Resumo: This article analyses the exotic and idealizsd images of indigenous women in tourism. In particular, it reflects on the role of gender in the construct of imaginaries and the representation of femininity associated with the traditional roles of women in the private and domestic sphere. To this end, the author investigates the tourism scenario in the houses/shops of the municipality of Zinacantán, in Los Altos de Chiapas, Mexico, and the criteria of authenticity as deployed in tourism promotion. The paper aims to investigate this view of female exoticism that affects the way these women redefine themselves through the staging of their bodies and their traditional roles. It concludes that this image of exoticism reproduces a colonial gaze and perpetuates patriarchal power relations and ideologies.
