Nursing within Heteronormativity: Men’s Heteronormative Labor in a Caring Profession

• In Event: 315 - Regular Session. Producing Gender at Work

Abstract

Scholars have called for greater examination of how the gender system intersects with other identities such as sexuality. Gender norms frequently support heteronormativity, which constrains heterosexual and GLB-identified individuals by structuring organizations and interactions along assumptions of heterosexuality. Drawing on 35 interviews and 11 diaries from 40 men in nursing, the current study advances our theoretical understanding of how masculinity and heteronormativity intersect in the labor of men in a caring profession. Men nurses are paradoxically constrained by both perceived homosexuality and hyperheterosexuality. Perceived homosexuality limits heterosexual men’s ability to construct a masculine self within nursing while perceived hyperheterosexuality limits their care, as their use of physical touch in the provision of care is treated suspiciously and must be desexualized in interactions with women patients. We conceptualize men’s practices in the face of these constraints as heteronormative labor – labor unique to men in caring professions whereby they justify their claim to heterosexual privilege while also navigating the assumptions of hyperheterosexuality that constrain their physical touch. The experiences of men in caring professions remain rich for advancing theory on gender and sexuality, as well as increasing gender integration in occupations and improving the care provided by an increasingly diverse workforce.

Authors

• Marci D. Cottingham, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

• Austin H Johnson, Kent State University

• Tiffany L. Taylor, Kent State University