Performance Anxieties

Queer subjectivities in hospitality labor

“…Participants' descriptions of homophobia align with the experiences of queer workers in other industries (Irving, 2015;Willis, 2009). The potential for homophobia was described as "the norm" in most hospitality venues.…”

“…Young cis women bar workers in Coffey et al.’s study (2018) describe dancing behind the bar and other similar embodied practices designed to create a fun “vibe” in a venue as critical to their work. In Irving's (2015) study of trans women's un(der)employment experiences, participants articulated that the nature of hospitality work as highly feminized precluded them from full participation in the labor market. Their visibility as trans women, and their lack of access to economic and social resources meant that employers were less likely to see value in the kinds of feminine performances that formed part of their labor.…”

“…At the same time, queer bodies are also increasingly visible in service venues. Recent research in geography and urban studies have highlighted the multitude of ways that neoliberalism and consumerism have impacted gay villages in the Global North, leading to the transformation of consumer landscapes and leisure spaces (Gorman‐Murray & Nash, 2017) that complicate the assumed heterosexuality of the service economy (Irving, 2015; Willis, 2009). As climates of acceptance and so‐called inclusion change, so too do assumptions of queer people living (and working) outside of “the closet” (Hartless, 2019).…”

“…For trans workers, whose experiences are under‐explored in contemporary research concerning labor and employment, the conditions of post‐Fordism offer little reprieve from the confines of normative gender expression. In researching trans women's lived realities of employment in North America, Irving (2015) finds that for these women, their laboring practices were governed by an omnipresent adherence to the normative feminine subject. Irving follows Skeggs' (2011) “regimes of value” to suggest that trans women are misrecognized as value‐less under post‐Fordism.…”

“…Irving follows Skeggs' (2011) “regimes of value” to suggest that trans women are misrecognized as value‐less under post‐Fordism. The weight of immaterial labor “dramatically underscores the co‐constitutive relationship between employability and normatively feminine subjects” in a post‐Fordist service economy, where even accessing service employment was hindered by normative framings of what constitutes a “competent femininity” (Irving, 2015, p: 51). As a result, trans women in Irving's study struggled to access service employment due to the rigidity of both heteronormative femininity and the value that it produces within a consumption experience.…”