Unlearning the Normative Servicescapes through a Critical Queer Theory: An Inclusive Service Design Workshop

Abstract

<p>The societal norms that presume everyone adheres to a ‘straight’ orientation within a male-female dichotomy and conforms to traditional masculine and feminine roles have significantly shaped the construction and design of everyday spaces. These spaces, including servicescapes, consciously and unconsciously influence the social interactions among service providers and customers to align with specific normative standards. For instance, suggesting twin beds for same-sex partners during hotel check-in or accusing trans and non-binary guests of impersonating another gender in sex-segregated facilities are largely rooted in false assumptions, leading to insensitive employee-customer encounters. Although these norms are applied universally regardless of one’s sexuality and gender, LGBTIQ+ individuals are historically marginalized due to incidents of violence, victimization, mistreatment, discrimination, and suppression.</p><p><br></p><p>Facilitated by queer tourism scholars, this interactive workshop aims to unlearn the existing physical and social servicescapes. The workshop references a critical queer theory that contests and reshapes the established frameworks of knowledge production within anti-normative frameworks. Workshop participants will explore the concept of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC), moving away from categorizing people into specific identity labels (e.g., straight, LGBTIQ+, etc.) to focusing on multiple shared traits for greater inclusivity. Through a design thinking process, participants will navigate the spectrum of sexual and gender diversity by developing a SOGIESC-based persona. Then, participants will be given various service scenarios and discuss their impact on customer experiences. Eventually, participants will be facilitated to co-create a SOGIESC-inclusive service design prototype.</p><p><br></p>