They’re Assholes, but They’re My Assholes: Female Authority Reconceptualized

• In Event: 228 - Section on Sociology of Culture Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 06. Culture and Contemporary Theory

Abstract

Despite the number of women traversing traditionally masculine arenas and the scholarly attention paid to women who occupy token status within male dominant spaces, few scholars have asked what women in authority positions do under circumstances of intense hegemonic masculinity. How do they maintain influence over their male peers? Using the case of female coxswains on male crews I examine authority as a sociological concept and distinguish three core dimensions: organizational, cultural and performative. From ethnographic observation, I find that due to hegemonic masculinity and its constraints, in response to the tension formed between organizational authority and normative gendered frameworks, women experience what I call bounded authority and must then build a reliance on performative authority. I argue that under bounded authority, performative authority should be understood as an unreliable contract. Within boathouse culture, the contractual agreement to respect a woman’s authority has to be performed into existence every day. As a result, female coxswains execute one of three strategies of action: Leaving, Belonging and Distancing. This study offers a deeper understanding of authority specifically in situations imbued with gendered tokenism, and suggests a move away from our understanding of what has previously been recognized as ‘female’ authority to the more intersectional idea of bounded authority.

Author

• Allister Pilar Plater, University of Virginia