But it was not an easy topic to research. And taboo subjects are very often under-researched, sometimes because people have a hard time gaining access, gaining that trust, but also because, even if people gain that access, there could be significant repercussions for themselves as researchers, or for the people who are the research participants.
Secrecy is often the norm, but the field was familiar to us, through previous visits and research projects. The researchers carried out fieldwork in Dubai, in stints, over a span of six years.
They began with participant-observation in eight bars and clubs. They also conducted interviews, relying on personal contacts, to find 26 gay men, aged and representing 15 nationalities. Most were single and had attended university in North America or Europe. They came from a wide range of salaries and occupations, including airline cabin crew and bankers. These palatial, shimmering structures are havens from the extreme heat, even hours after sundown. It transpires that all information about the parties is by word of mouth or WhatsApp group chats with other expatriates.
As soon as a party appears on a TripAdvisor review or blog, it will either change name or venue, or both, to divert potential intervention by Emirati authorities.
Gay dating apps are also shunned for fear of entrapment by police. And typically they did not observe same-sex physical contact, not even friendly gestures. However, there are occasional events where the most privileged enjoy an extraordinary amount of freedom. The researchers attended a more exclusive, much less inhibited, party at a hotel rooftop bar where men were openly kissing and cuddling, and the entertainment was a Lady Gaga-inspired drag performance. Only the highest-earning and most extravagantly wealthy of men, both Western and Arab, are self-assured enough to take part in these types of activity.
