Heteronormativity Prevails: A Study of Sexuality in Norwegian Social Work Bachelor Programs

This article reviews how sexuality is addressed in the curricula of Norwegian social work bachelor’s programs. The purpose of the review was to examine whether heteronormativity was problematized in social work curricula. A keyword search revealed that sexuality was addressed in only 0.08% of curriculum materials in the 2013–2014 academic year (90 pages). Among the 6 articles identified that addressed sexuality, a thematic analysis showed that 5 problematized heteronormative assumptions, whereas 1 focused solely on problematic aspects of being gay and lesbian. The finding that heteronormativity was addressed in less than 0.08% of course content indicates that heteronormativity prevails. This study concludes that heteronormative discourses dominate the curricula of Norwegian social work bachelor’s programs. Suggestions for reorienting course content to address sexuality as a hierarchical construction producing otherness are presented.     

Citizenship for Some: Heteronormativity as Cloaked Bullying

SUMMARY

The average student of diverse sexuality hears eight homophobic insults per day with one third from faculty and staff. Through a lens of citizenship education, we elucidate heteronormative undercurrents obstructing the acceptance of sexual diversity; in-depth analysis of two such barriers, the public man and the ethics of marriage, are provided and suggest that heteronormativity, with roots in the Enlightenment discourse, is overpowering instrumental curricula promoting the acceptance of sexual diversity. Further, the perpetuation of such heteronormative undercurrents can and should be seen as a form of violence: cloaked bullying. The article challenges the use of “It's Ok to be Gay” kits and other modes of essentializing sexual diversity, and petitions educators to remain cognizant of heteronormative undercurrents in their teaching practice. By laboring to dislodge heteronormative underpinnings educators are enabled to model genuine open-minded and accepting citizenship and effect meaningful progress in the acceptance of sexual diversity.     

A Legal Perspective on Sexuality and Organization: A Lesbian and Gay Case Study

This article argues the case for incorporating legal discourse into social theories relating to sexuality and organization. The central theme around which this argument is constructed is that of the heteronormativity of the workplace which is critically interrogated by adopting perspectives of lesbian and gay workers. The processes through which this heteronormativity is maintained are examined with particular emphasis on how notions of public and private are strategically deployed to this end. The legal case study evaluates judicial discourse in court judgments noting how it contributes to and reinforces heteronormative practices. Examples are drawn from litigation in the UK and in Germany, illustrating the broad range of discursive techniques in use which in part vary according to the qualities of the legal norm at issue.     

Queering the Home

Abstract

In the West, the private sphere of the home is traditionally associated with the heterosexual nuclear family. Through social, cultural, and legal processes, the heterosexual bond has been constructed as central to the family home. Despite these dominant discourses, the home is also a space in which heteronormativity (or the unacknowledged assumption that heterosexuality is the natural and normal form of sexuality) may be subverted. This article considers how the domestic lives of lesbian and gay couples in England challenge the heteronormativity prevalent in dominant discourses of the home. Drawing on in-depth interviews with lesbians and gay men, the article continues to extend and build on the existing literature on queer domesticity by focusing on how lesbian and gay couples divide and understand domestic labor in their homes. The perceived normativity of coupled domesticity and childrearing means that on the one hand the lesbian and gay participants in this study could be seen to fit in with normative ideals of domestic family life. On the other hand, I show how these couples subvert heteronormative assumptions about gendered household practices through their approaches and attitudes towards domestic labor and parenting. In particular, the article focuses on the complex ways in which lesbian and gay couples destabilize traditional domestic gender roles and queer the spaces of the home through the seemingly unremarkable, mundane practices and negotiations of domestic labor and childcare.     

Work and Family: How Does the (Gender) Balance Change as Children Grow?

This article investigates how work–family balance and the gender division of labour differ according to whether children are in early childhood, middle childhood or the early teen years. It uses measures of both behaviour and attitudes, drawing on two nationally representative Australian data sets, the Bureau of Statistics Time Use Survey and the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia. Women have more responsibility for care than men, but with older children there is greater gender equity in the division of labour, a less pressing domestic burden and less maternal time stress. This occurs because women recalibrate their commitments to work and home, not because domestic labour is redistributed between mothers and fathers. Further, it does not hold if women replace unpaid with paid labour; mothers who work full time have high total workloads and high stress levels regardless of the age of children. Fathers are more satisfied with their work–family balance the more they participate in childcare and the more they feel supported by their workplace to access family‐friendly work policies.     

Masculinity and Non‐Traditional Occupations: Men's Talk in Women's Work

Occupation segregation is a persistent aspect of the labour market, and scholars have often researched what happens when women and men enter into what are seen to be ‘non‐traditional’ work roles for their sex. Research on men within women's roles has concentrated mainly on the challenges to a masculine identity, while research on workplace language has focused on women's linguistic behaviour in masculine occupations. To date, there has been relatively little research into the linguistic behaviour of men working in occupations seen as women's work (e.g., nursing, primary school teaching). To address this gap, this article focuses on men's discursive behaviour and identity construction within the feminized occupation of nursing. Empirical data collected by three male nurses in a hospital in Northern Ireland is explored using discourse analysis and the Community of Practice paradigm. This paper discusses how the participants linguistically present themselves as nurses by performing relational work and creating an in‐group with their nurse colleagues by actively using an inherently ‘feminine’ discourse style.     

The Low Status of Female Part‐Time NHS Nurses: A Bed‐Pan Ceiling?

Despite increases in female participation rates into the paid working population of Britain women remain concentrated into particular sectors of the economy. Areas of the labour market where women predominate are also characterized by high levels of part‐time employment. The significance of part‐time work is that it is lower paid and offers fewer employment opportunities for women. This article examines the careers of 643 qualified female NHS nurses. It is found that respondents working part‐time are the least likely to occupy the upper echelons of NHS nursing. Explanations for this centre on the actions and strategies of managers who use negative gender role stereotypes regarding part‐time nurses to inform recruitment and promotion decisions. Managers, however, regard the low status of part‐time nurses as a reflection of their own choice strategies, thus failing to recognize the existence of gender‐based disadvantage. The resultant outcome is one where part‐time nurses are confined to the lowest qualified clinical grades, with little opportunity to progress to the higher grades. Critical labour shortages in nursing, however, may mean that the utilization of part‐timers is re‐examined as NHS management seek to retain more qualified nurses. For such a re‐examination to be successful management attitudes also need to change.     

Complementary gender stereotypes and system justification: the moderating role of essentialist lay theories for group differences / Estereotipos de género complementarios y justificación del sistema: el papel moderador de las teorías populares esencialistas sobre las diferencias grupales

Past research has established that complementary stereotypes of men and women serve to justify the gendered division of labour as well as the division of labour in society at large. This paper is concerned with the essentialist lay theories for the origin of group differences (i.e. belief in genetic determinism vs. belief in social determinism) which may moderate the justificatory effect of complementary gender stereotypes. We present data from an experimental study conducted in Greece, in which genetic vs. social deterministic lay theories for group differences and complementary vs. non-complementary accounts of gender differences were crossed. In these data, complementary accounts of gender increased participants’ justificatory responses only when a genetic deterministic context was made salient; on the contrary, the social deterministic context appeared to buffer the justificatory function of complementary accounts of gender. The results extend the literatures on the justificatory effects of complementary stereotypes as well as on essentialism, and point to the importance of the historical context in which particular ideas and lay theories for intergroup differences are embedded.     

Sex Composition,Masculinity Stereotype Dissimilarity and the Quality of Men's Workplace Social Relations

Previous research suggests that the quality of men's work group social relations varies depending on the sex composition of the work unit. Previous studies also suggest that men derive different benefits from working with other men than with women and that the higher status associated with men and masculinity advantages men in their relations with women workers. Previous sex composition studies tell us little, however, about the extent to which the quality of men's work group social relations with women and other men depends on how well a man fits dominant masculinity stereotypes. Drawing on sex composition and gender constructionist approaches to gender and work I investigate in this study the effects of men's individual similarity to masculinity stereotypes on the affective quality of their social relations with coworkers, given the sex composition of their work groups. The data for this study consist of male, mostly white, non‐faculty employees of a public university in the northwest United States. I discuss my results in terms of both individual outcomes and implications for understanding sex and gender inequalities in work organizations.     

Gender Labor,Assimilationism, and Transformative Practices: The Relational Negotiations of Cisgender Women and their Transgender Men Partners

Despite the rise in research on the experiences of transgender men (female‐to‐male, FTM) in recent years, little academic attention has been paid to the partners of these individuals. The experiences of a large portion of this population, cisgender women whose partners transition from female to male, provide a unique perspective on how individuals negotiate performances of normative gender ideals and heteronormative practices in transitioning non‐normative relationships. Research has shown that when these cisgender women find themselves in relationships that are socially defined as heterosexual, they often begin questioning their sexual orientation in relation to their partner's gender identity as well as the role and applicability of their beliefs regarding gender equality and anti‐heteronormative practices. This article provides an overview of the current literature that addresses the enactment of gender labor, the practice of reaffirming another person's gender through physical, emotional, and sexual care, by cisgender women whose partners transition from female to male. Specific focus is given to how, in some situations, the performance of gender labor manifests in assimilationist ways that adhere to typically heteronormative frameworks as well as how, in others, the performance of gender labor manifests in potentially transformative and destabilizing ways that serve to challenge normative structures. Gaps in the existing literature as well as directions for future research are also explored.     

“Her Mouth is Medicine”: Beth Brant and Paula Gunn Allen's Decolonizing Queer Erotics

This article asserts the need to recognize the complexity of the theoretical work of more lesbian Native American writers, focusing specifically Beth Brant (Bay of Quinte Mohawk) and Paula Gunn Allen (Laguna Pueblo). Their poetry and short stories provide a theoretically nuanced analysis of how heteronormativity is intertwined in and dependent on colonialism, and thus a methodology for Queer Theory that requires an understanding of it in relation to colonialism. They reject heteronormative Pocahontas fantasies about Native women, offering a lesbian-based tactic for decolonization through the expression of erotic desire. This article demonstrates the endless possibilities for fierce queer resistance, revolutionary change, and healing from the trauma of genocide and the accompanying colonialist heteropatriarchal disciplining of Native women's bodies.     

Getting Angry to Get Ahead: Black College Men,Emotional Performance,and Encouraging Respectable Masculinity

This article draws on two years of ethnographic fieldwork to explore how a group of black men on a college campus displayed anger in order to encourage other black men to adopt a respectable form of masculinity. Although prior research suggests that black men may work to avoid public displays of anger to evade negative stereotypes of black men, we uncover the contexts in which black men were comfortable expressing feelings of anger, frustration, annoyance, and irritation. Specifically, group leaders displayed these emotions when they observed recruits to their group engaging in actions or behaviors that threatened to reinforce certain stereotypes about black men.     

Migrants' regular army of labour: gender dimensions of the impact of the global economic crisis on migrant labor in Western Europe

The purpose of this article is to remedy the lack of explanatory endeavours concerning the positive performance of female migrant workers during the recent economic crisis in Western Europe. This phenomenon both interrogates the established association between economic downturns and their negative impact on migrant labour in low‐skilled jobs and enriches the theory of the reserve army of labour, which has been applied to understanding the fragile status of migrant workers in Western economies. Secondary analysis of Labor Force Survey (LFS) and OECD data concerning the impact of the crisis on migrant labour shows that women employed in the care‐domestic sector have been affected significantly less than men employed in manufacture and constructions. To explain this evidence, the article proposes a theoretical framework that draws on key concepts and debates in different strands of sociology: the increasing demand for paid care‐domestic work due to the ageing population and the growth of native‐born women's rates of activity; the commodification of care and the state management of migration; the affectivity and spatial fixity of care‐domestic labour. All these factors contribute to configure female migrant labour, mostly employed in the reproductive sector, as a ‘regular’ rather than a reserve army of labour.     

Volunteering and the gender division of labour: A Franco-British comparison

Cross-national analyses of the gender division of labour usually focus on employment and domestic labour. This paper argues that formal and informal voluntary work should be included in such analyses. Using available secondary sources, the paper compares the gender division of voluntary work in Britain and France – two countries with well-documented differences and similarities concerning employment and domestic labour. The paper reveals that French women, with a higher commitment to the labour market and a slightly larger share of the burden of domestic labour, have a higher commitment to formal voluntary activity but engage less in informal volunteering than their British counterparts whereas French men, with shorter hours in employment and a slightly smaller contribution to domestic labour, undertake more formal and informal voluntary work than their British counterparts. In France, men consistently undertake more voluntary work than women whilst in Britain, there is a degree of gender equality in formal voluntary work but women undertake significantly more informal voluntary work than men. The paper explains the differences and similarities found by considering the role of the state and social policy, the question of ‘time availability’, and the question of what motivates individuals to undertake voluntary work.     

The complexities of friendship: exploring how gay men make sense of their workplace friendships with straight women

Despite the contemporary attention paid to the gay male–straight female friendship dyad within popular culture and a growing scholarly interest in male–female friendships, not enough is known about the friendship dynamics between gay men and straight women, particularly in the workplace. I draw upon qualitative findings from in‐depth interviews with 28 gay men employed in a range of work roles in the UK to document their existence and shed light on how gay men understand, value and give meaning to workplace friendships with women. Study findings reveal the paucity of textual cues and practices to direct the development and maintenance of these friendships. Overcoming this, study participants are shown to be inventive in their approach to doing friendship. As problematic as some friendship ties are for understanding differences along the lines of sexuality and gender, the opportunities for challenging heteronormative ways of relating in workplace friendship are regarded as more promising.     

The Care–tech Link: An Examination of Gender,Care and Technical Work in Healthcare Labour

Despite the dramatic increase of technology in the healthcare field, little is known of how care work and technical work are related. Examining substitute healthcare providers offers a useful illustration of the care–tech link because nursing (care) and medical (technical) models often merge. Forty‐two interviews with men and women (nurse practitioners, nurse anaesthetists and physician assistants) were conducted in the USA. The results showed that the gendered nature of care–tech boundaries has shifted in small but important ways and that the gendering of work influenced the shape of these boundaries. Men often encountered barriers when moving too far into the care realm and attempted to overcome this by ‘caring cautiously’ and emphasizing problem‐solving care. Women faced similar barriers from the ‘old boys network’ when they entered highly technical areas. There is also evidence that men and women challenged existing care–tech boundaries and moved beyond their traditional roles.     

Between the Social and the Personal: Israeli Male Gay Parents,Surrogacy and Socio-Political Concepts of Parenthood and Gender

This work focuses on the effects of dominant concepts of parenthood and gender on gay men who became parents through surrogacy. Based on the analysis of 39 in-depth, semistructured interviews with gay fathers, we show that gay fathers' parenting experiences are shaped by the heteronormative discourse on parenthood, yet they resist its gendered attributes. Gay parenthood is revealed as confronting the social concepts on parenthood, in particular on motherhood, and their socio-political meanings. The tension between the social concepts and the participants' perceptionsy leads them to confront their social environment and to construct alternative discourse to the social discourse of parenthood and gender, suggesting that gay parenthood subverts under existing concepts of parenthood, gender and their meanings within the state.     

Queer Farmers: Sexuality and the Transition to Sustainable Agriculture

Intimate relationships are foundational to farm viability. They affect how farmers share tasks, earn income, and access land, yet the role of sexuality and heteronormativity in agriculture remains understudied. Furthermore, queer people are largely ignored as potential farmers by the sustainable agriculture and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements. I document the lived experiences of queer farmers, an underresearched group, through participant observation and interviews with 30 sustainable farmers of various genders and sexualities in New England. I use a queer perspective to illuminate sexualized and heteronormative patterns in sustainable agriculture. Whereas the perception of rural heterosexism can discourage queer participation in agriculture, queer farmers faced less overt heterosexism than they expected. However, they did experience heterosexism particular to sustainable agriculture, and confronting it might jeopardize relationships important for economic and environmental sustainability and land access. Some farmers were attracted to sustainable agriculture for reasons specific to gender, sexuality, and anticapitalist values. I argue that sexuality and heteronormativity are embedded in farmer recruitment, retention, and land acquisition, which are critical for the transition to sustainable agriculture. I offer the sustainable agriculture movement a lens for envisioning alternatives for farm families, homes, and workplaces.