got roofied. Like I will just fall on the ground. And then like
other things, like gin, I can’t drink gin. It will make me super sick. And so, I just
found like a happy medium with Patrone. Like I can drink enough but it wears
away really fast. So like if I drink before the club and then I have to be the DD,
like I can because I will be fine. So I like that”.
When alcohol comes into play, you notice a shift in the way a person behaves in a public
setting. Even with men we see that alcohol is used as a form of anti-anxiety method to deal with
their presentation. One man explained to me when dealing with over intoxicated people that,
“No. I do enjoy the attention. It's nice. But then sometimes it's too much attention.
And then there's a lot of unwanted advances. "OK. Move on. No thank you,
obviously. I have a boyfriend." Yeah, it can be. I really do sound like an alcoholic
but after one drink, I'm fine. Just calm the nerves a little bit.
These comments highlights the fact of how alcohol could be used for a catalyst for
deviant mannerisms in situations where drinking is encouraged. In regards to both men and

23
women there was a difference in the way that they handled themselves and how alcohol affected
them personally.
On multiple nights of observations I was greeted with a plethora of sober and intoxicated
men and women who had clearly defined who they were and how they wanted to present
themselves to others. I posed the question to all my respondents asking them how they felt about
hooking up with someone they just met and more often than not I connected that women were
less likely to commit to going home with someone or to want to hook up than their gay male
counterparts. It seemed that the women had convictions as to how they wanted to present
themselves based on their morals and justifications of hooking up.
Gendered and Sexualized Interactions
When the time comes for a person to interact with another human outside of their social
bubble they are faced with the aggressors that male masculinity presents. My subjects often gave
me an in-depth recollection of how sexual interest played out in the form of aggression in my
establishments. Reviewing my transcripts I realized that they had an understanding of what these
sexual aggressions of sexual interest looked like and the narrative to back it up. Monica, a twenty
one year old college student who described herself as pansexual explained “I only feel
comfortable at straight clubs if I go with a guy. So, like if I go with all my friends and then a
guy, then I will feel comfortable because I feel like people, like if you’re just there with your
girlfriends, they don’t really respect you. Like, it is weird”. Here she was assimilating being
disrespected with aggressive interaction felt from others. She went on to describe in her
interview how she and girlfriend are both treated
I like to go to gay bars mostly because like people just mind their business, if that
makes sense? But when I go to straight clubs, like Vinyl, I won’t go to Vinyl
anymore. Just because it’s like so many guys and they don’t respect the fact that

24
you’re there like with a circle of girlfriends or like even if you’re there with your
partner. Like they don’t care. They’re just like, so she can come and stuff like that.
Like what the fuck? No, thanks. And so it just makes it really uncomfortable.
What I wanted to exemplify was how women perceived aggressive expressions from men
in clubs and the descriptions they give based on the interactions they deal with on the nights they
go out. It was interesting to see this theme played out amongst the women but was more
interesting to hear the stories of how gay men dealt with these expressions similarly within
establishments coded as homosexual.
Amongst my five male respondents I wanted to analyze how these theme played out for
them on their nightly adventures. Greg, 26, who sees himself as a gay male, enlightened me
saying "for most of my straight girlfriends, they like going for the same reason I like going to
straight bars in a lot of ways. There's not people there trying to pick upon people, on them.” He
defended this by explaining, “you almost have to be drunk to go to Track's because people are
kind of ridiculous. It's more than just being hit on, people are reaching down my pants last night.
They'll grab your butt. They'll grab your crotch. They'll kiss you. I mean it's kind of an endeavor
when you go there”. Being one of my most talkative respondents, he was able to show that the
way he described experiencing sexual aggressive interest supported his perception of it.
It was interesting to notice from my respondents how each was attempting to escape the
male sexual aggressive interest they were confronted with within the spaces they occupied. The
females took towards the gay establishments for safety while gay men would counteract this by
escaping into spaces that were coded as heterosexual.
If we look at the way my subjects tended to avoid being sexualized by men in these
places we see that at a macro level, they crossed from one establishment to another. However,

25
when we bring in to a more personal perspective of these individuals, there were several
similarities when it came to strategies to dealing with these sexual interactions. What I found
from my respondents was that gay men often utilized the same aversion tactics that women did
when it came to dealing with persistent men. The three most prominent tactics that were
described by the respondents were; being rescued by a friend/acquaintance, the relationship
technique and using the bathroom as a scapegoat.
When both genders were dealing with escaping the confines of the masculine hold they
implemented the use of fellow friends to rescue them from their predicament. It was interesting
to see this scenario play out multiple times throughout my study through my observations and to
hear the remarks my respondents had to say about it
Lauren, 23: “In fact, I've been to Rage and I've just been dancing with my friends,
guys, girls, whatever. There's a guy was trying to dance on me and this really big
teddy bear. He was a very, obviously gay guy. He was like, "Do you know this
guy?" who was trying to dance on me and it was obvious I was trying to get away
from this guy because I didn't really want him dancing on me. I was like, "No, I
don't know him." He went and pushed the guy away and was like, "She does not
want to dance with you." Stuff like that happens all the time at Tracks and I love it
because I'm like, "Thank you."”
For this respondent she didn’t actually know her rescuer, who happened to be a gay man
in the club she was dancing at. This scenario was interesting in the fact that it happened at a gay
club to a respondent who identifies as straight. This theme appeared several times throughout my
transcripts and when I asked Ashley, 22, straight, what her thoughts were on using her friends as
an escape mechanism she exclaimed, “Yeah, and I just give them the look”. The look was simply
an inconspicuous way for these women to grab the attention of those nearby in order to save
them from a situation they didn’t want to be in anymore.

26
The same situation was correlated with many of my respondents who identified as being
gay. They were experiencing a lot of what females were having to experience with other males
inside their own niche bar community. Raul, 42, gay, illustrated his point
We all kind of watch out for each other and we all go together and we
typically all leave together unless someone gets too drunk or says like, yeah, I’m
done and they will leave. But we certainly watch each other. So if someone is out
dancing and all of a sudden someone is up doing funky things behind them we just
kind of pop up there behind them and push them back. And they kind of wiggle in
behind our friends we’re like, hey, hey, hey, hey! [laughter] So, but the same thing
if you notice someone, you know when your friends are uncomfortable. You can
tell by their facial expressions or body language. So, I’ll pop over and I’ll just put
my arm around, and in fact I just did it the other night. Some guy was hitting on
one of my friends and I went up and I put my arm around him, he was like, oh, this
is my boyfriend.
Here the subject’s use of saving their friend warranted the usage of a relationship as a
white lie in order to elude an interaction with someone that they showed no interest in. He didn’t
just want to save his friend from the awkward scenario he wanted to give meaning to the
situation so that there would be a reason for disregarding his advances.
This brings up the second tactic I found to be repeated amongst my respondents and that
was the falsification of relationships as a means to escape their persistent creeper. I found from
my data that women and men both used this excuse as a means to dissipate any tension amongst
individuals. The following excerpt was taken from an observation at a gay club:
People in our group start to express the fact that they are creeped out by
this guy who seems to be very persistent. The guy is jumping from person to
person dancing on them. The dancing turns into “grinding” and then people start to
pull away from him. At one point a random guy comes running up to me telling
me to “pretend to be his boyfriend” attempting to get away from the stranger that is
serial dancing with anyone he can get his hands on. I protect the guy by dancing
with him and turning him away from the other guy as he gets closer. The guy
comes up behind me and attempts to dance behind me. I ignore it because I don’t

27
want to get involved. The guy that I am dancing with sneaks away back to his
friends when the creeper guy follows him.
This observation was interesting to me seeing as the guy who was dancing with everyone
was initially interested in the female from the group and slowly made his way around the group
to the males.
Finally, within the tactics utilized by the respondents I discovered that there was the use of the
bathroom as a way to escape their aggressors. The respondents found it useful to simply tell the
guy they were dancing with that they needed to go to the bathroom and they simply left, while
others had to struggle to elude the person who was so persistent.
From these three aforementioned maneuvers, we can see that they all have one thing in
common and that is the male creeper whom the subject is trying to avoid. What was interesting
from the observations and interviews was that none of the respondents talked about how a guy
would recognize his behavior. The males opposite my respondents did not acknowledge the
uneasiness that they were causing even if there was a well-meaning attitude behind it all.
Masculine Sexualized Space
A major aspect of my research was looking how consumers used space in order to give it
meaning. There were gay spaces and straight spaces, but they were viewed differently, used
differently and abused differently. Each space has its own set of rules grounded in masculinity
norms that people can choose to conform to or ignore. These norms created a foundation for
which the consumers built their beliefs around and allowed them to decide how they wanted to
consume a certain space.
Based on the data that was collected, I had built up from what I had seen and heard that
consumers often found themselves conforming to, resisting and reconfiguring a space based on

28
its expectation, perception, and reputation. This was a way for them to navigate through these
spaces based on public interpretation of the masculine characteristics it presented. My
respondents often gave me the idea that they had certain opinions about a certain bar or nightclub
that influenced their decision to go there. They often described the place based on how much fun
they were going to have without having to worry about those around them intruding on their
plans.
Conforming
When a person conforms to any particular subject they are unknowingly complying with
the rules that have been set. Whether they are doing it to fit in or just to act in a socially
acceptable manner, they allow themselves to take on the properties of the atmosphere around
them. Within my data, I had those who already occupied the spaces and those that chose to cross
over in a space that was unknown to them. These two sets of groups created the basis of how an
individual would conform to the space around them.
I interviewed a number of gay men who described their experiences with attending a bar
or club that was deemed straight and found that they often had to restructure their behaviors
because they were in an unfamiliar space. One man described his experience of going into a
country bar on ladies night
We were there, and it was ladies' night. Guys drink out of glass, and girls drink out
of plastic. I had a drink. My friend, she gone to the bar, and she was like, "Oh, they
poured us an extra one, here you go." I didn't even know it was ladies' night. I
picked it up. They came over, and they said, "You can't have that." I said, "OK." I
threw it away. I said, "I didn't realize it was ladies' night." Went straight to the bar
and buy a drink.
Here the respondent was exemplifying that he didn’t know the rules of the space he was
in but once he knew he altered his behavior in order to conform to the expectations around him.

29
It was interesting that he went on ladies night, seeing as nights like those often lure women into
bars with the promise of free alcohol. Usually these places set a time cap at which the free drinks
stop flowing and that is where the men take over. I attended a ladies night at the very same
establishment that my respondent described and I often saw men buying women drinks even if
the women got them for free. There is the opinion that a man should buy a lady a drink at any bar
and a lot of spaces that have been defined as straight have garnered a reputation that women are
often treated better in certain establishment. When I say treated better, I simply mean they get
more out of the experience than the man does. They get free drinks, they get free entry in certain
bars and clubs and often are allowed to get away with a lot more than any guy would. For my
respondent, he wanted a drink and knew that the only way to get one was like all the other men
in the straight bars, and purchase one.
Resisting
During my observations it was difficult to observe women being taken advantage of, but
comforting to hear that when I talked to them one on one they were fully aware of the situation
and attempted to escape as much as they could. In one of my observations I witnessed a young
woman being man handled in such a way that would lead to question the whole situation. The
following observation was pulled from my field notes from that night “He has her in front of him
facing away from him and he is grinding into her backside. He proceeds to bend her over
multiple times. I couldn’t make out the face of the girl but I could tell by the way her hands kept
grabbing his she either wasn’t enjoying it…”. It was clear that the young woman was not
enjoying herself. It is examples like this that brings me to the reason why women often resist a
certain space based on the expectations, perceptions and reputations that it holds.

30
The female respondents often implemented ways of resisting that was were either subtle
or drastic depending on how far they were willing to go to break the norms. I mentioned earlier
that women would use aversion tactics as a way to escape men and that is exactly where their
resisting comes into play. Through the use of telling them they have to go to the bathroom, or
that they have a boyfriend, or even asking a friend to come save them they are defying the norms
that are expected of women in certain spaces that are coded as straight. When a man buys a
woman a drink, she is expected to give something in return as explained by Cora I interviewed
“At the same time, going to a straight bar, guys will buy you drinks. It makes you feel more
attractive and wanted. That also means they're going to hit on you”. For the women that didn’t
want to deal with this type of behavior from the men, they often described the men as
“annoying” or “clingy” and would find any way to get away from them.
The act of crossing from a straight bar into a gay bar often meant that these women were
searching for a means of evading the normative expectations that these men have created for
them. Maria, 22, described her experience of going to Rage in order to get away from grasp of
men at straight clubs saying “I love going to Rage personally, I think its so much fun, there's not
annoying guys that like just come up to me and grind on my lower back and give me back
pains”. Her experience of having a guy sexually objectify her created an internalized need for to
seek refuge in a space that is not normally marketed towards her. She sought out a place where
she could go out for the night without having to deal with the heternormative male dominance
that is so prominent in straight spaces.
This theme also showed up when I was interviewing my homosexual male respondents in
regards to crossing boundaries within nightlife establishments. It seemed that gay men like

31
straight females would express many of the same attitudes towards gay nightlife establishments
and the male inhabitants. Tyler, 21, described his experience one night at a club
…we were like dancing on the dance floor, whatever, and then we started
making out. And I was like whatever, I’m drunk, I’ll go with it. And then he
started to unbutton my pants. And tried to stick his hand down my pants. And I
was like “no thank you, please stop that right now”. And he was like “ok sorry”.
And then he reached around and started feeling my ass and I was like “no. Really?
Really we’re done now”. And then I had to just walk away because he was just like
not getting it
Its clear here that Tyler, although inebriated, was conscious enough to be aware of the
situation that he had fallen in and was able to navigate around the heteronormative displays of
masculinity that were being exerted onto him. His act of walking away proved to be a resistance
against what the people expected of him and what the perception and reputation of the space
offered.
In the case of most of the males I interviewed their act of resisting remained confined to
the space where the masculine sexualized interactions took place. Unlike the females the gay
men did not seek out straight establishments as a means of evasion but rather they would solely
employ the aversion tactics and
Reconfiguring
Throughout my research of my observations and interviews it became clear that gay men
and straight women weren’t the only ones that were crossing boundaries. It became clear on
several occasions when I was out at a gay club or bar that some men did not assimilate well into
the crowd. At first they gave off the impression of a loitering attendee who did not know anyone
there, but as I continued to watch it became apparent that these men did not come to the gay bars
for the other men but for the women. I took the following excerpt from one of my observations
as a gay club where I had gone with a group of people who all identified as straight:

32
One of the guys from our group, an older gentleman, who seems very
intoxicated also seems very uncomfortable in the club. We all start attempting to
talk to each other and I over hear the conversation between him and another guy in
our group about how has seen a few cute girls here. He refers to them as girls
rather than women, which I thought was interesting for a grown man to be calling
women, girls. The other guy he was talking to asks if he was sure they were girls?
The first guy proceeds to tell the guy about how he knows if it’s a woman or man
dressed up as a woman by how long their forearms are, if they have an Adams
apple, and then finally if they have penis or not
It was clear that the male in this group who was making the comments about the women
was using a comedic demeanor but what is important to focus on is the simple act of him
stepping into the club in the first place. When he walked through that door he restructured the
way people view Rage without even meaning to. As a straight male in a gay space his presence
within the space took away the expectations, perception, and reputation that the straight female
and homosexual male had built up. One male respondent mentioned that “[He goes] to straight
bars but just everyone is gay at a gay club, and then it’s like if [he] finds someone attractive then
99.9% of the time they’re going to be gay” and Lauren, 23, also accounted for this when I asked
her about her experience with straight men in gay clubs
Yeah. That time that that guy pushed him off, the guy who was trying to
dance on me, I think, anyway. I didn't know him but he seemed like he was
straight because he was trying to dance only with the girls. He was foreign. He
seemed like he wasn't completely sure that he was at a gay bar. He didn't realize
it. I think he was and he was trying to dance with me and a lot of other girls that
were there, that's it.
The view points of these two samples allows for the fact that both gay males and straight
women inside a gay space did not realize that as straight men began occupying these spaces all
the expectations of their refuge were annulled by the mere presence of the heterosexual male.
Discussionand Conclusion

33
The whole idea of wanting to find out the meaning behind why people chose place over
another and how heteronormative behavior was a key factor in their decision was fueled by a
personal desire to understand how people used space as mean to display their sexuality. I know
women who enjoy going to gay clubs and bars and it interested me to understand why. As the
project developed, more and more components began to unfold within this relationship of
masculinity and space.
Currently many authors offer data and analysis discussing the theory behind a man’s
pursuit of a female. Warshaw and Parrot (1991) wrote that girls learn that they are "supposed to
be friendly and to yield to others' needs and wants even if it means sacrificing their own.... They
learn to defer to men, to rely on men to provide them with social status, protection, and
ultimately, a secure future" (p. 73). Men have seen this as a way to claim women as their own
personal means of sexual pleasure and that sex plays an important roll in a man life (Gross,
1991).
They argue that this hunt is inhibited solely at the discretion of the woman and her
capability to repel those unwanted advances (Grazian, 2007; Snow, Robinson and McAll 1991).
While women often navigate through these advances by crossing over into gay bars, they find
solace in these places where they are free to express themselves freely (Goldstein, 2013). But
what happens when a gay man experiences the same hegemonic masculine behavior within his
own space of nightlife? A lot of research focused on the feminine view of being targeted by
males and so I wanted to piece together how masculinity would affect a gay male consumer in a
bar or nightclub.
There is a lack of literature depicting the male experience with in gay spaces and how
men work to navigate these spaces. From my data of twelve participants and multiple

34
ethnographic observations I was able develop and build ideas based on the feminine getaway that
is so widely used throughout the heterosexual community. It was from my data that was able to
determine that gay men and women use the same techniques in order to evade being sexualized
by the male.
For both males and females, space is a means of display. They consume space as a means
of conforming to the societal norms and work to obey the rules set within its boundaries. When a
gay man crosses over into a heterosexual space we see that they work to achieve that masculinity
expectations set forth those around them. When a man or woman resists the norms of a space,
they implement aversion tactics into order to hinder the advancements given off by the
heterosexual male counterparts. Lastly, we see that straight males crossing over into spaces that
are coded as homosexual unknowingly reconfigure these sites for the consumers who occupy
them and those who seek refuge.
This work in no way means to define a group or theory based on what was collected but
solely to bring to light the limitations of our current literature on gay masculinities in relation to
feminine victimization.
Future Implication
Throughout my project, I often thought about what I could do to better the assignment as
a whole for the future. I do believe that with better training and redefined skills in regards to my
field notes, interviews and write-up there is a future for my project within the sociological
community.

35
References
1. Brooks, Oona. "‘Guys! Stop doing it!’: young women's adoption and rejection of safety
advice when socializing in bars, pubs and clubs." British journal of criminology 51.4
(2011): 635-651.
2. Cansdale, S. (2012) A Girl Walks Into a Bar… The Politics of gay bars as safe places”
Bitch Magazine: Feminist Response to Pop Culture: 17–18, 24

36
3. Connell, Robert W., and James W. Messerschmidt. "Hegemonic masculinity rethinking
the concept." Gender & society 19.6 (2005): 829-859.
4. Goldstein, B. 2013, “Straight people in gay bars: Madison establishments must decide
how inclusive they want to be” Isthmus/The Daily Page: 1–4
5. Graham, Kathryn, et al. "“Yes, I Do But Not With You”-Qualitative Analyses of
Sexual/Romantic Overture-related Aggression in Bars and Clubs."Contemporary drug
problems 37.2 (2010): 02.
6. Grazian D. 2007, “The Girl Hunt: Urban Nightlife and the Performance of Masculinity as
Collective Activity” Symbolic Interaction
7. Gross, A. E. (1978), The Male Role and Heterosexual Behavior. Journal of Social Issues,
34: 87–107.
8. Johnson, Corey W. (2005) “The Night They Took Over”: Misogyny in a Country-
Western Gay Bar Leisure Sciences Vol. 27, Iss. 4
9. Murnen, Sarah K., Carrie Wright, and Gretchen Kaluzny. "If “boys will be boys,” then
girls will be victims? A meta-analytic review of the research that relates masculine
ideology to sexual aggression." Sex Roles 46.11-12 (2002): 359-375.
10. Quinn, Beth A. 2002. “Sexual Harassment and Masculinity: The Power and Meaning of
‘Girl Watching.’” Gender & Society: 386–402.
11. Snow, David. (1991) “Cooling Out: Men in Singles Bars and Nightclubs: Observations
on the Interpersonal Survival Strategies of Women in Public Places” Journal of
Contemporary Ethnography: 423–449
12. Tan, Qian Hui. "Flirtatious geographies: clubs as spaces for the performance of affective
heterosexualities." Gender, Place & Culture 20.6 (2013): 718-736.
13. Thompson, Edward H., and Elizabeth J. Cracco. "Sexual aggression in bars: What college
men can normalize." The Journal of Men's Studies 16.1 (2008): 82-96.
14. Warshaw, Robin, and A. N. D. R. E. A. Parrot. "The contribution of sex-role
socialization to acquaintance rape." Acquaintance rape: The hidden crime(1991): 73-82.

37
Appendix 1 Interview Questions
1. Where are you from?
2. How long have you lived in Denver?
3. How old are you?
4. How would you describe yourself? (Race? Gender? Sexual orientation?)
5. Do you work or are currently in school?
6. Do you like it?

38
7. What would be your dream job?
8. What do you do for fun each week?
Activities
1. What is a perfect weekend?
2. How often does that happen?
3. Do you go out to bars or nightclubs often?
4. Do you ever go to gay bars or nightclubs? If not, how come?
If so, what do you like about those bars/clubs?
5. I’m not too familiar with the nightlife scene here in Denver, care to tell me about some of
your favorite places to go out?
6. Why have they become your favorite spots?
7. What’s your favorite type of music?
8. Who’s your favorite artist?
9. Do you like dancing when you go out?
10. How do you dress when you go out?
11. Where do you and your friends hang out when you get inside, any particular place?
(dance floor, bar, etc)
12. What do you know about these places before you go to them?
13. Do you like trying out new places to go with friends?
14. What’s your go-to drink for the night?
15. Do you ever find yourself chatting with the bartender?
16. Do you have a game plan for the night or do you just let go with the flow?
17. Have you ever been turned away from a bar or kicked out?
Interactions Who what where when why
1. Do you ever get hit on?
2. What’s that like for you? Does it ever make you feel like a “piece of meat"?
3. What about you, do you ever hit on people?
4. Does it work?
5. Have you ever run into really persistent people who wont leave you alone?
Appendix 1 Continued Interview Questions
6. How do you deal that?
7. How do you deal with the overly drunk person you come across?
8. Do your friends help you out if you’re stuck in an awkward situation with someone?
9. How do you feel about PDA in these places?
10. Are you a smoker? What about any of your friends?
11. Can you describe a typical scene out in the lounge/smoking area?

39
12. What about the dance floor?
13. What are some cues that you give to some that you want to talk or dance them or even if
you don’t want to talk to them or dance with them?
14. Ever been in a fight with someone?
Friends/Relationships
1. Are you currently in a relationship? / (Any particular reason why not?)
2. What’s your group of friends like?
3. How did you all become friends?
4. Do you all usually go out together?
5. How do you all decide on where to go?
6. Do you all stick together when you are in the bar or club?
7. Do you have a wingman or wing-woman?
8. What is your thought on hookups?
9. Have you ever hooked up with someone?
10. What type of person attracts you?
11. Does your experience in a certain club or bar determine if you’ll come back again or tell
your friends about it?
Is there anything we didn’t get to you wanted to talk about?

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