The door's open, but the ride ain't free : En studie av den stereotypa ensamresenären och hur resande kvinnor förhåller sig till det narrativet

Sammanfattning: This ethnological bachelor level essay investigates how the travel and film industry portrays women travelling alone, and the possible effect that portrayal has on women who might be prone to do just that. My thesis is that some established truths are hinted at when it comes to both travel advertising and Western popular culture, such as the classical vagabond being a man. Is this the case? If so, how are these “truths” perceived by women who also like to travel? Looking for the answer I have studied the world’s 20 most popular movies portraying lone travellers as well as the advertising for solo travelling from Sweden’s largest travel agencies. Additionally, I have made a poll among over 50 women (in 6 Facebook groups) and interviewed 10 female travellers about their views on the subject. The results of the study show that there seem to be a pattern where both Western movies and the Swedish tourism industry reproduce the image of the male lone traveller much more than the female equivalent. Also, this seems to have various negative effects on women who want to – or could have wanted to – travel the world by themselves.