Sexualizing the Organization, Lesbianizing the Women: Gender, Sexuality and ‘Flat’ Organizations

Abstract

This article draws upon research with men and women workers in ‘flat’ organizations, namely mixed‐sex and all‐women's worker co‐operatives and collectives in the voluntary sector. It argues that the denial of sales, contracts and grants to women's co‐operatives and collectives in particular, can be connected to discourses of sexuality generally and to the assumptions surrounding lesbianism and separatism in particular. Such discourses are often used to marginalize women workers and their co‐operatives and collectives, irrespective of whether the women in such organizations are lesbians or not. It is argued that when women workers organize in ways which challenge male‐dominated hierarchy, their marginalization necessarily takes a sexualized form because organizations, whether hierarchical or less/non‐hierarchical, are not only gendered but are also sexualized. This analysis thus offers an important additional dimension to the view that the marginalization of co‐operatives and collectives is due to their small size, lack of capital, location in certain sectors of the economy, or assumptions concerning the ‘alternative’ or ‘fringe’ nature of employment in such settings. This article also argues that sexuality can attach at the level of the organization, and not simply at the level of individual bodies or life‐styles, an argument often unacknowledged both in the literature on lesbians in the workplace, and in the literature on co‐operative businesses and less or non‐hierarchical voluntary sector organizations generally.

Organizing Sexualities, Organized Inequalities: Lesbians and Gay Men in Public Service Occupations

“…Local authorities which adopt a proactive stance on lesbian and gay rights, by ensuring that lesbian and gay people (along with other minorities) receive recognition, representation and resources, have suffered a backlash from nonminority citizens who complain about their own relative deprivation and from media coverage of 'loony leftism', which in turn can presage the disintegration of Labour support for unpopular policies as well as the demise of the local authority (Tobin 1990). Indeed, deviancy attributions can damage the reputation of an organization even in the absence of any official declarations about lesbian or gay rights or overt evidence of lesbian or gay personnel (Oerton 1996). It is as if the organization itself becomes infused with homosexual proclivities, reconstructed as the pervert writ large.…”

Diversity in work organisations

“…This has led to a research gap and lack of theorizing on the collective organisational experiences of lesbians and gay men (Oerton, 1996a). However, it is widely recognized in the literature that 'all the assumptions in everyday Activity 4.2…”

“…Therefore patriarchal gender relations do not impact on lesbian women in the same way as on heterosexual women (Cockburn, 1991). Thus, a type of heterosexual hegemony can be said to dominate the culture and discourse of organisations (Mills, 1998;Oerton, 1996a). Oerton (1996a) characterizes maledominated hierarchies as oppressively heterosexist and homosocial.…”

“…Thus, a type of heterosexual hegemony can be said to dominate the culture and discourse of organisations (Mills, 1998;Oerton, 1996a). Oerton (1996a) characterizes maledominated hierarchies as oppressively heterosexist and homosocial. This is reflected in workplace social relations, where, for example, sexual banter and joking are often of a heterosexual nature, marginalizing both lesbians and gay men.…”

“…This is reflected in workplace social relations, where, for example, sexual banter and joking are often of a heterosexual nature, marginalizing both lesbians and gay men. Despite the fact that heterosexual men often eroticize lesbianism, lesbians are less likely to engage in sexual banter with men (Oerton, 1996a). Lesbians' rejection or lack of interest in male sexual advances violates gendered expectations and often meets with retaliation or harassment (Hall, 1989).…”