Sheena J Vachhani

Always different? Exploring the monstrous-feminine and maternal embodiment in organisation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to problematise the notion of woman-as-monster and draws together a conceptual analysis of the monstrous-feminine and its relation to maternal and monstrous bodies including its implications for equality and inclusion in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach – Whilst exploring how female monsters are inextricably tied to their sexual difference, the author draws on social and psychoanalytic perspectives to suggest how such monstrosity is expressed through ambivalence to the maternal. The author analyses two “faces” of the monstrous-feminine in particular: the archaic mother and the monstrous womb (Creed, 1993) and develop this discussion in relation to the potential for a feminist monstrous politics of organisation. Findings – First, the author exposes the basis on which the monstrous-feminine articulates and disarticulates femininity, that is to say, how a feminist analysis of monsters may enable but also foreclose a positive articulation of disruption, disorde...

Neo-villeiny and the service sector: the case of hyper flexible and precarious work in fitness centres

This article presents data from a comprehensive study of hyper flexible and precarious work in the service sector. A series of interviews were conducted with self-employed personal trainers along with more than 200 hours of participant observation within fitness centres in the UK. Analysis of the data reveals a new form of hyper flexible and precarious work that is labelled neo-villeiny in this article. Neo-villeiny is characterized by four features: bondage to the organization; payment of rent to the organization; no guarantee of any income; and extensive unpaid and speculative work that is highly beneficial to the organization. The neo-villeiny of the self-employed personal trainer offers the fitness centre all of the benefits associated with hyper flexible work, but also mitigates the detrimental outcomes associated with precarious work. The article considers the potential for adoption of this new form of hyper flexible and precarious work across the broader service sector.

Stains, Staining and the Ethics of Dirty Work

This chapter focuses on the theoretical potential of stains and staining as a productive way of understanding dirty work, especially the physical,social and moral taint attributed to it (Ashforth and Kreiner, 1999; Drew et al., 2007). The concept of the stain can be understood through the ethics of dirty work, focusing on healthcare and the presence of the body as a key site through which staining and stains may be a rich theoretical resource. This may involve physical as well as emotional and symbolic staining, something that leaves its mark against the backdrop of domestic hygiene, cleanliness and order.

Home is where the heart is? Organizing women’s work and domesticity at Christmas

This article critically discusses domestication and women’s work in household organization at Christmas, a case of meta-organizing which fuels commercialization. Located in the growing body of work on contesting femininity that challenges traditional notions of femininity, we problematize the binary divide between women’s work at home and commercial organizations. By considering Christmas as a set of ritualistic activities replete with myths of femininity, we explore how the home—a major site of festival activity—constructs gender through the public/private divide. This division has been central to critical interpretations of women’s subordination in work and leisure spaces where the concept of home has attracted feminist attention through its association with exile or retreat into domesticity. Home is, however, a culturally and politically contested space, and this article argues that home-work is a productive retreat from commercial-work. Home relates to domesticity and rituals in paradoxical ways and attesting to the ambivalence of Christmas provides opportunities for the subversion of traditional discourses of women in the household, especially those associated with older ideas of femininity understood through ritualistic practice. We demonstrate this by analysing cultural representations of rituals located and practised in and around the home that are central to the enactment of Christmas and discern how these both subjugate and offer subversive possibilities for feminine subjectivity. Using contemporary representations of Christmas and home from media culture, we conclude that home is a feminist space with Christmas acting as a gift for women’s return to that space.

Thinking critically about affect in organization studies: Why it matters [Editorial]

Affect holds the promise of destabilizing and unsettling us, as organizational subjects, into new states of being. It can shed light on many aspects of work and organization, with implications both within and beyond organization studies. Affect theory holds the potential to generate exciting new insights for the study of organizations, theoretically, methodologically and politically. This Special Issue seeks to explore these potential trajectories. We are pleased to present five contributions that develop such ideas, drawing on a wide variety of approaches, and invoking new perspectives on the organizations we study and inhabit. As this Special Issue demonstrates, the world of work offers an exciting landscape for studying the ‘pulsing refrains of affect’ that accompany our lived experiences.

Examining the politics of gendered difference in feminine leadership: the absence of 'female masculinity'

This chapter takes ‘female masculinity’ as a way of teasing out the tensions and contradictions implicit in current approaches to feminine leadership and the ways that they stress the competitive advantage of women in the workplace. Current approaches to feminine leadership run the risk that the entry of the feminine into leadership might actually attempt to control and serve to further oppress women’s subjectivity through its appropriation of the feminine. To advance leadership thinking, ‘feminine leadership’ requires being read as a contradictory site which promotes flexible and ambiguous portraits of gender and leadership. This notion of female competitive advantage obscures the problematic gender binaries on which the juxtaposition between feminine and masculine leadership is based. This construction and constriction of femininity negate a multiplicity of subjectivities and require closer examination especially in relation to how the re-appropriation of gendered binaries which demarcate sexual difference and mark femininity as under control or within ‘acceptable bounds’ may serve to promote inequality. Given this critique, we conclude that closer attention to feminist ethics, especially a turn to understanding femininity and leadership as relational, allows us to explore and promote the possibilities of an ethical openness to otherness.

Thinking critically about affect in organization studies

Affect holds the promise of destabilizing and unsettling us, as organizational subjects, into new states of being. It can shed light on many aspects of work and organization, with implications both within and beyond organization studies. Affect theory holds the potential to generate exciting new insights for the study of organizations, theoretically, methodologically and politically. This Special Issue seeks to explore these potential trajectories. We are pleased to present five contributions that develop such ideas, drawing on a wide variety of approaches, and invoking new perspectives on the organizations we study and inhabit. As this Special Issue demonstrates, the world of work offers an exciting landscape for studying the ‘pulsing refrains of affect’ that accompany our lived experiences.

Thinking critically about affect in organization studies : why it matters

Affect holds the promise of destabilizing and unsettling us, as organizational subjects, into new states of being. It can shed light on many aspects of work and organization, with implications both within and beyond organization studies. Affect theory holds the potential to generate exciting new insights for the study of organizations, theoretically, methodologically and politically. This Special Issue seeks to explore these potential trajectories. We are pleased to present five contributions that develop such ideas, drawing on a wide variety of approaches, and invoking new perspectives on the organizations we study and inhabit. As this Special Issue demonstrates, the world of work offers an exciting landscape for studying the ‘pulsing refrains of affect’ that accompany our lived experiences.

Ethics, politics and feminist organizing: Writing feminist infrapolitics and affective solidarity into everyday sexism

This article critically examines a 21st century online, social movement, the Everyday Sexism Project (referred to as the ESP), to analyse resistance against sexism that is systemic, entrenched and institutionalized in society, including organizations. Our motivating questions are: what new forms of feminist organizing are developing to resist sexism and what are the implications of thinking ethico-politically about feminist resistance that has the goals of social justice, equality and fairness? Reading the ESP in this way leads to a conceptualization of how infrapolitical feminist resistance emerges at grassroots level and between individuals in the form of affective solidarity, which become necessary in challenging neoliberal threats to women’s opportunity and equality. Our contribution conceptualizes affective solidarity as central to this feminist resistance against sexism and involves two modes of feminist organizing: the politics of experience and empathy. By addressing the ethical and political demands of solidarity we can build resurgent, politically vibrant feminist organizing and resistance that mobilizes feminist consciousness and builds momentum for change. Our conclusion is that an ethico-politics of feminist resistance moves away from individualizing experiences of sexism towards collective resistance and organizes solidarity, experience and empathy that may combat ignorance and violence towards women.

Rethinking the politics of writing differently through écriture féminine

This article examines the writing practices most often associated with French feminist thought called écriture féminine and subjects it to debates concerning embodied writing in management and organisation studies. Écriture féminine explores the intersections between language, sexual difference and writing from the body. Often considered a distinct and alluring strand of feminist writing and philosophy, I draw together possibilities for its use and explore implications that emerge for teaching and researching management and organisations. With focus on two modes of writing the feminine, through Luce Irigaray and Hélène Cixous, the intersections between sex/text are examined and form ways of decentring conventional modes of writing. The article concludes with discussing the politics of writing differently for researching, teaching and writing about organisations, the need to expose the effects of a masculine singularity in writing and how it may suppress and conceal possibilities but also offer opportunities for claiming space for an affective feminist politics inscribed in language.