Introduction

Legitimizing leisure experiences as emotional work: A post‐humanist approach to gendered equine encounters

“…As part of the 'horse woman' identity, which is comprised of emotional experiences and encounters with horses, equiscapes are viewed as leisure 'working' environments, where investments in time, resources and emotions are framed in work discourses in order to legitimize efforts and expenditure. The pressure to conform to societally constructed emotional norms dictates the appropriateness of emotion and its expression (Ruberg, 2010), and, in this way, emotions become to be viewed as more acceptable given collectively held sociocultural ideology which values self-improvement and physical work over recreational and hedonistic pursuits. In this way, the research contributes to understandings of women's emotional labour in interspecies relationships.…”

“…Emotional devotion is not necessarily viewed as rational when the focus is a non-human animal; for example, if women were making these kinds of sacrifices for their children, it is doubtful that it would be an issue among wider society. When humans empathize with and dedicate time, resources and deep emotional reserves to non-human animals, their passion and practices come under question and require explanation because their behaviour is seen as atypical and outside the societal accepted norms of emotional expression (Ruberg, 2010). A kind of pejorative mental illness language is employed in these instances, and it is more often prescribed to women, such as 'crazy cat lady' , 'crazy dog lady' and so forth; it is rare to hear men described in this manner by others or themselves.…”