Diversity, Affect and Embodiment in Organizing by Marianna Fotaki & Alison Pullen

Author:Marianna Fotaki & Alison Pullen
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783319989174
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Insofar, heteronormativity—as another structural example of binary opposition—is defined as a norm based on the duality of biological sex (woman vs man), on societal gender (female vs male) as well as heterosexuality viewed as the ‘normal’ sexual desire of women for men (and vice versa). The consequences of such normative constraints for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons at the workplace have been widely explored (Hoel et al. 2017; Ozturk and Rumens 2015; Colgan and McKearney 2012; Wright et al. 2006). Research results show that while all LGBT persons are subject to this heteronormativity, differences can be perceived in its impact in view of the diversity of individuals captured by the umbrella term LGBT. For example, lesbians differ in their life conditions from gay men (see Hofmann and Cserer 2010; Köllen 2016).

Voices of devalued “others” are hardly heard within mainstream organizations (Martin 1990) as well as in the field of organization studies (see Calás and Smircich 1996). In particular, recent studies (e.g. King 2016) have shown that researchers tend to ignore older LGB adults. Yet existing dominant hierarchies, structures and processes can be overturned and deferred only if we reveal the stories and narratives of “others” (Holvino 2010). Butler states that bodies are “the effect of a dynamic of power (…) indissociable from regulatory norms that govern their materialization” (Butler 1993: 2). Thus, patriarchal hegemonic social and organizational discourses, systems, norms and hierarchies influence the construction and reproduction of bodies in a heteronormative way (Goffman 1967). Such normative hierarchizing and othering organizational practices can be understood by conducting intersectional analyses of concrete bodies, their/his/her stories and complex intersectional positioning. Further, this enables us to envision practices for their disruption and transformation (Holvino 2010). Referring to Halberstam (2005), Souza et al. (2016) suggest adopting a queering perspective on the construction and re/deconstruction of “sexual subjectivities within and between embodiment, place, and practice” for such analysis (Halberstam 2005: 5).

The focus of the current text is on the construction and reproduction of the bodies of older lesbians based on an intersectional analysis of gender, sexual orientation and age. While US-American researchers have spent three decades investigating the intersection of older age, gender and sexual orientation (see Fredriksen-Goldsen and Muraco 2010), scholars in German-speaking Central Europe have so far conducted a few investigations on the conscious integration of older people with non-normative sexual orientations into society and organizations and on the reduction of discrimination towards them (Lottmann and Lautmann 2015; Pulver 2015; Traunsteiner 2014). Some German studies (Bochow 2005; Braukmann and Schmauch 2007; Plötz 2006; Sdun 2009), however, have revealed that older lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals are commonly viewed as either “the sexual others” or “the older others”. Furthermore, this research has indicated the necessity of conducting a more detailed analysis of the specific life circumstances, needs and challenges of older LGBT persons.

To remedy this knowledge gap, our aim here is to explore how the life conditions of older lesbians influence the construction and reproduction of their bodies. In other words, we

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