October 1 Readings

I truly enjoyed this week's reading assignment. Perhaps my favorite text was Angela Trethewey's "Disciplined Bodies: Women's Embodied Identities at Work." I found her description of about women in the workplace incredible, particularly how she describes how "Women go to great lengths to avoid appearing out of control or undisciplined" (13). Her use of the term 'discipline' in this context put a completely different spin on the professional female identity. Moreover, Trethewey describes how some women try to walk the fine line of dressing "appropriately" feminine while acting aggressive enough to be taken seriously in male-dominated industries. This section made me think of one of my former superiors. "Red", as I'll call her, was a well-groomed, attractive, aggressive, well-paid (bluntly) b***h. Many times when I saw her, I used to think, "Here comes hell in heels." I wasn't alone in my assessment of her: even our clients thought so.

Contrary to what many of the women in Trethewey's study said, "Red" was so aggressive, forthcoming, and brutal in her dealings with her male counterparts that I often was amazed that she actually "allowed" a man to marry her and was capable of giving birth! Moreover, I found myself either disliking her for looking the "feminine role" and being so brashly opinionated or admiring her for challenging the status quo and solidifying her place within the company. This observation refers back to Trethewey's point that women are usually each others' biggest critics (13).

EG&T chapter seven focused on identity and difference in organizational life. Again, I found this chapter very interesting to say the least. First, page 204 distinguishes between report talk (men) and rapport talk (women). As I reflect on my experience in the workplace, I found that although I tried to engage in report talk, I usually ended up using rapport talk. Now that I think about it, perhaps this is why the male executive suggested that I was "robbing Peter to pay Paul" because he saw my conversational maintenance as a form of trickery through relationship building. Then, I would have argued that it was just my personality to talk to people as people and not talking heads. Yet, as I examine the differences in gendered identities, perhaps I did participate subconsciously to a certain degree.

Although I would like to speak on emotion labor, I would like to share a comparison to the examples used in the Frame 4: Gendered Narratives in Popular Culture section. Specifically, page 215 discusses the various ways in which the airline industry used women to "sex up" its appeal. Immediately, I thought about the James Bond movie, "Goldfinger", in which female pilots, such as the leader, "Pussy Galore", are superb airplane navigators, but are assumedly unqualified to do anything else but serve under the supervision male business tycoon Goldfinger.