No Human Resource is an Island: Gendered, Racialized Access to Work as a Performer

Abstract

This article explores the reproduction of gendered, racialized conceptions of age and appearance in structuring access to performing work. Analysis of this issue leads to discussion of a key supposition: that central work experiences of women performers are manifestations of their position as formal and informal proxies for women's experiences in wider society. Women performers are formal proxies in that they are employed to 'be women'; to represent women for consumption in the circuit of culture. They are informal proxies in that they are allocated to highly segmented labour markets based on wider patterns of gendered, racialized social relations.

Gay men in the performing arts: Performing sexualities within ‘gay-friendly’ work contexts

“…For example, Setoodeh (2010) notes the trend for heterosexual male actors to play gay men, especially where the part requires gender conventional behaviour, further intensifying competition among gay performers for roles. However, as Dean's (2008a) research reveals in regard to gender, it might be that such roles appear to be more suited to those who are already believed to embody the characteristics of the 'normal gay', revealed in some casters' preferences for performers to already be the part. The conservatism exhibited by some casters partly stems from an understanding of what audiences expect.…”

“…Facile stereotypes of the performing arts depict the industry as a haven for LGBT people, but organisation studies researchers appear uninterested in gay men as paid performers or with the performing arts as a site of empirical investigation into the relationship between sexuality and organisation. Consequently there is little baseline research in this area, although organisational scholarship on the performing arts is emerging (Dean, 2005(Dean, , 2007(Dean, , 2008a(Dean, , 2008bSwanson et al, 2000;Thomas, 1995). Dean's research is exemplary in that respect which examines, among other things, how gender, age, race and ethnicity structures access to performing work.…”

“…The performing arts, an occupation stemming back almost 350 years (Dean, 2008a), is regarded here as a diverse range of work sites and activities that include television, film, radio, theatre, clowning, live dance and music. Unlike many other occupations or organisational contexts, the performing arts are historically significant as environments that have welcomed 'gay' performers and addressed samesex issues on stage and screen, in spite of past efforts by censors to control the representation of (homo)sexuality (Clum, 2000;Dyer, 1990;Friedman, 2007;Sinfield, 1994Sinfield, , 1999.…”

“…The audition is a key mechanism by which work is obtained by performers, and is often associated with uncertainty and anxiety (Dean, 2008a). As noted above, one challenge gay male performers potentially face is that casters might construct them as more limited than heterosexual male performers in their capacity to perform different male parts requiring specific gender performances.…”

How do we understand worker silence despite poor conditions – as the actress said to the woman bishop

“…However existing qualitative and quantitative research establishes that, as a category, women clergy and actors experience systemically poorer working conditions than their male peers (Bagilhole, 2003(Bagilhole, , 2006Dean, 2008a;Greene and Robbins, 2015;Thomas, 1995). Therefore in analytical terms, these women workers are usefully extreme examples in considering toleration of poor conditions within occupations that are also usefully extreme examples, having strong and distinct occupational ideologies where calling is a key feature.…”