Sex, Lies and Videotape: Sex and the Politics of Organizational Identity in the United States

• In Event: 256 - Section on Organizations, Occupations and Work Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 21. Gender and Work II

Abstract

Sex has become a significant dimension of the debate around what is seen as an acceptable definition of an organizational identity (Comaroff and Comaroff, 2009). Organizations are increasingly concerned about protecting their image from reputational damage. As an organization becomes concerned about protecting its image, the distinction between working for an organization and representing an organization becomes harder to sustain. While it is true that the personal-professional boundary is more amorphous as we move up the organizational hierarchy, social media play an important role in defining these boundaries. In this paper we examine the case of a high profile individual in political and military life, David Petraeus, and examine his situation where sex and organizational identity were thrown into relief. We also look by contrast at work identity and sex-work which as Rojek (2000: 180-1) shows is not a level playing field and where: ‘Sex-work… essentially involves treating the other as…. an object in which trust and respect are not a precondition of interaction ... .’Attwood shows that sex and sex-work has become more diversified and specialized (2011: 85) with a range of technologies and services reaching a wider range of people: ‘Online, the rise of amateur porn and erotica, sexblogs, swinger sites, sex chatrooms and contact pages indicate that traditional relations of production and consumption, professionalism and amateurism, commerce and leisure are increasingly elided.’ Thus sex is pivotal in understanding contemporary organizational and work identities.

Authors

• Ann Irene Brooks, Bournemouth University

• Lionel Wee, National University-Singapore