Practices for Orchestrating a Voyeuristic Event

Orchestrators (tour guides) manage the delicate trade-off between audience desire for authenticity/transgression and the need to reduce costs borne by nonconsenting observees.

1. Scripting the Event

• Fixed routes through commercial, residential, and cultural zones
• Strict timing: 30–45 min in commercial areas (recycling, leather, garments), then residential alleys, pottery, NGO visits
• New guides train 1–2 months with senior guides; tested before leading tours
• Avoids overwhelming any single area; balances positive/negative information
• Quote: “We spend around 30 to 45 minutes in commercial areas… Then we go to a residential area and narrow alleys to show them how densely the population lives.” (Omkar, orchestrator)

2. Claiming to Improve Lives

• 80% of post-tax profit donated to community center (Reality Tours)
• Hiring locals as guides: employment, skill development
• Tourists donate; orchestrators facilitate distribution
• Quote: “They give back some of their profits to the community to help educate the people. That, to me, is the benefit. That’s why you go on this tour.” (Group Alan, audience)
• Some observees skeptical: “I do not feel it is a positive.” (Luxman)

3. Bounding Audience Behavior

• No photography in residential/papad alleys (women’s privacy)
• Appropriate attire: no shorts/skirts
• No direct gifts to children; give quietly via guide
• Quote: “We tell them … not to take pictures in the papad alley/residential area … because mostly women work there. So, the photos can be misused.” (Ojasvi, orchestrator)

4. Personalizing Observees

• Optional home visits for tea, interaction
• Tourists invited to weddings, ceremonies; sometimes dance
• Impromptu visits: pregnant American tourist ate at resident’s home
• Quote: “We invite; we give them the option by saying, ‘Do you want to join some family?’ Some say yes, some say no.” (Omprakash, orchestrator)

5. Memorializing the Voyeuristic Experience

• Hands-on activities: tourists try pottery, pay ₹500–1000
• Purchase souvenirs: leather bags, spices (“Dharavi brand made here”)
• Permitted photos in shops; keepsakes for remembrance
• Quote: “It’s another feeling when you buy something made like this. It’s a good feeling. A lot of people do this.” (Group Aiden, audience)

Nonconsenting Observees’ Negative Responses

Despite orchestration, many observees bear significant costs. These negative responses threaten the viability of the voyeuristic event.

1. Resisting Intrusive Overexposure

• Constant overcrowding disrupts daily routines
• Feeling perpetually on display; no control over intrusion
• Some withdraw: “I do not talk much with them. There is no use in exchanging information. I stay busy at my work.” (Lohit, observee)
• Escalation: guides beaten by public after tourists photographed women without consent
• Quote: “I was on a tour, and a guy from another company was taking a picture of a guy’s underwear. Does it make sense? You are disturbing people’s privacy.” (Omkar, orchestrator)

2. Opposing Perceived Profit Exclusion

• Observees receive no direct compensation; guides and companies profit
• Skepticism about NGO donations: “A lot of money comes from foreign countries by showing poverty, but that money does not reach the people who reside in Dharavi.” (Leeron, observee)
• Some demand direct payment: “If a foreigner wants to see something, I tell him the charge would be this much.” (Lohit, observee)
• Quote: “They [observees] feel as though they do not get anything from the tours.” (Oshmita, orchestrator)

3. Criticizing Dehumanizing Depiction

• Orchestrators show garbage, torn clothes, open drains — not the “golden bird” of Dharavi’s industry
• Tourists arrive with zoo-like expectations; leave with skewed perceptions
• Comparison to Slumdog Millionaire: “movie mafias” earning from poverty exhibition
• Quote: “Slum tourism is basically to show how to stay in poverty… From my perspective, I feel slum tourism has always been like an exhibition.” (Leeron, observee)
• Quote: “The bad ones [tour operators] don’t ask for permission and bring tourists in without respecting our space.” (Lachshman, observee)

Nonconsenting Observees’ Positive Responses

When orchestration is effective, some observees report meaningful benefits — though these do not imply consent.

1. Recognizing Potential Financial and Nonfinancial Gains

• Tourists buy products: pottery, leather, spices; direct income
• Export orders: one neighbor “got a big export order due to tourists and has prospered” (Livjot, observee)
• Local guides employed; skill showcase
• Ongoing donations: some tourists stay in touch, send monthly help
• Quote: “We get profit. Because of that, we get some money. They buy some things from us. It’s good from a business perspective.” (Lachshman, observee)

2. Reframing the Everyday as Special

• Tourists’ curiosity elevates mundane tasks into something meaningful
• “It’s a daily thing. But when they come, they show interest in small things. It feels good.” (Lokendra, observee)
• Foreigners choose Dharavi over Goa — “It is a big thing for us.” (Loro, observee)
• Quote: “We feel surprised that this foreigner comes from another country, whom we do not know, but he has come here …. We feel very happy.” (Luuya, observee)

3. Having the Audience Recognize Their Culture, Work, and Lives

• Pride that outsiders are curious: “Dharavi is a world-famous area. So, people work hard. Potters don’t beg when the visitors come. They work hard.” (Lipi, observee)
• International cricketers visited pottery workshops; behaved like ordinary people
• Quote: “I feel proud as Dharavi is a famous tourist spot; they put videos on YouTube.” (Lahar, observee)
• Quote: “The local residents feel proud that someone else is interested to know about their businesses or lives. This is also motivating to do better in their lives.” (Lokendra, observee)

Momentary Shifting of Roles in the Voyeuristic Event

The study’s most striking finding: voyeurism is not unidirectional. Under orchestration, observees momentarily become the audience, and tourists become the observed.

Audience as a Catalyst for Observees’ Curiosity

• 80% of locals estimated to be curious about tourists
• Children say “Hi, Hello,” ask “Where you are from?”
• Observees ask about tourists’ countries, food, traditions
• Quote: “We also ask them, ‘How are you?'” (Lavanea, observee)
• Quote: “Just like they are learning something from us, we also learn something from them.” (Laya, observee)
• Quote: “This industry brings the world to you. You may not be able to visit every country or every place in the world; it brings the world to you.” (Oshmita, orchestrator)

Amusement in Observing the Novelty of the Audience

• Tourists’ appearance: tall, fair, shorts, sunglasses — “strange people”
• Women’s clothing mocked; now normalized as Indian women also wear Western clothes
• Quote: “Foreigners are like jokers for us. Their dress sense and how they talk to each other. They are strange people according to us [laughs].” (Leeron, observee)
• Quote: “I used to follow them [the foreigners]. It was a lot of fun.” (Loknath, observee)
• Quote: “They would give high fives, shake hands, and give them fist bumps.” (Oshmita, orchestrator)

Critical Caveat: Power Imbalance Remains

• Role switching is momentary, not structural
• Tourists can withdraw; observees cannot opt out
• Tourists’ private lives are never authentically transgressed
• Quote: “The fact that some observees do not withdraw and even report modest benefits from the experience does not imply that they have consented to becoming subjects of the tourists’ gaze and transgression.”

Theoretical & Practical Implications

Theoretical Contributions:

• Stakeholder Management in Voyeuristic Businesses: Extends Ruebottom et al. (2022) by showing how voyeuristic businesses must manage both audiences and nonconsenting observees — not just optimize audience emotion.
• Opportunity Attributes: Voyeuristic opportunities require practices that balance authenticity and transgression while reducing costs to those being observed — distinct from traditional opportunity attributes (growth, size, competition).
• Fluidity of Voyeuristic Roles: Challenges the assumption of voyeurism as a fixed power asymmetry. Reveals momentary role reversals where observees gaze at audiences, driven by curiosity and amusement.
• Transferability: Model may extend to prison tours, Arctic cruises, dementia care observations — contexts with vulnerable, nonconsenting subjects and co-present orchestration.

Practical Implications:

For Voyeuristic Businesses:

• Develop orchestration practices that protect observees while delivering authenticity
• Enable observees to learn from audiences (role-switching opportunities)
• Contribute transparently to communities — and communicate that contribution credibly
• Train guides extensively; enforce no-photography, dress code, and consent-based interaction

For Policymakers & NGOs:

• Mandate consent protocols in slum tourism and similar voyeuristic industries
• Ensure profit-sharing mechanisms reach observees directly
• Fund local-language research to capture non-Hindi-speaking residents’ perspectives

Boundary Conditions & Future Research:

• Context: Observees lack agency, are co-present, and are guided by orchestrators. Model may not transfer to digital voyeurism (webcams, reality TV) or contexts where observees can opt out.
• Future Research: How are voyeuristic opportunities formed? Who identifies them first? How does the model change when observees are not vulnerable, or when audience and observee are not co-located?
• Methodological Reflection: Using local experts was essential for trust and access, but may have reduced richness of nonverbal data. Future studies should balance proximity and intrusion.