Fitting the bill? (Dis)embodied disclosure of sexual identities in the workplace

Anna Einarsdóttir, Helge Hoel and Duncan Lewis
Additional contact information
Anna Einarsdóttir: University of Hull, UK; University of York, UK
Helge Hoel: University of Manchester, UK
Duncan Lewis: University of Plymouth, UK

Work, Employment & Society, 2016, vol. 30, issue 3, 489-505

Abstract: The disclosure of lesbian, gay or bisexual identity is generally presented as a conscious act of leaving heterosexuality. Such interpretation fails to take into account the dynamic processes involved in constructing non-heterosexual identities and to what degree such identities are embodied or disembodied. Supported by interview data among lesbian and gay employees in six British workplaces, this article explores how non-heterosexual identities become known in organizational settings by arguing that lesbians and gay men continue to collide with social expectations and stereotypical ideas of how sexual identities should be ‘worn’ and performed. These expectations and ideas both shape colleagues’ assumptions about their non-heterosexual identities and can expose lesbians and gay men to negative behaviour at work in highly gendered ways.

Keywords: bullying; disclosure; disembodiment; embodiment; LGB identities; negative behaviour; stereotyping (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0950017014568136 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:30:y:2016:i:3:p:489-505

DOI: 10.1177/0950017014568136

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Work, Employment & Society from British Sociological Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().