Market-based places, diversity, and intersectional exclusion

Abstract

This article aims to understand how the incidence of intersectionality operates within market-based places that present themselves as diverse or open to diversity. The study adopted the intersectional approach to locate minorities (the gay male public) within a network of relationships within this context (gay market-based places). The study involved a two-year-long (2015 and 2016) fieldwork conducted in two cities: Porto Alegre and Montreal, comprising 26 interviews. The findings show how the exclusion of marginalized categories occurs even within places that ostensibly cater to a public formed by such categories. Finally, the article discusses the managerial implication of how the expectation of open to diversity is counterintuitive, since the more broadened the offer in a market-based place, the bigger the perception of intersectional exclusion.