LGBTQA Embodiment and Spatiality in Hamilton, Ontario: A Phenomenological Investigation

For queer individuals, social space can be a matter of negotiating between being seen or unseen by others, and this negotiation underpins one's ability to feel rooted or comfortable, as well as being capable of movement. In this paper, a spatial phenomenological approach to queer embodiment is employed that understands space as an intrinsically socio-material landscape whereby perceptions and embodiments of gender and sexuality facilitate mobility. Interviews were conducted with fourteen (14) individuals who self-identified as LGBTQA and were newcomers to Hamilton. The interviews were transcribed and then analyzed using a three-step Interpretive Phenomenological Approach (IPA). Four overlapping themes are highlighted: embodiment, nonphysical violence, visibility and invisibility, and disorientation. Together, these themes are used to discuss how LGBTQA individuals in Hamilton experience living space in highly complex and nuanced relationships with other embodied subjects. Diverging from traditional social constructionist and psychological approaches to queer geographies, our findings demonstrate the utility of revisiting phenomenological concepts to understand gender, romantic, and sexual minorities, and also corroborate the emerging research that demonstrates a significant interplay between gender, sexuality, and space.