Gendered Spaces: Architecture and Décor in Four Coffee Houses

• In Event: 512 - Section on Sex and Gender Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 03. Gendered Interactions and Gendered Spaces

Abstract

In this paper, I explore the differences and similarities between the layout and décor of four different coffee houses, in order to explore the ways in which these spaces, prior to social interaction, are gendered. This paper draws on literature regarding gendered geography and architecture (Lico 2001; Sanders 1996; Trautner 2005; Domosh and Seager 2001) as well as queer spaces (Halberstam 2005; Chauncey 2005). Although gendered geography tends to focus on the macro level (Appleton 1995; Sanders 1996; Lico 2001; Betsky 1995; Domosh and Seager 2001), on the micro level, examining the ways in which spaces are gendered can help us to determine the structure of gender within these particular spaces, whether this structure is consciously considered by those who use these spaces, or not. As Sanders (1996) mentions, architecture is important in the study of gender as it becomes the stage for gender performativity and offers an important context for the doing of gender. This paper explores these ideas by examining four different coffee houses, one independent coffee house and one corporate coffee house in an east coast city, and one independent and one corporate coffee house in a west coast city. Within this paper I explore the layout, décor, colors, and furnishings, as well as the notions of boundaries and borders, and other aspects of environment that might help contribute to a gendering of the space. Important to note are the ways in which class, in particular, also plays a role.

Author

• Kimberly G. Tauches, Skidmore College