‘That’s Not Really My Scene’: Working-Class Lesbians In (and Out of) Place

Environmental injustice and sexual minority health disparities: A national study of inequitable health risks from air pollution among same-sex partners

“…While we know that the development of gay enclaves in many inner-cities post-WWII was driven more by homosexual males than lesbians (Adler and Brenner, 1992; Brown, 2014; Castells, 1983; Hubbard, 2012), historical factors may not fully explain this finding. More research is needed to determine how much of this pattern is attributable to contemporary gender-specific push/pull factors, such as the privileging of masculine ideals, the greater likelihood for lesbian partners to have children and seek more child-friendly neighborhoods away from inner-city areas, and/or the economic exclusion of lesbian partners, who are of generally lower socioeconomic status, via escalating housing costs from gentrifying (albeit highly polluted) gay neighborhoods (Taylor, 2008). …”

Just One? Solo Dining, Gender and Temporal Belonging in Public Spaces

“…Although there have been significant advances in gender equality in terms of women's entry into the public sphere (for example in politics and the labour market) and consequently their increased presence in public spaces, this body of literature does show that women continue to experience, compared to men, higher degrees of vulnerability, harassment and general feelings of being 'out of place' in public spaces. Similarly to the gendered working class bodies discussed by Skeggs (2004) and Taylor (2007Taylor ( , 2008, the female solo presence needs to be restrained and normalised (Author A 2012(Author A , 2013(Author A , 2014, either by changing one's participation unit to a 'with' or by staying out of public spaces by getting a take-away instead. From this perspective, a woman's participation unit matters because it comprises a significant prism through which gendered and heteronormative expectations are filtered.…”

“…Our paper thus demonstrates how belonging and female respectability are dependent on situational temporal contexts. One's sense of being at ease and entitled to feeling comfort (Taylor 2007(Taylor , 2008) is derived from conforming with temporal conventions. We conclude that belonging to the right participation unit at the right time allows people to territorialise time and to make time their own in a way that can elude solo diners.…”

“…Such an altered spatial and temporal interactional context can set new normative codes 21 for being alone in public and of sociability. Furthermore, the solo dining trend demonstrates how belonging can be achieved through subtle changes in one's social and material surroundings, leading to shifting experiences of fitting in and feeling at un/ease and experiencing dis/comfort (Author B 2013: 81;Taylor 2007Taylor , 2008). An environment which caters to solo diners can enable them to identify with their surroundings and give rise to a feeling of belonging.…”

Sexual Orientation, Gender, and Environmental Injustice: Unequal Carcinogenic Air Pollution Risks in Greater Houston

“…Castells (1983) assumed that an inherently male territoriality drove the formation of gay neighborhoods, and that these spaces were thus structured along patriarchal lines, although this has been challenged by Adler and Brenner (1992) among others. Indeed, gay male neighborhoods have been known to exclude lesbians via escalating housing costs and by privileging masculine ideals and even feminine heterosexuality, while disempowering female homosexuality and other non-same-sex-male sexualities (Casey 2003; Doan 2007; Taylor 2008). Qualitative studies indicate that lesbians tend to establish separate social networks and develop enclaves of their own, often in socially and culturally mixed areas of cities (Adler and Brenner 1992; Valentine 1993).…”