Kristen Myers

What Difference Does Difference Make? Position and Privilege in the Field

Feminist standpoint theorists contend that the researchers positionality affects all aspects of the research process—from the articulation of a research question to the analysis and presentation of the data. They argue that this influence becomes problematic when researchers occupying privileged positions in society elect to study those who are marginalized on the basis of race, class, and gender. In this article, we examine and compare the backstages of two distinct, cross-racial, ethnographic projects in order to understand how and to what extent the researchers positionality shapes the structure and substance of the research study. We discover that the influence of racial privilege (and other components of researcher identity) on the research process is subtle and complex. It is apparent in the assumptions and narratives the researcher uses to make sense of her experiences in the field as well as in the relationship between the researcher and her respondents. We consider the implications of this in terms of the integrity of the ethnographies we produced, as well as for feminist research more generally.

Officer friendly and the tough cop:gays and lesbians navigate homophobia and policing.

ABSTRACT Despite attempts to expand social diversity, policing is still dominated by a white, masculine, heterosexual ethos. As a consequence, employment of lesbians and gay men as police officers may be especially threatening to members of this occupation. Within the context of potential hostility and homophobia, nontraditional officers must negotiate their contradictory presence on the police force. This paper investigates that negotiation. Using the Bem Sex Role Inventory and open-ended survey data from a sample of “out” and “closeted” gay and lesbian police officers, we ask how gays and lesbians manage their images as “good cops” in the face of gender norm violations associated with their sexual orientation. Our findings indicate that masculinity and femininity do not hold together in a cohesive, dichotomous manner for these officers. Instead, other characteristics that enhance policing are emphasized to support their occupational competence. These officers see themselves as “good cops.” The gendered/sexualized character of their self-perceptions appears to matter less than the context of the job, more than for a comparison sample of heterosexual police officers. We conclude that although gay and lesbian officers see their sexuality as an occupational asset, they are also likely to work harder to prove themselves as crime fighters.

Race talk: the perpetuation of racism through private discourse

Abstract This project examines a rarely-examined form of racism—racist discourse that occurs in ordinary conversations. We explore the ways that race talk helps to legitimate and reinforce the existing racist structure Feagin (2000) : through boundary marking, boundary policing, and boundary maintenance. Previous research on racist discourse primarily uses survey and interview data, as well as texts and speeches (see Bonilla-Silva & Forman, 2000 ; Doane, 1996 ; Steeh & Schuman, 1992 ). All of these forms of data are public talk—ideas knowingly shared with outsiders. Our research looks behind closed doors to see if the “old racism” is dead, or if it has simply become more discreet. We find that ordinary people actively engage in various kinds of “race talk” in private.

Elementary School Girls and Heteronormativity: The Girl Project.

This article examines preadolescent girls in a group setting as they coconstructed heteronormativity. The authors contend that heteronormativity is not the product of a coming-of-age transformation but instead an everyday part of life, even for very young social actors. It emerges from the gender divide between boys and girls but is also reproduced by and for girls themselves. In the Girl Project, the authors sought to understand younger girls’ interests, skills, and concerns. They conducted nine focus groups with 43 elementary school girls, most of whom were age nine or younger. They observed these girls as they defined “girls’ interests” as boy centered and as they performed heteronormativity for other girls. This article contributes to filling the gap in research on gender and sexuality from children’s own points of view.

As the Twig Is Bent: Children Reared in Feminist Households

This is a study of children in families in which both the responsibility for income production and the household division of labor is actually post-gendered. Our data come from a larger study of privileged white parents who intentionally organize their households fairly, sharing housework, child care, and emotion work. These parents deconstruct gender not only by encouraging their daughters and sons to develop free from stereotypes but also by modeling such behavior in their own social roles. The data reported here are based on interviews with the children themselves and home observations. We have drawn two main conclusions. First, children do seem to adopt, uniformly, their parents non-sexist attitudes but then they must negotiate serious inconsistencies between their beliefs and their lived experiences with peers. They resolve this with a dichotomy: men and women are similar and equal, but boys and girls are different and unequal Second, personal identities seem to be forged more from lived experiences than from ideology.

“Step Up and Be a Man in a Different Manner”: Unemployed Men Reframing Masculinity

Although the percentage of women working for pay outside the home has steadily increased over time, traditional gender frames still valorize the male breadwinner and the female caregiver, and most households remain organized along gender lines. Recently, however, the global economic crisis significantly altered the structure of work in the United States. Beginning in 2007, “breadwinning” men began to lose jobs in multiple economic sectors. Because work is tied to masculine identities, these men suffered psychologically as well as economically. Using data from 40 semistructured intensive interviews with diverse men, we examine their strategies for coping. These men reframed household labor as work befitting men, even while reiterating traditional gender ideals. They began to adopt gender-flexible schema in response to structural changes beyond their control.

“Cowboy up!”: Non-Hegemonic Representations of Masculinity in Children's Television Programming:

Because children consume television as their identities are being formed, it is important to analyze the messages that are communicated to them through television programming. Entire television networks are marketed toward children from a very young age. Many series present male characters that are not hegemonically masculine. Potentially, non-hegemonic male characters could help disrupt the traditional gendered order by providing alternative, pro-feminist role models for young children. However, in my analysis of programming in four television series aimed at elementary school children (ages 5–11), I find that the non-hegemonic males actually helped reinscribe the dominance of hegemonic masculinity, ultimately reinforcing the traditional gendered order. Although children do not passively accept messages from television, these messages do shape larger gendered scripts that inform interactions.

Ladies First: Race, Class, and the Contradictions of a Powerful Femininity

This article helps to fill a gap in the literature on the role of femininities in reproducing inequality. In particular, this research examines one version of femininity—ladyhood—and the ways that it is shaped by racism, classism, heterosexism, and sexism. Women may enact ladyhood in pursuit of a “powerful femininity.” Data come from an ethnography on an interracial, elite womens social change organization, which made ladyhood part of its meanings and practices. Specifically, by enforcing ladyhood, the women effectively reproduced their own subordination. Their “power” was an illusion. I explain their allegiance to ladyhood by placing the organization in the historical context of racism and class struggle.

Anti-feminist messages in American television programming for young girls

Although ‘girl power’ has become a mainstream concept, some scholars have argued that we are in the midst of a media-generated backlash designed to undo the empowerment of girls and women. US popular culture targets young girls with anti-feminist messages, which undermine feminist inroads. To explore this issue, I conduct qualitative textual analysis of four television programs aimed at young girls. I find that much of this programming is anti-feminist.

Exotica The Deployment of Intersecting Binaries

Binaries simplistically reduce complex relationships to two juxtaposed categories. Although binaries are myth rather than reality, they pit people against each other in everyday life. Many articles theorize the importance of binaries, but few provide empirical evidence of their impact. This paper analyzes more than six hundred incidents of racetalk from more than three hundred subjects to explore the ways that people construct and deploy the intersecting binaries of sexuality, gender, class, and race. Through a form of racetalk that I call “exotica,” subjects perpetuated false divisions across raced, classed, and gendered lines. Exotica operated as a controlling discourse, simultaneously eroticizing racial difference and proscribing heterosexual coupling with racial “others.”