On Bodies, Rhinestones, and Pleasures

Swan, Elaine

doi:10.1177/1350507605055349

Cited by 57 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…While not explicitly articulated in terms of ethics, feminist organization scholars have highlighted the ways in which particular discourses or 'scripts' subjectify both males and females by offering an ideal embodied identity for which one must strive (Holmer-Nadesan and Trethewey, 2000: 224). Swan (2005) examines how the teacher's body is a surface upon which competencies and abilities are inscribed, often in hierarchical ways, while Gatrell (2011) takes this work further by showing how the maternal body is a text that is inevitably positioned outside organizational practices.…”

Section: Foucault and Ethical Subjectivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It relates to influential debates in organizational studies (Hassard, Holliday and Willmott, 2000;Brewis and Linstead, 2003;Swan, 2005), by linking the body to the articulation of an ethical position for organizational practice. In terms of organizational ethics, we can see that the proposed approach addresses the problematic absence of a material account of the body that has to date persisted.…”

Section: The Bodymentioning

confidence: 99%

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From gendered organizations to compassionate borderspaces: Reading corporeal ethics with Bracha Ettinger

Kenny

Fotaki

2014

Organization

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In this paper, we propose a new way of approaching the topic of ethics for management and organization theory. We build on recent developments within critical organization studies that focus on the question of what kind of ethics is possible in organizational contexts that are inevitably beset by difference. Addressing this 'ethics of difference', we propose a turn to feminist theory, in which the topic has long been debated but which has been underutilized in organization theory until very recently. Specifically, we draw on the work of Bracha Ettinger to re-think and extend existing understandings.Inspired by gender studies, psychoanalysis, philosophy and art, Ettinger's work has been celebrated for its revolutionary re-theorization of subjectivity. Drawing on a feminist ethics of the body inspired by psychoanalysis, she presents a concept of 'transsubjectivity'. In this, subjectivity is defined by connectedness, co-existence and compassion towards the other, and is grounded in what Ettinger terms the 'matrixial borderspace'. An ethics of organization derived from the concept of the matrixial suggests that a different kind of ethical relation with the Other is possible. In this paper, we demonstrate this through examining the issue of gender in the workplace. We conclude by outlining the implications of this perspective for rethinking ethics, embodiment and gender, and in particular for the development of a corporeal ethics for organization studies.

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Section: Foucault and Ethical Subjectivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Bodymentioning

confidence: 99%

From gendered organizations to compassionate borderspaces: Reading corporeal ethics with Bracha Ettinger

Kenny

Fotaki

2014

Organization

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“…Other work on embodied practices in management pedagogy support Irigaray's theories. Swan (2005), for example, examines specifically how the teacher's body is a surface upon which competencies and abilities are inscribed, often in hierarchical ways. In a similar vein, Sinclair (2005: 387) 'holds bodies, in their fleshy version, prominent, and [we need] to focus on bodies as possibilities, rather than as constraints', thus affirming ways in which material subjectivities of (women's) bodies are imprinted and positioned.…”

Section: Language and Embodiment In Organization Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Writing materiality into management and organization studies through and with Luce Irigaray

2014

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There is increasing recognition in management and organization studies of the importance of materiality as an aspect of discourse, while the neglect of materiality in post-structuralist management and organization theory is currently the subject of much discussion. This paper argues that this turn to materiality may further embed gender discrimination. We draw on Luce Irigaray's work to highlight the dangers inherent in masculine discourses of materiality.We discuss Irigaray's identification of how language and discourse elevate the masculine over the feminine so as to offer insights into ways of changing organizational language and discourses so that more beneficial, ethically-founded identities, relationships and practices can emerge. We thus stress a political intent that aims to liberate women and men from phallogocentrism. We finally take forward Irigaray's ideas to develop a feminist écriture of/for organization studies that points towards ways of writing from the body. The paper thus not only discusses how inequalities may be embedded within the material turn but it also provides a strategy that enriches the possibilities of overcoming them from within. IntroductionThe neglect of materiality in post-structuralist management and organization theory is currently the subject of much discussion, notably in an important recent review article by Phillips and Oswick (2012), and Ashcraft, Kuhn and Cooren's (2009) excellent summary of approaches to exploring materiality. There is therefore recognition of the need to return to a continental philosophical tradition that attempts to transcend the subject-object dualism undergirding much of modernist knowledge production, and thus to avoid 'the bifurcation of the material and discursive' that is too often present in the texts of the proponents of discourse (Mumby, 2011). Academics are included in this turn: they are not disembodied subjectivities but sexuated subjects that are implicated in the accounts they produce. The material bodies that sit pounding keyboards will have different musculatures and organs; they may be perceived as leaky or hard; and they may also experience pains peculiar to one or other sex. While such bodies themselves can only be understood through and indeed as constituted within discourse, at the same time discourse is material and cannot be separated from such (academic) bodies (Butler, 1990(Butler, , 1993. Furthermore, academics are gendered embodied subjects, and as such are not only subject to forms of gender domination and subordination; they also may (albeit unwittingly) reproduce those forms. In other words, we argue that when bodies enter then so does gender and gender discrimination. To take forward the material turn through introducing methodological plurality and combining discourse with non-discursive approaches, as suggested by Phillips and Oswick (2012), without awareness and understanding of gender could therefore perpetuate inequalities. To avoid this danger, we propose that the turn to materiality requires fundamental...

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“…Secondly, gendered assumptions about ideal workers, who do not allow personal life (Holt and Lewis, 2011) or problematic and unpredictable (female) bodies to interfere with work (Swan, 2005), may inhibit some women using ART from disclosing. Due to the paucity of research on disclosure of ART treatment in the workplace, work on pregnancy in the workplace may serve as an example.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Catch 22? Disclosing assisted conception treatment at work

Akker

Payne

Lewis

2017

IJWHM

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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore factors influencing decision-making about disclosure of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) use in the workplace.Design: A qualitative study design was used. Thirty-one women and six men who were using or had recently used ART were recruited from British fertility networks and interviewed.Data were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed.Findings: Two main strands were identified each encompassing two themes: i) 'Concerns about disclosure' covered the very personal nature of disclosing ART treatment and also career concerns and ii) 'Motives for disclosure' covered feeling it was necessary to disclose and also the influence of workplace relationships. Research limitations:The relatively small, self-selected sample of participants was recruited from fertility support networks, and lacked some diversity. Practical implications:Clarity about entitlements to workplace support and formal protection against discrimination, along with management training and awareness raising about ART treatment is needed to help normalise requests for support and to make decisions about disclosure within the workplace easier.Originality/ value: The study has highlighted an understudied area of research in ART populations. The data provide insight into the challenging experiences of individuals combining ART with employment and, in particular, the complexity of decisions about whether or not to disclose.

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On Bodies, Rhinestones, and Pleasures

Cited by 57 publications

References 26 publications

From gendered organizations to compassionate borderspaces: Reading corporeal ethics with Bracha Ettinger

From gendered organizations to compassionate borderspaces: Reading corporeal ethics with Bracha Ettinger

Writing materiality into management and organization studies through and with Luce Irigaray

Catch 22? Disclosing assisted conception treatment at work

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