You Look Like a Dude, Dude

Masculine Females Undoing Gender in the Workplace

Bibliographic Data

ID3649848
AuthorsR Dozier (0000-0002-7661-8726, Western Washington University, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume66
Issue9
Pages1219-1237
Publication date2019-07-29
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Homosexuality (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0091-8369 • E-ISSN: 1540-3602
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00918369.2018.1500778
PMID30052169
OpenAlexW2883960737
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited35

Interviews with 49 masculine females from diverse identities and occupations suggest that their workplace interactions undo gender, that is, breach rather than revise gender parameters. In this study, participants reveal that, although they were acknowledged as women in the workplace, their treatment was often more similar to men. Their classification as "like men" sometimes accrued advantage such as male camaraderie, access to information and opportunities, and greater assumed competence relative to gender-conforming women. Participants' interactions with coworkers, supervisors, and customers suggest that, rather than a pariah femininity, masculine females may more accurately be described as a subordinate masculinity. Interactions that classify masculine females as predominantly masculine or "like men" denaturalize gender. By visibly countering gender's anatomical basis and the notion of coherent gendered selves, masculine females might, in one small way, undo gender

Androgyny · Doing gender · Femininity · Gender identity · Masculinity · Pariah group · Political science · Sociology · Undo · Undoing · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology · Work-Family Balance Challenges