Unpacking millennial Chinese women's risk perceptions in outbound travel: An intersectional perspective

Abstract

Enhanced social status and education levels empower women to experience freedom in travel. Drawing on the feminist theory of intersectionality, this study employs purposive snowball sampling (n = 41) to investigate millennial Chinese women's risk perceptions in transnational experiences of freedom. By applying semi-structured interviews, this study finds that millennial Chinese women perceive four main risks: sexual/racial, betraying nationalism, loss of face, and parent-daughter conflicts. The power relations that underpin these risks are analysed, suggesting that risk perceptions are closely associated with patriarchy, Orientalism, patriotic education, face culture and family structure. This paper argues that risk perception in travel is socially constructed by complex power relations in which the multiple identities of gender, age, race, ethnicity, nationality and class interweave. A comprehensive understanding of risk perceptions in travel is provided, not only reflected in the diverse activities where women perceive risks, but also in the underlying power relations and multiple identities constituting these risks. The application of intersectionality and analysis of power relations also exemplify how to employ a feminist approach in travel and tourism studies.