Body hair and booty calls: Conceptualising ‘empowered-ness’ in travel and tourism for solo female vanlifers

Catheryn Khoo, Prachi Thakur, Mona Ji Hyun Yang, Jessica Mei Pung and Amanda Ting

Annals of Tourism Research, 2025, vol. 111, issue C

Abstract: The present study focuses on advancing the current discourse from women empowerment to ‘empowered-ness’ by conceptualising solo female vanlifers' bodies from travel reflections as a medium to redefine boundaries for socio-cultural norms. This study adopted a multi-faceted approach integrating social-networking-platform and ethnographic data to examine empowered-ness for women in prolonged mobility, and the role of empowered women's bodies in travel. 421 statements from 285 solo female vanlifers were collected through social-networking-platforms, and supplemented with synchronous longitudinal ethnographic data journalling solo female vanlife. The findings demonstrate that female empowered-ness through vanlife mobility manifests through independence from men, unconventional relationships, and risk-taking behaviour. This conceptual shift from empowerment to an ‘empowered’ framework is a contribution to solo female travel literature.

Keywords: Solo travel; Vanlife; Empowered-ness; Empowerment; Transformative (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:anture:v:111:y:2025:i:c:s0160738325000118

DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2025.103905

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